Ariana Grande took the New York 30 Rock stage at “Saturday Night Live” for the third time as host and found herself in familiar circumstances.
“The last time I hosted was in 2016, and we were right on the verge of electing our first female president,” the 31-year-old singer and actor said in her monologue. “So, I guess, second time’s the charm?"
Grande, who first hosted in 2014, was doing it for the first time without also serving as musical guest — a role that fell to Stevie Nicks — and promised not to sing, before breaking into a song.
The theme continued as she vowed during the tune not to do her signature impressions of Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and Gwen Stefani, before throwing out a bit of each. She would do a much longer version of Celine Dion in a sketch later in the show.
Grande hosted in promotion of her movie musical “Wicked,” the “Wizard of Oz” prequel set to be released next month.
She said playing the good witch Glinda as she does in the film is the dream of every theater kid like her, after “losing their virginity.”
Grande's episode comes amid a ratings spike for the sketch institution, likely brought on by its 50th season, and election season. Last month's season premiere brought in the most viewers since 2020.
Just as in the first two episodes of the new season, Maya Rudolph played Vice President Kamala Harris in the night's cold open, leading a group of former cast members returning as guest stars, including Andy Samberg as Harris' husband Doug Emhoff and Dana Carvey as President Joe Biden.
They teamed up for an election edition of “The Family Feud," taking on team Trump.
Kenan Thompson, the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history who began in 2003, reprised his long-running role as “Feud” host Steve Harvey and asked Rudolph-as-Harris about her recent media blitz.
“It’s been a hell of a week," she said. "I went on Howard Stern to reach the horny cab drivers, I went on ‘The View’ for the horny moms, and I also went on the podcast ‘Call Her Daddy’ because I have a message for young women: You need to go to the ballot box if you want the government out of your ballot box.”
Current cast member James Austin Johnson returned as Donald Trump, saying his opponent is "going to be horrible at this game. She’s a very low IQ person. The whole world is laughing at her because they don’t respect her.”
The 76-year-old Nicks was the “SNL” musical guest for the first time in more than 40 years. She opened with her brand new single, “The Lighthouse,” but the look of the performance was classic Stevie, with an abundance of rings and scarves and the singer draped in black. For her second song, she reached back with “Edge of Seventeen” from 1981.
Michael Keaton is set to host next week with musical guest Billie Eilish. John Mulaney and Chappell Roan are set for the following Saturday.
The onset of season 50 already has brought reflection and nostalgia in many forms, including “Saturday Night,” a movie comedy dramatizing the minutes before the first episode of the Lorne Michaels-helmed sketch institution on Oct. 11, 1975.
A three-hour primetime special on Feb. 16 is set to serve as the official 50th season celebration.
This image released by NBC shows cast member Bowen Yang, from left, host Ariana Grande, and musical guest Stevie Nicks during promos for the upcoming "Saturday Night Live" broadcast in New York on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Rosalind O'Connor/NBC via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
