Molly Shannon Sings Through Her Problems With 'SNL' Cast and Martin Short During Monologue

Molly Shannon is returning to familiar stomping grounds as she is tonight’s SNL host with musical guests the Jonas Brothers.

While promoting her appearance, she stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallonto speak with a fellow SNL alum about preparing for the show.

“You know what is so funny? Honestly, I forget how hard it is,” Shannon said. “Because I haven’t done variety in a long time, I forget how fast-paced it is. So I am definitely very nervous.”

She further explained that she had a fear of disappointing loved ones, which Fallon could relate to. She and Fallon agreed that they can perform better for strangers and would rather not know if family or friends are audience members. The pair also talked about her SNL character Jeannie Darcy and her impersonation of Courtney Love and how that got her into trouble with Love, and her New York Times bestseller Hello, Molly!: A Memoir.

In a teaser for her episode, Shannon is joined by cast member Ego Nwodim and the Jonas Brothers. In one clip, Shannon and Nwodim accidentally lose the Jonas Brothers. In the last clip, Shannon makes a nod to her character Mary Katherine Gallagher from her early days of SNL, and also portrayed in the 1999 film Superstar.

Shannon was a cast member from 1995 to 2001. She previously hosted SNL in 2007 and appeared as a guest during SNL’s 40th-anniversary special in 2015. During her monologue, she talked about how her father taught her to “keep her chin up” and never give up on her showbiz dream, especially during hard times.

This set up a musical number that had several guest appearances from SNL members like Molly Kearney, Kenan Thompson, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Bowen Yang, and Nwodim to share their problems. Shannon turned the attention to the audience and even surprise appearances from Lorne Michaels and Martin Short added to the fun.

Last weekend, Quinta Brunson was the host (you can catch up on her monologue here) and she brought Lil Yachty as her musical guest, who performed songs off his album Let’s Start Here.