Justin Timberlake, the night’s musical guest, and Jimmy Fallon also made appearances during Johnson’s monologue.
Dakota Johnson
NBC
During Dakota Johnson‘s Saturday Night Live monologue, she acknowledged that she just can’t take “interviews seriously” while promoting her films.
The actress, who stars in the upcoming Marvel movie Madame Web, alongside Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Celeste O’Connor, has been doing a lot of press interviews for the film and realized, “I’m just not good at talking to journalists.”
“I think the big problem is that I say stuff and then they write it down and, and it’s really unfair because most of the time I’m joking,” she quipped.
But Johnson said she’s been that way for a long time, even when she was younger. She proceeded to show a video of her on a red carpet in the ’90s with her father, actor Don Johnson, as a child. In the footage, she can be seen rolling her eyes.
When the camera cuts back to her on the SNL stage, Johnson rolls her eyes again while laughing.
As for her MCU movie, which hits theaters on Feb. 14, Johnson said, “It’s kind of like if AI generated your boyfriend’s perfect movie.”
It was Johnson’s second time hosting SNL after she previously led a season 40 episode in 2015. As she looked back at the show at one point, a photo appeared on the screen where Johnson could be seen standing in the audience among Steven Spielberg, Sarah Palin, George Lucas and Donald Trump.
The actress continued to make a joke about Trump, saying, “It’s just crazy standing so close to someone that would become the most powerful person in America,” as the camera zooms in on Taylor Swift, who was also sitting in front of her in the photo.
Later during her monologue, the Fifty Shades of Grey actress called out Justin Timberlake as the night’s musical guest, but the singer-actor took that as a cue to take the stage.
As Johnson stood there with a look of confusion, Timberlake said he assumed he was also hosting, saying, “If you want me to be in sketches — I have hosted before,” while raising his hand to show that he had already hosted SNL five times.
In response, Johnson said, “Yeah, well, that was 10 years ago. … I mean, either way, I’m so happy you chose my show for your comeback.”
But the singer wasn’t too sure about The Social Network actress calling it a “comeback,” adding, “Is that what we’re calling it?” Johnson quickly responded, “I mean, comeback in a good way.”
“I see what this is, this is where we make a joke,” Timberlake said. “Like first he was bringing sexy back and now he’s bringing coming back.”
But Johnson noted that she “wouldn’t phrase it like that,” with the singer adding, “Yeah, you’re right now that I’ve heard that out loud.”
Jimmy Fallon also made a special appearance during Johnson’s monologue, but dressed as Barry Gibb. Later in the episode, Fallon and Timberlake, who played Gibb’s younger brother, Robin, brought back The Barry Gibb Talk Show for an SNL sketch.
It was Johnson’s second time hosting SNL after her first time in Studio 8H in 2015. Shark Tank stars Barbara Corcoran and Mark Cuban also made appearances on Saturday’s episode.