Cher gives an Oscar-worthy performance in new promos for this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, making all of Ariana Grande and Bowen Yang’s wildest Moonstruck dreams come true.
“Ari, I’m so happy to have you here,” Yang says in the promos to his friend and Wicked co-star. “And I’m so happy to be back!” Grande beams in return.
“And Cher! Am I dreaming?” Yang marvels, before Cher winds up for a double slap across both of their cheeks and declares, “Snap out of it!”
But there are no hard feelings here: “Cher just slapped us!” the duo say in unison while clutching each other’s hands in joy.
The promo mirrors a famous scene from Cher’s Oscar-winning performance in the 1987 film Moonstruck, when Nicolas Cage’s Ronny professes his love for Cher’s Loretta and she promptly slaps him (twice!) and implores him to “snap out of it!” Cher took home the Academy Award for best actress at the 1988 ceremony for the beloved Norman Jewison-directed rom-com.
Elsewhere in the promos, Cher surprises Grande and Yang with gifts (“my presence”) and the trio targets the all-important “Olivia demographic,” since it’s the most common name in the U.S.
Cher is making her first return as the SNL musical guest since Nov. 21, 1987 — less than a month before Moonstruck hit theaters. She also made two cameos on the show: once during a Nic Cage-hosted episode in 1992 and earlier this year at the show’s 50th-anniversary special. She just released the new holiday song “Christmas Is Here,” which would be a fit for SNL‘s last episode before Christmas.
This weekend will mark Grande’s third time as host, following her March 2016 double-duty debut as host and musical guest and her hosting stint just last year on the very same Christmas episode, in December 2024. The latter time, she was promoting Wicked, and now she’s promoting its sequel, Wicked: For Good.
Saturday Night Live airs at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC and streams on Peacock. (See all the options to watch SNL here.)
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