In recent years, watching SNL has become an exercise in faith: the few remaining believers hope that, on a given weekend, the hit-or-miss sketches and glimmers of greatness will evolve into sustained comedic brilliance. That hasn’t happened yet, but the show is determined to keep us hooked: NBC announced Tuesday that Chris Rock will host the Nov. 1 episode, and that Prince will join him as the musical guest.
That’s a stacked episode, with the two biggest and most entertaining names to grace the show in recent memory. Prince, who’s likely to play cuts from his two new albums, always has some outrageous antics up his sleeve. Rock, for his part, is a brash and livewire performer, and the perfect choice to jumpstart a mostly comatose season. This will be the comedian’s first time hosting since 1996—he also had a short, hilarious stint as an SNL cast member from 1990 to 1993, making him the third SNL alumnus to host this season, after Sarah Silverman and Bill Hader.
