Saturday Night Live honored Patrick Stewart with a few seconds from his only hosting appearance: his exuberant introduction of Salt-N-Pepa. The October 31 broadcast replayed the announcement before displaying a memorial card featuring one of his promotional photographs.
The sequence appeared before the closing goodnights, Us Weekly reported. Obsession actress Inde Navarrette hosted the Halloween episode, with Gracie Abrams as musical guest.
Stewart died at his Los Angeles home on October 28 at 86. His representative announced his death the following day, saying he had been living with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia and was being cared for by his wife, Sunny Ozell.
His turn as host aired February 5, 1994, during the final season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. By then, audiences had spent years watching him command the Enterprise as Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Stewart Found His ‘SNL’ Hosting Week Stressful
Remembering Patrick Stewart ❤️ https://t.co/MnJ7rZmmeu
Stewart’s opening monologue played with his association with Star Trek, presenting him as a devoted fan whose supposed expertise did not withstand scrutiny. Elsewhere in the episode, he played the proprietor of an adult-themed bakery in “Sexy Cakes” and a Scottish therapist named Phil McCracken alongside Mike Myers.
Looking back in his 2023 memoir, Making It So, Stewart was unhappy with his performance. In passages reproduced by /Film, he described the experience as stressful and judged his monologue particularly harshly. He also felt he had failed to connect with the cast, despite admiring their talent.
“I wasn’t as loose then as I am now,” he wrote. Myers was an exception. Stewart enjoyed appearing in the recurring “All Things Scottish” sketch, and recalled that the shopkeeper’s catchphrase about Scottish goods became something he and Ozell repeated around their home years later.
John Mulaney’s Impression Reached Salt-N-Pepa, Too
When John Mulaney hosted on April 14, 2018, he devoted part of his opening monologue to Stewart’s delivery. The former SNL writer imagined the actor preparing to introduce Salt alone, then discovering at the last second that Pepa had arrived. It was Mulaney’s invented backstage scenario.
The impression also appeared in his Netflix special Kid Gorgeous at Radio City, released May 1, 2018. Pitchfork‘s contemporary coverage noted that much of his hosting monologue came from material he had performed on tour.
The musicians themselves enjoyed the attention. During a February 2022 interview with Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Sandra “Pepa” Denton said Christopher “Kid” Reid of Kid ’n Play had sent her the introduction again the previous day. She imitated Stewart’s delivery while discussing it, and Cheryl “Salt” James pulled up the clip on her phone.
Stewart Repeated the Introduction for ‘SNL50’
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Stewart eventually revisited the moment himself. In February 2025, during the show’s 50th-anniversary celebrations, he shared a video wearing a Salt-N-Pepa T-shirt and delivering the introduction again, as LateNighter recalled in its coverage of the memorial.
The post included Mulaney’s impression and footage of Stewart’s original announcement before showing his new rendition. His caption read, “Ladies and gentlemen, IYKYK. Happy #SNL50!” The video finished with the show’s theme music.