Glen Powell used his Saturday Night Live debut to settle a four-year-old rating with a UPS driver.
The Chad Powers actor, 37, revealed during his monologue on Saturday, November 15, that he was originally purported to make his SNL hosting debut in December 2021 to advertise Top Gun: Maverick. Unfortunately, the booking was cancelled when the Top Gun sequel was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic — and Paul Rudd was brought in to host that 12 months’s SNL Christmas episode as a substitute.
On the time, Powell was especially upset to have lost the Saturday Night Live hosting gig because he’d already told a UPS driver about it.
“After I got the decision [to host SNL], I used to be on a porch with my family and we just all lost our minds,” Powell remembered. “We were jumping up and down, celebrating. A UPS driver happened to be delivering a package at that very same moment.”
Powell encouraged the delivery driver to “tune in” for the Christmas episode and even took a selfie with him to rejoice.
“My dream got taken away,” the actor explained. “Top Gun got delayed due to COVID so SNL needed to take their offer back. [Producer] Lorne Michaels called me and said — these are his words — ‘Without Top Gun, nobody will know who the F you might be!’”
He admitted that it bothered him for the past 4 years that “this UPS driver was just going around saying Glen Powell is a liar.” When SNL finally rebooked Powell to host the show, the actor enlisted his sisters to assist him find the UPS driver.
“My sisters tracked him down since the women in my family are terrifying,” he confirmed. “They found the cell variety of this UPS guy. His name is Mitch. So, to prove to Mitch that I’m not a liar, I flew him all of the strategy to Latest York — [in] coach because I don’t understand how Running Man goes to do yet. … He thought it was a scam but he still got here!”
Glenn Powell takes a selfie with Mitch on ‘Saturday Night Live’ Courtesy YouTube/NBC
The camera then cut to Mitch within the front row of Studio 8H, as Powell asked the audience to “give it up for Mitch the UPS guy.” He then brought Mitch on stage to recreate their original selfie to bring their story “full circle.”
“If I actually have learned anything, it’s that one of the best things in life don’t occur overnight,” Powell told viewers. “And nobody knows that higher than UPS.”
Prior to creating his debut on the sketch comedy series, Powell revealed to People that it was a lifelong dream to look on Saturday Night Live.
“I’m so excited,” Powell. “Hosting SNL has been a thing I’ve desired to do my entire life.”
He continued, “It’s a very wonderful moment when your childhood dreams get to come back true. I’ve been waiting to be on that stage for so long as I can remember.”
Saturday’s episode also saw Powell team up with former SNL forged member Will Forte for a brand new series of MacGruber sketches, plus musical guest Olivia Dean performed her hits “Man I Need” and “Let Alone the One You Love.”
Saturday Night Live’s next recent episode airs Saturday, December 6, on NBC at 11:30p.m. ET with guest host Melissa McCarthy and musical guest Dijon. Classic episodes can be found to observe anytime on Peacock.