Over the past few years Lily Allen has made appearances onstage with Olivia Rodrigo (twice) and with British drum ‘n’ bass DJ Shy FX, but before this weekend, she hadn’t done a solo performance in six years. That changed on last night’s Josh O’Connor-hosted episode of SNL, promoting her new LP West End Girl with performances of album highlights “Sleepwalking” and “Madeline.”
During “Madeline,” Dakota Johnson made a surprise appearance portraying the song’s namesake and reciting its spoken-word portions. Allen also appeared as herself in a sketch about a group of friends getting brunch, who all break into song to the tune of “West End Girl” each time something awkward or strange happens. It was Allen’s first time on SNL in nearly 19 years.
Elsewhere in the episode, Jane Wickline performed a song about the societal threat of the Stranger Things kids during Weekend Update, which also featured jokes about the recent Kennedy Center honorees and KPop Demon Hunters. There was also a sketch about “the most sensitive male strippers in all the Catskills” paying a visit to a cabin bachelorette party, where they danced to an acoustic cover of Ginuwine’s “Pony” and the phrase “Fleet Foxes” was used as an insult. See those clips below.
