Xuenou > Celebrity > ‘SNL’: Natasha Lyonne Reunites With Ex Fred Armisen and Another Former Cast Member
‘SNL’: Natasha Lyonne Reunites With Ex Fred Armisen and Another Former Cast Member
Natasha Lyonne hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend, and right off the bat, her opening monologue proved her connections to the variety show. The 5-minute opener included an appearance by Lyonne's ex and SNL alum Fred Armisen, and Armisen's frequent collaborator Maya Rudolph. She described it [...]

‘SNL’: Natasha Lyonne Reunites With Ex Fred Armisen and Another Former Cast Member

Natasha Lyonne hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend, and right off the bat, her opening monologue proved her connections to the variety show. The 5-minute opener included an appearance by Lyonne’s ex and SNL alum Fred Armisen, and Armisen’s frequent collaborator Maya Rudolph. She described it all as a “cosmic connection” to the beloved show.

“Gosh, will you look at this? I’m hosting the season finale of Saturday Night Live. For a real New Yorker like me, that’s big,” she said. “I have a show called Russian Doll. The second season… just premiered on Netflix, and two things you really want to be associated with right now are Russia and Netflix.” From there, Lyonne began to lead into her many connections to SNL.

“The people here are my real-life chosen family,” she said. “I’ve been coming here since I was a teenager. I co-created Russian Doll with Amy Poehler, and I have great friends from the show.” As she spoke, Armisen and Rudolph came onto the stage and asked Lyonne if she was busy. They then took turns doing their best impressions of Lyonne.

The cameo was pretty brief, and once they left the stage Lyonne talked a bit about her history with Armisen. She joked: “We’re the only couple with a sex tape nobody wanted to buy.” From there Lyonne launched into a bit of a summary of her career, including some heartfelt encouragement for other people to stick through the hard times in the hopes of better things to come.

Lyonne and Armisen began dating sometime in 2014. Their relationship was not generally headline news, but in April she shared some new details on their romance in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. There, she also confirmed that it had come to end. The two must have broken up somewhat recently. When asked if she was living in Los Angeles, she said: “I’m not. I had been there living with Fred [Armisen] and during COVID.”

0comments

“I honestly think we broke up because I wanted a swimming pool,” she joked. “We love each other just about as much as two people can love each other and we’re still talking all the time, but Freddy doesn’t like a swimming pool. It might seem like a mundane reason for a breakup, but during that pandemic, you’ve got to get your laps – I’m like Burt Lancaster in The Swimmer.”

Lyonne’s episode of SNL is streaming now on Hulu and Peacock. She hosted the series’ season finale, so it will not be back until the fall.