Chris Rock to host SNL's Season 46 premiere with musical guest Megan Thee Stallion -- Lorne Michaels details coronavirus precautions

Variety

Rock will host the Saturday Night Live's first live in-studio show in seven months on Oct. 3. This will be the SNL alum's third time hosting the show after previous hosting stints in 1996 and 2014. Rock will host less than a week after his debut on FX's Fargo. Megan Thee Stallion is performing on SNL for the first time. Meanwhile, Lorne Michaels tells The New York Times about SNL's coronavirus precautions, which include rapid 15-minute tests. Michaels says he's been conducting cast and writers meetings in a room the size of an airplane hangar and that the cast will wear masks up until they go on air. "I had a meeting with the writing staff," Michaels said. "I had a meeting with the cast. I had a meeting with production. The room that we were in was the size of an airplane hangar and people were six feet apart and everyone wears their masks. We can’t go in with as many pieces. We don’t have as much time between dress (rehearsal) and air. We’re doing our first read-throughs on Tuesdays as opposed to Wednesdays." Are there limitations as to how many people can be in a sketch? "No, but there are restrictions on how many people you can have on the studio floor. So, if a camera’s not in use in that sketch, the operator would leave," Michaels said. "When sets have to be changed and the stagehands come in to do it, others will leave. We have a finite number of people and that’s being closely monitored." Michaels adds that if anybody tests positive, everybody will go in quarantine for two weeks. Michaels also addressed whether we've seen the last of Kate McKinnon as Ruth Bader Ginsburg ("I doubt it") and Jimmy Fallon's controversy for wearing blackface as Rock in 2000. "I think someone gave him bad advice," says Michaels. "He was trying to do an impression, and there’s nothing mean in what Jimmy does. It was of the time. I know we’re in a granular period now where every decision you’ve made in your life is up for reassessment. But there was no malice in it, I can tell you that."