Following the New Year’s Eve passing of actress and comedian Betty White, the long-running sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live has announced that today they will remember White in their own way. In the absence of a new episode to air on New Year’s Day, they will instead reair the May 8, 2010 episode, which White hosted alongside musical guest Jay-Z.
White appeared during the show’s 35th season as part of their Mother’s Day episode, which also featured guest appearances from former cast members Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph, and Molly Shannon. The episode featured White joining the cast members in reoccurring sketches such as “Scared Straight” with Keenan Thompson, where she caused Bill Hader to break character and laugh, and “The Lawrence Welk Show” cold-open, as the mother of the Baharelli sisters—including Kristen Wiig‘s Dooneese. Her hosting stint was so highly anticipated, and White herself so beloved, that her arrival on stage was accompanied by a longer-than-average welcome of cheers and applause.
Another, fondly-remembered sketch she appeared in was a reprisal of Shannon and Gasteyer’s “Delicious Dish“, where the two play the hosts of an NPR cooking program. “Delicious Dish” is probably better remembered as the “Schewddy Balls” sketch featuring Alec Baldwin, some holiday treats, and an entire conversation loaded with innuendo. White’s take on “Delicious Dish” follows in the same vein, as she plays Florence Dusty, there to talk about her “dusty muffin.”
At the time of the episode, White—then 88.5 years old—was the oldest person to ever host SNL. She quipped in her monologue that she had been around so long, she remembered when television was done live because they “didn’t know how to tape things,” citing her experience on the live sitcom Life With Elizabeth. She also went on to credit Facebook for her appearance, as it was a petition started on the social networking site that brought her to the attention of SNL as a potential host in the first place.
The late 00’s launched White back into the public eye in a major way. Her SNL gig was preceded by an appearance in a Snickers commercial and by her role as Grandma Annie in the Ryan Reynolds and Sandara Bullock rom-com The Proposal. Incidentally, Reynolds himself hosted SNL in season 35 as well, alongside Lady Gaga on October 3, 2009.
Saturday Night Live airs on NBC Saturday nights at 11:30 pm ET/8:30 pm PT, and can be simultaneously streamed on Peacock.
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