NBC's Saturday Night Live has announced the show's holiday season hosts, with Saoirse Ronan, James Franco and Kevin Hart. Saoirse Ronan will host the December 2 episode this weekend, followed by James Franco on December 9 and Kevin Hart on December 16. While it hasn't been confirmed yet, it seems likely these will be the last three original SNL episodes to air in 2017, before the show goes on its Christmas hiatus.
Saoirse Ronan will make her hosting debut when Saturday Night Live returns on Dec. 2. Ronan can be seen in Greta Gerwig's film Lady Bird, which is currently in theatres nationwide. Twenty two-time Grammy Award winners U2 will join Ronan as musical guest, marking the band's fourth SNL performance and first network TV appearance in support of the legendary band's 14th album, "Songs of Experience," out Dec. 1. U2's North American tour, "eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE" kicks off in May.
James Franco will return for a fourth time as SNL host on Dec. 9. Franco, who currently appears in the HBO drama The Deuce, produced, directed and stars in the upcoming film The Disaster Artist, which opens Dec. 1 in limited release and Dec. 8 nationwide. Accompanying Franco as musical guest will be SZA. Her critically acclaimed album, "Ctrl," debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified gold by the RIAA.
Comedian Kevin Hart returns to host his third SNL episode on Dec. 16. His upcoming film, "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle," will open Dec. 20 and also stars Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Karen Gillan and Nick Jonas. Hart is also currently headlining his comedy tour, "The Irresponsible Tour." Foo Fighters will return for a seventh time as musical guest, tying the record for most SNL appearances by a rock band. Debuting at #1 in the U.S. and more than a dozen other countries, the band's latest album, "Concrete and Gold," was released Sept. 15. The Foo's current world tour continues to sell out stadiums and arenas through 2018.
Saturday Night Live Season 43 has continued its ratings success from last season, with the November 4 episode, hosted by Curb Your Enthusiasm creator/star Larry David, delivering a season high 4.7 rating and 11 share. It became the second straight SNL original to hit a new season high, after the October 14 episode, hosted by Kumail Nanjiani and featuring musical guest P!nk, averaged a 4.6. rating. NBC also used an off week right before Halloween to expand on a popular character from last year, Tom Hanks' David S. Pumpkins, who was featured in a brand new animated holiday special that aired on October 28. The David S. Pumpkins Halloween Special averaged a 3.4 rating, 8 share in households in Nielsen's 56 metered markets. led into the top-rated "Saturday Night Live" encore in seven months. From midnight to 1 a.m., an SNL Presents: Halloween rebroadcast averaged a 3.1/9 in metered-market households and a 1.3/8 in 18-49 in the local people meters. It's the highest metered-market rating for an SNL encore since April 1 (3.2 with host Alec Baldwin and musical guest Ed Sheeran) and the top 18-49 rating in the local people meters since March 18 (1.3, Casey Affleck, Chance the Rapper). Saturday Night Live is produced in association with Broadway Video. The creator and executive producer of the hit NBC series is Lorne Michaels.