Inde Navarrette made her Saturday Night Live hosting debut on the show’s Halloween episode, and kicked things off with a dig at the most recent host of the late night series.
The actress began her monologue by referencing her star-making role in Obsession: “You probably know me from the movie Obsession. People ask me if I’m anything like my character Nikki, and I’m like, no. No, no, don’t do that.”
“But the thing is, I’m nothing like my character in Obsession. Like, my boyfriend is here tonight to support me,” she said, as the camera panned over to her boyfriend, Nick Aiello, duck-taped in the audience. “We have such a chill relationship, right?”
Navarrette went on to discuss how she’ll be next portraying Rogue in Marvel Studios’ X-Men reboot. The character preps requires a lot of working out, she noted. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m gonna be in a Marvel movie. I know it’s really important for Marvel that you get really fit, so I’ve been working out a lot.”
“So every morning, I put on my little whore outfit, and I hit the gym,” she said, in a callback to Shane Gillis’ controversial monologue on the most recent episode of SNL on Oct. 10.
During his SNL appearance, he said at the top of the episode, “I haven’t been to the gym in so long, I didn’t know women just dress like whores now. Look, I’m sorry, there’s no other way to describe. Have you seen it? I’ve seen it. You’ve seen the shorts? They’re those neon, like, artificial vape-colored [shorts], and the wrinkles go around the cheeks and all combine at the butthole. And don’t look, you’re not allowed to look!”
Continuing with her monologue, Navarrette invited the SNL cast to the stage to show off their Halloween costumes “since none of the cast could go out tonight.” Marcello Hernandez appeared as “a sexy TSA agent,” as Kam Patterson portrayed Elizabeth Holmes.
Jeremy Culhane also joined, using his time during Navarrette’s monologue as an audition for Jake Schreier’s upcoming X-Men movie.
“I know you were cast as Rogue in the new X-Men movie, and I randomly heard they, like, I guess they haven’t even cast Wolverine yet,” Culhane said, to which Navarrette replied, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I can’t comment on that.”
“Well, I can, and I’d love to be in the movie with you,” Culhane, dressed as Wolverine, said. Grace Reiter then joined dressed up as none other than the bird at the center of the viral Kelly Clarkson, Art of Play controversy.
“It’s actually a group costume,” Reiter said, as Veronika Slowikowska popped in dressed like American Idol winner. “I want to buy the bird,” she said. “Sell me the damn bird!”
“I am not for sale!” Reiter as the bird said.
Tom Hanks’ classic Halloween character David S. Pumpkins made a surprise appearance in the cold open, opened by Reiter and Culhane as they embarked on a spooky ride.
James Austin Johnson’s Trump, of course, crashed the party to discuss the upcoming midterms.
“Are you sad you don’t get to see your third David Pumpkins scene? I’ll send you four minutes. He keeps popping up and confusing the people on the ride. ‘But you don’t actually have a lot in common with Mr. Pumpkins.’ We both appeared in 2016. We’re both very loud, very orange, and very frankly annoying,” Johnson’s Trump said.
“Good acting, great ass. A great ass on Hanks — something that I’ve enjoyed lately admiring,” he added. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just that I might be gay.”
He was joined by Nicki Minaj (“my friend and future press secretary”), portrayed by Saidah Belo-Osagie, who showed her support for the president. “Trump’s out here killing it — and by it, I mean my career,” Belo-Osagie said.
“I’m Nicki, the Trumpy. Like, I don’t even know why you Democrats bother at this point. Like, give it up. It’s me,” she added before exiting the stage. “Thank you, Nicki. She’s got quite an ass. If only it were on a man, perhaps then I could admire it,” Johnson’s Trump said.
And Slowikowska also appeared as Katie Zacharia, Trump’s brief, former White House Press Secretary, to butcher SNL’s opening catchphrase, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
She instead said, “With confidence. Live from New York. And from so many cities,” before she was cut off.
Pumpkins wasn’t the only character of SNL‘s past to pop up, as Bobby Moynihan’s Drunk Uncle appeared during the Weekend Update segment. He was even joined by the Milwaukee Brewers, the 2026 World Series champions. Christian Yelich, Brice Turang and team manager Pat Murphy were on hand to rep for the winning team. Moynihan even joked that Yelich was Pete Davidson.
Navarrette rose to acclaim this summer for her starring turn in Curry Barker’s new horror hit. She plays Nikki Freeman, a woman who is cursed after Bear (Michael Johnston) wishes that she’d love him more than anyone else in the world.
The low-budget film grossed over $522 million worldwide, breaking a plethora of records along the way: Obsession is Focus Features‘ biggest movie of all time; is the top-grossing festival acquisition (hailing from TIFF); and earned the biggest second-weekend box office spike in modern times outside of the Christmas holiday.
She’ll next star in Marvel Studios’ X-Men reboot, Apple Original Films’ sci-fi thriller The Waffle House Index, which she will also executive produce.
Saturday night marked Navarrette’s SNL debut, and she was joined by Gracie Abrams as musical guest. Elsewhere on season 52, Jalen Brunson, Dakota Johnson and Gillis have hosted.
After the Obsession actress, Druski will host on Nov. 7; he is the first social media influencer to ever host SNL. The Strokes will be the musical guest.
John Mulaney will host the Nov. 14 episode, and he’ll be joined by Phoebe Bridgers.
Before Saturday night’s episode, SNL shared a tribute for Patrick Stewart, featuring a clip from his 1994 appearance on the show.