J.K. Simmons to Host ‘Saturday Night Live’ With D’Angelo
Whiplash whip-master and recent Golden Globes winner J.K. Simmons will remind people that he has a funny side when he hosts Saturday Night Live on January 31st. The show will also mark musical guest D’Angelo’s first televised performance since releasing Black Messiah in December.
The actor, whose comedy credits include playing the dad in Juno and appearances on Parks and Recreation and Arrested Development, last appeared on SNL in 1999 when he portrayed his Oz character Vern Schillinger for a skit in which Jerry Seinfeld went to HBO’s fictional prison after the Seinfeld finale stank.
In Whiplash, which was filmed over 19 days, Simmons played the hyper-serious jazz drum coach Terence Fletcher, who abuses a student played by Miles Teller. “[Teller] was reluctant to be slapped really hard a dozen of times, and I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t enjoy that, that level of acting and commitment,” the elder actor recently joked with Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers.
D’Angelo, who has slowly been easing himself out of reclusion, has not performed on television since 2012, when he appeared at both the BET Awards and Essence Music Festival, and has never appeared on SNL. He will be performing with his backing band the Vanguard.
Shortly after his SNL debut, he will return to his roots with a live performance at New York City venue the Apollo, where he won Amateur Night at the age of 16 in 1991. Tickets for the February 7th show go on sale Wednesday.