Olivia Dean is the musical guest.

Saturday Night Live recap: Glen Powell flies his UPS driver out for his hosting debut

Olivia Dean is the musical guest.

By Andy Hoglund

Andy Hoglund

Andy Hoglund is a writer at **. He has worked at EW since 2019.

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November 15, 2025 11:59 p.m. ET

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Glen Powell on 'Saturday Night Live'. Credit:

Rosalind O’Connor/NBC

Hi — welcome one and all to *SNL* in Review. Do not adjust your dials, do not click away.

Tonight’s episode is hosted by Glen Powell, who is starring in the latest adaptation of *The Running Man* as well as the Hulu show *Chad Powers*. Powell previously appeared on the show last year when Sydney Sweeney hosted. (At the time, I said he should be hosting!)

Former *SNL *cast member — and star of *The French Italian* — Aristotle Athari is a fan of Powell’s work. He says: “When I saw *Hit Man*, I was blown away by Powell’s comedic timing. I love that movie, and honestly, anything [he does].” *Top Gun: Maverick* with Powell was the first movie after COVID that made Athari “feel like the theater experience was back.” Cast him in *Maverick 2*, people!

Last week, reactions to Nikki Glaser showed a bit of division in our ranks — more than 20 percent of you loved it, while a quarter of you straight up hated it. Stats! Let’s see if there’s more consensus tonight. Olivia Dean is the musical guest.

Ashley Padilla is White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and it’s been a quiet news week! But reporters at this press conference mostly want to talk about Epstein!

Eventually James Austin Johnson’s Trump again takes over. I think this was better with Padilla as the focal point. Allowing Trump to monologue and entertain about this topic specifically feels misplaced, as much as Johnson nails it. I kind of preferred Padilla working out the tics around Leavitt, who unctuously claims to “believe women.” I also enjoyed Chloe Fineman and Kam Patterson’s roles here. See what you think.

John Milhiser recently shared Padilla is “very funny. Insane how much she's in now. Go Ashley! She brings a real grounded performance to her sketch characters. I loved how she reacted after she farted in that fart sketch. ‘Ohhhhhh no. Noooo. Ohhhh dear.’ It was an unexpected reaction to farting. She was so disappointed that it happened. Almost like it broke her heart. She's brilliant. I also loved her Two People Who Just Hooked Up with Andrew Dismukes. Loved that these characters had an arc in their scene. They had a beginning, middle and end. They took their time. It paid off. It was refreshing to see. Jealous of those characters. Keep 'em coming.”

It’s been a wild year for Glen Powell. He knows we are tired of seeing his face. He’s been working for a long time — even directing a student film where he lip-synched to Fall Out Boy!

His big break was in one of the *Spy Kids* movies. That’s the framing for the bulk of the monologue. Being at 8H means a lot to him and his family. After working for years, he was supposed to host four years ago for T*op Gun: Maverick *before COVID delayed it. He tells a funny story about his UPS driver he met when he first learned he was getting a chance to host the Christmas show — now, years later, Powell has flown him here, he’s in the audience. This is great! And has a great message about waiting for your dreams. Watch this!**

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Source: “EW Recaps”