Shane Gillis Takes Third SNL Hosting Turn as Grace Reiter Breaks Out
Shane Gillis hosted Saturday Night Live for the third time on 10 October, with Rosalía as musical guest and new cast member Grace Reiter carrying three big sketches.
The episode was the third show of Season 52, following Dakota Johnson and Turnstile on 3 October People. Gillis previously hosted in 2024 and 2025, continuing an unlikely return run Deadline. He was first announced as a featured player, the entry-level cast contract on the show, then removed days later after resurfaced videos showed him mocking Asian accents and using ethnic and gay slurs.
Reiter joined Season 52 as a featured player alongside comedian Saidah Belo-Osagie. NBC describes Reiter as a TikTok star and actress who appeared in The Chair Company NBC. Both newcomers had a quiet start, appearing in two sketches combined in the premiere.
This week put Reiter in the centre. On Weekend Update, she played problem child Coco opposite Ashley Padilla as her mother, who cannot find a babysitter. She then played Gillis's elderly mother in a hospice sketch. Nurse Sarah Sherman tells Gillis his mother has only days left. His problem is a planned trip to see Jelly Roll in Las Vegas.
That sketch pulled in half the cast. Ben Marshall played Jelly Roll. Marcello Hernandez played Jesus. Rosalía played a divorcee urging Gillis to make the concert.
The final sketch moved to a kid's chess tournament. Jeremy Culhane played young TJ, with Gillis and Reiter as his parents in the stands. Another sketch, a Green Eggs and Ham riff with Mikey Day as the Cat in the Hat, produced an unscripted moment when Gillis dropped an F-bomb live. It slipped out. The show carried on.
Rosalía's booking was her second turn as musical guest, according to NBC. The Spanish singer-songwriter performed on the Gillis episode after an earlier appearance on the show.
What makes this stand out is the speed of Reiter's jump. Two weeks into a network sketch job, where most newcomers wait months for airtime, she played a child, a dying mother and a chess mum in one night. For fans, this means her name is one to learn now.
