Matt Damon and Ben Affleck know a thing or two about hosting Saturday Night Live. And they shared some of that wisdom with their Golden Globe-winning co-star.
“Trust the writers, rely on them, and have fun,” Affleck, 53, told this week’s host, Teyana Taylor, in an interview with Complex News. “The more the people enjoy it, and they’re in on it, having a good time, the more the audience likes it.”
Damon, 55, had a much more specific tip.
“Don’t try to memorize anything,” he told Taylor. “You always read the cue cards... The lines are constantly changing; there’s no way to memorize anything. The cue card thing, they have it down. They’re very good at it.”
Taylor, 35, who is fresh off a Golden Globe award for her role in One Battle After Another, said that SNL alum Maya Rudolph—who happens to be married to that film’s director Paul Thomas Anderson—gave her similar advice.
“I spoke to Maya, and she told me the same thing,” Taylor agreed.
Affleck has hosted the live sketch comedy show five times, and Damon another two—though he’d like to think his tally is closer to Affleck’s. In Kristen Wiig’s five-timers club sketch in 2024, Damon said that he was an honorary member because showrunner Lorne said his first time “counted for three.”
“The second time, not quite as good, so it only counted for two. But by my math, that’s five, baby,” Damon continued.
Affleck reiterated that it’s important for Taylor to give herself over to the show’s chaotic process and that it won’t be perfect.
“It’s going to be a little crazy—a little something messy is going to happen—and I think people like to see that," Affleck told his co-star.
Taylor stars alongside Affleck and Damon in The Rip, a crime thriller on Netflix. It is the pair’s seventeenth time working together on a movie.
Taylor, who will likely be nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress on Thursday, hosts SNL on Saturday. She is accompanied by musical guest Geese.
