‘SNL’: Inde Navarrette Digs at Shane Gillis’ Joke About Women Dressing Like “Whores” at the Gym as Tom Hanks Crashes Cold Open

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Inde Navarrette made her Saturday Night Live hosting debut on the show’s Halloween episode, and kicked things off with a few references to her (and the late night series’) past.

The actress began her monologue by referencing her star-making role in Obsession. “You probably know me from the movie Obsession: People ask me if I’m anything like my character Nikki, and I’m like, No. No, no, don’t do that.”

“But the thing is, I’m nothing like my character in Obsession. Like, my boyfriend is here tonight to support me,” she said, as the camera panned over to her boyfriend, Nick Aiello, duck-taped in the audience. “We have such a chill relationship, right?”

Navarrette went on to discuss how she’ll be next portraying Rogue in Marvel Studios’ X-Men reboot. The role requires a lot of working out, she noted. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m gonna be in a Marvel movie. I know it’s really important for Marvel that you get really fit, so I’ve been working out a lot.”

“So every morning, I put on my little whore outfit, and I hit the gym,” she said, in a callback to Shane Gillis’ controversial monologue on the most recent Oct. 10 episode.

Tom Hanks’ classic Halloween character David S. Pumpkins made a surprise appearance in the cold open, opened by Grace Reiter and Jeremy Culhane as they embarked on a spooky ride.

James Austin Johnson’s Trump, of course, crashed the party to discuss the upcoming midterms. He was joined by Nicki Minaj, portrayed by Saidah Belo-Osagie.

And Veronika Slowikowska also appeared as Katie Zacharia, Trump’s brief, former White House Press Secretary, to butcher SNL’s opening catchphrase, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

Navarrette rose to acclaim this summer for her starring turn in Curry Barker’s new horror hit. She plays Nikki Freeman, a woman who is cursed after Bear (Michael Johnston) wishes that she’d love him more than anyone else in the world.

The low-budget film grossed over $522 million worldwide, breaking a plethora of records along the way: Obsession is Focus Features‘ biggest movie of all time; is the top-grossing festival acquisition (hailing from TIFF); and earned the biggest second-weekend box office spike in modern times outside of the Christmas holiday.

She’ll next star in Marvel Studios’ X-Men reboot, Apple Original Films’ sci-fi thriller The Waffle House Index, which she will also executive produce.

Saturday night marked Navarrette’s SNL debut, and she was joined by Gracie Abrams as musical guest. Elsewhere on season 52, Jalen Brunson, Dakota Johnson and Gillis have hosted, with the latter’s monologue causing quite the controversy.

After the Obsession actress, Druski will host on Nov. 7; he is the first social media influencer to ever host SNL. The Strokes will be the musical guest.

John Mulaney will host the Nov. 14 episode, and he’ll be joined by Phoebe Bridgers.

More to come.