'SNL' host Taraji P. Henson: 'I've never done live TV before'
We’re counting the days until Taraji P. Henson hosts Saturday Night Live this weekend, accompanied by musical guests Mumford & Sons.
Henson is a seasoned television performer by any standard: she currently stars on Empire as Cookie, matriarch of the Lyon hip-hop dynasty (if you aren’t watching this show, you’re doing TV wrong). She also spent three seasons with Person of Interest, and before that, she was a cast member on Boston Legal and The Division.
But, as she tells Taran Killam in her SNL promos, this will be her first experience with live TV. This becomes a running gag, as Killam proceeds to screw up every take, stepping on Henson’s lines and calling her Taranji (“Taranji is no one’s name, Taranji is my name and your name together”).
Reminder: Saturday Night Live has had over 500 hosts since its 1975 premiere, and only nine have been black women. Taraji will be the 10th black woman to host in 40 years.
Sure, live television may be intimidating, but would we doubt Taraji? Not in a million years. You can watch all of this week’s SNL promos here:
Molly Fitzpatrick is senior editor of Fusion’s Pop & Culture section. Her interests include movies about movies, TV shows about TV shows, and movies about TV shows, but not so much TV shows about movies.