Saturday Night Live has been airing new episodes for a few weeks now, and Season 52 has already delivered A-list hosts and major musical guests. The season started off with a bang, as New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson hosted the premiere. Brunson’s episode seemed to go off without a hitch, and he’s now shedding some light on what his week was like leading up to the taping. While I’ve always heard about the sketch series’ tight schedule, it’s overwhelming to hear Brunson’s description of his experience.
Usually, it takes quite a bit of work to pull off an episode of the Lorne Michaels-created comedy series, so a lot happens the week before an episode airs live. Sketches are written, re-written and then rehearsed, while costume fittings and set construction also occurs. As intense as that’s always sounded to me, the notion of that being the reality really hit home once I heard Brunson’s account. The NBA champion spoke about this on The Roommates Show (which is on YouTube), and it’s a lot:
Monday, I was there for about three or four hours [for] kind of like an intro at night. Tuesday I was there from like 12:30 and then through the night, because I had dinner with them after. So that was to like 12:30 to like 11 [or] 11:30 until I got back. And then the next day, I think I started at 12:30 again [and] ended around like 9:30, 10 o’clock. And then Thursday, I think I started at 10:30 and I left around 4:45, because I had to shoot the podcast with you guys. So that day got moved up a little bit.
Is anyone else wondering when Brunson actually got a chance to sleep, because I’m not sure how he was able to squeeze that in. The mere notion of having to put in some much work at 30 Rock just sounds straight-up exhausting. And just imagine how much more work it’d be if he were a regular cast member. Brunson went on to explain how he capped off his time with the show on that Friday and then shooting the episode (which is streamable with a Peacock subscription):
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Friday, I was there from… basically 7:15 a.m. to midnight. So then Saturday I was there from 12:30 to obviously until like the after party stuff, but it was a long week. And then each morning besides Friday and Saturday I was working out just because it was obviously the week before training camp.
All of that and training camp? Jalen Brunson is a real trooper, but it’s hard to argue with the results. Despite some trolling from teammate and friend Josh Hart, Brunson delivered solid performances during his hosting stint. Among the highlights were that High School Musical-inspired sketch, an office-set segment that saw Brunson sink a long shot and the cameos from fellow Knicks players during the monologue.
Despite the amount of work that went into making the episode happen, Brunson seems to have enjoyed himself:
It was a lot of fun. It was like, I was really nervous like leading up the entire week. Each day, I get less and less nervous and, obviously, [on] Saturday, I think I was just anxious for it to start, but it was so much fun. The whole week, the whole cast, the staff made everything easy. Lorne Michaels, [it] was great getting to know him and then him just kind of telling me how everything was going to go and then it was honestly [a] really fun week.
Honestly, I don’t think I’m built for the machine that is SNL, as even series alum Cecily Strong says a side-effect of being on the show for so long is needing to learn how to sleep again. So I applaud anyone who works on the show on a daily basis or decides to give up a week of their lives host like Brunson did.
Check out Saturday Night Live when it returns on October 31 amid the 2026 TV schedule. Hosting the Halloween episode will be Inde Navarrette, and Gracie Abrams will serve as musical guests.
