Jalen Brunson, fresh off delivering the New York Knicks their first NBA title in a half-century, will host the Sept. 26 season opener of Saturday Night Live with musical guest Katseye, the show announced. Brunson will lead off the program’s upcoming 52nd season.
The announcement noted Brunson is far from the first athlete to take Studio 8H’s spotlight. The show said the first athlete host was then-Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who guest-hosted during the second season.
Saturday Night Live’s history lists a number of notable athlete appearances. John Madden hosted on Sept. 7, 1982; Marvin Hagler co-hosted on May 17, 1986; and Wayne Gretzky hosted on May 13, 1989, playing himself on a call-in show sketch. Chris Evert became the first female athlete to host on Nov. 11, 1989.
Other high-profile athlete hosts include Michael Jordan, who hosted Sept. 28, 1991, months after winning his first NBA title; Charles Barkley, who hosted the Season 19 premiere on Sept. 25, 1993 after earning NBA MVP and reaching the Finals; and Deion Sanders, who appeared on Feb. 18, 1995 just weeks after winning his first Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers.
The list also includes Derek Jeter on Dec. 1, 2001; Tom Brady on April 16, 2005; and Peyton Manning on March 24, 2007, who hosted on his birthday with his parents and brothers in attendance and later returned in January 2022 for a Weekend Update segment about the Netflix series Emily in Paris. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has hosted five times, more than any other athlete, beginning in 2000, the show noted.
