Paul Mescal is defying gravity!
The actor, 28, made his Saturday Night Live debut on Dec. 7, when he hosted the late-night comedy sketch series with Shaboozey as musical guest.
In one sketch, Mescal’s recently released Gladiator II was reimagined as a musical following the success of Wicked and Moana 2.
Reprising his role of Lucius Verus Aurelius, Mescal showed off his singing skills, as he stated throughout the parody tune, “There’s no place like Rome.”
At the end of the sketch, Mescal is seen flying away from the Colosseum on a broomstick while wearing a witches hat, as he does his own take on Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba riff from Wicked‘s iconic “Defying Gravity” number.
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Saturday Night Live
Elsewhere during the episode, Mescal starred in a series of other sketches, including one in which he played a college student surprising his parents with a new earring and another where he stars in an Italian restaurant commercial.
He also starred in one other sketch that saw him portray a pirate stripper at a club hosting a bachelorette party.
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For his first musical performance, Shaboozey, 29, performed “Good News,” which was released on Nov. 15.
He then sang his track “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” during his second set. The tune recently tied Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” as the longest-running number-one song of all time on the US Billboard Hot 100 with 19 weeks at the top spot.
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SNL announced the cast for its milestone 50th season earlier this year.
Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline have been added to the sketch comedy show’s roster, while Punkie Johnson, Chloe Troast and Molly Kearney have all stepped away. Returning cast members Marcello Hernandez, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker, meanwhile, were promoted to the main cast after two years each as featured players.
Michael Che, Colin Jost, James Austin Johnson, Bowen Yang, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman and Kenan Thompson round out the remainder of the cast.
Next up to host SNL is Chris Rock with musical guest Gracie Abrams on Dec. 14 and Martin Short with musical guest Hozier on Dec. 21.
Saturday Night Live airs weekends on NBC.
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