Timothée Chalamet referenced a classic Saturday Night Live skit while hosting the show. During the opening monologue, the Dune star explains his New York origin story and notes that his mother, a former dancer named Nicole Fender, used to do background work on NBC's iconic comedy series. In November 1991, she appeared in the memorable Saturday Night Live sketch "Massive Headwound Harry."
Chalamet portrays a variety of wonderfully weird characters in the eighth episode of Saturday Night Live season 46. In "Coronavirus Holiday," he appears as a humanized version of COVID-19 who rebels against his virus parents, and also performs alongside Pete Davidson as a hip-hop artist who defends his questionable music in "Rap Roundtable." Chalamet delivers an androgynous impression of musician Harry Styles in "Dionne Warwick Talk Show," and sings in a sketch about a farm boy who forms a special friendship with a tiny horse. As a whole, the collective Saturday Night Live bits align with the bizarre comedic premise of the '90s sketch that he cites during his opening monologue.
In "Massive Headwound Harry," the aforementioned Carvey portrays the title character. He shows up for a friend's party but has clearly suffered a nasty injury to the right side of his skull, with the joke being that all of the party guests react with shock but don't offer any help. Phil Hartman's character vomits after Massive Headwound Harry inadvertently spoils a bowl of shrimp in the Saturday Night Live skit, and a hungry dog chews on the character's wound after he lays his bloody head down on a white couch. Early on, Farley arguably delivers the most hilarious reaction to Massive Headwound Harry, and a background actress - Chalamet's mother, Nicole - covers her mouth while observing Carvey's dazed and confused party guest.
Nicole Fender appears in the audience during the Saturday Night Live monologue, which includes a spoken word piano performance from her son. Chalamet recalls his holiday experiences in New York and makes references to various Big Apple locations that suggests he's just making the story up on the spot - evidenced by a moment when he identifies "Querns" and "Boca Raton" as two of the five boroughs. The performance bit thematically references Ryan Gosling's 2017 Saturday Night Live monologue, in which he similarly delivered a spoken word piano performance while claiming that he saved jazz with the 2016 film La La Land, and that the correct pronunciation of New Orleans is "Ner-lins."
Chalamet's Saturday Night Live monologue has some awkward pacing moments, but his nervous energy makes the overall performance feel endearing and natural. In the Dionne Warwick sketch, cast member Chloe Fineman imitates the host with a giggly impression that captures Chalamet's demeanor at the top of the show. The Saturday Night Live episode has seemingly been well-received on social media, and the host's familial connection to "Massive Headwound Harry" is a fun piece of trivia for both fans of the NBC series and fans of Chalamet.