Sabrina Carpenters Saturday Night Live hosting debut kicked off with a fun callback to none other than the viral Domingo skit with a modern pop twist.

The Manchild singer returned to the late night show on Saturday, where she doubled up as the nights host and musical guest. The cold open kicked off with another homecoming of Chloe Finemans Kelsey character and her group of best friends, including Carpenter.

True to the original skit, Kelseys girl squad recounted their Nashville night out in front of her husband Matt (Andrew Dismukes) in full song form, set to the tune of some of the most popular modern tracks. They recalled their festivities by singing along to the backtrack of Taylor Swifts The Fate of Ophelia and Lady Gagas Abracadabra, before Marcello Hernndezs beloved Domingo character made his grand entrance (and return) to profess his love to Finemans Kelsey, set to Alex Warrens track Ordinary. The original Domingo skit instantly went viral, originally featuring Carpenters Espresso as Kelseys bridesmaids confessed that she had cheated on her husband-to-be with Domingo. The Grammy winner wasnt actually featured in the original bit, though fellow pop star Ariana Grande was. (Carpenter did star in the SNL 50 Domingo sequel, though.)

nashville hates to see the kelsquad coming pic.twitter.com/4KlP1rudBQ

Saturday Night Live SNL (@nbcsnl) October 19, 2025 Later in Carpenters opening monologue, she lightly addressed the controversy surrounding the cover art for her latest album, Mans Best Friend. Pointing back to her last appearance on the show during SNL 50, she noted that since then, my new album Mans Best Friend came out, which Im so excited about. But some people got a little freaked out by the cover.

Im not sure why. It was just this: me on all fours with an unseen figure pulling my hair. But what people dont realize is, thats just how they cropped it. If you zoom out, its clearly a picture from the 50th anniversary special of Bowen helping me up by the hair, she said, as the shot of the album cover zoomed out, continuing, After Martin Short shoved me out of the buffet line.

The Bed Chem singer used the rest of her monologue to clear up some misconceptions people have about me, joking that everyone thinks of me as this horndog pop star, but theres really so much more to me.

Im not just horny, Im also turned on, and Im sexually charged. And I love to read. My favorite book is the encyclopedia. Its so big and its hard she said, before continuing, There is a real person underneath all the sparkles and the wigs and the corsets, and another thing you might not know about me is that I love to interact with the audience during my show, so Id like to do that right now.

She went on to touch base with a few audience members before returning to the stage, where she continued another one of her concert traditions: The last fun thing I like to do at my concerts is arrest someone for being hot. So, who here can I arrest tonight?

Kenan Thompson then hit the stage, where he joked that he was arresting the singer for falsely impersonating an officer 200 times at your concerts. And youre arresting innocent hot people.

Sabrina Carpenter’s monologue! pic.twitter.com/PxHxQ4gqrJ

Saturday Night Live SNL (@nbcsnl) October 19, 2025 Saturday night marked Carpenters first SNL hosting gig, while it was the second time she served as the nights musical guest. She, too, notably performed a rendition of Simon Garfunkels Homeward Bound alongside Paul Simon at the 50th anniversary special.

Ahead of the show, Bowen Yang took to his Instagram Stories to note that he was missing the taping. The Wicked star skipped episode three to attend the 2025 Academy Museum Gala, where he was honored with the Vantage Award.

The Espresso singer served as the third overall host of season 51, following in the footsteps of Bad Bunny and Amy Poehler. Earlier this week, the next wave of SNL guests were announced. Miles Teller will host on Nov. 1, while Nikki Glaser and Glen Powell are set to make their hosting debuts on the Nov. 8 and Nov. 15 shows, respectively.

Last Saturdays show was full of star-studded cameos, as former cast member Poehler brought back fellow SNL alumni Tina Fey and Seth Meyers throughout the episode. Fey also made a cameo to impersonate Kristi Noem in the cold open, while Poehler portrayed Pam Bondi.