SNL Will Return This Saturday—Remotely, of Course

Saturday Night Live is going to try its hand at remote production, announcing that a remote episode of the sketch comedy show will air on Saturday, April 11 at 11:30 p.m. on NBC. According to The Hollywood Reporter, integral aspects of the show such as musical guests and celebrity hosts will not be featured in the special, however Weekend Update and material from regular cast members will return.

?? This Saturday ??#SNLAtHomepic.twitter.com/JT62ELvmsW

— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) April 9, 2020

But don’t expect this as the new normal for the late night comedy show, as this remote special is currently being considered as a one-off. SNL was scheduled to return on March 28 with John Krasinski and musical guest Dua Lipa, but the COVID-19 pandemic quickly shuttered the weekly live show.

SNL is the latest show to utilize video technology in order to return to some sense of normalcy, with talk shows in particular resuming schedule by using Zoom and other video conferencing methods. Late night barely skipped a beat, with Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon and Meyers all broadcasting from home for weeks now. Broadcast networks especially have had a significant amount of production interruption due to the industry-wide shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.