With SNL announcing its next wave of hosts this week, I wanted to take advantage of the show being on hiatus this weekend to discuss two names that we need to see in a future host reveal: Tim Robinson and Marc Maron.
Both Robinson and Maron have turned early SNL rejection — Robinson departing after a season in the cast and Maron not making it past the standard-yet-confusing interview with Lorne Michaels — into very successful careers, forging their own paths in the world of comedy outside of SNL.
With Robinson having a moment thanks to the success of The Chair Company on HBO and Maron doing the rounds after ending the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, now’s the time to give these guys the reins of their own episodes of SNL.
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Robinson joined SNL in Season 38, making his debut on the show in September 2012 as part of a freshman class that also included Cecily Strong and Aidy Bryant. (The latter two would have much more successful runs on the show, with Strong leaving partway through Season 48 and Bryant leaving after Season 47.) Things never quite clicked for Robinson, though.
After SNL removed Robinson from the show’s cast, he did some time in the writers room, working with Zach Kanin. That partnership would lead to Detroiters, I Think You Should Leave and now The Chair Company. The brand of comedy that didn’t work for Robinson on SNL wound up becoming incredibly successful for him the past few years, with I Think You Should Leave becoming a go-to shorthand for people on social media.
I’m sure Robinson is flattered to see sketches like this on SNL, but a hosting gig would be the ultimate recognition that, while he wasn’t the right fit for SNL a decade ago, the time is now right.
It has to help that Robinson is still close with Seth Meyers, the former SNL head writer who I’m no longer pretending isn’t the successor to Lorne Michaels, in addition to working in the same building as the Lonely Island guys. Spider League needs its moment during an SNL monologue.
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Marc Maron in Stick. / Apple TV
Marc Maron
When it comes to Maron, I don’t have a bunch of clips like I do for Robinson. Unlike Robinson, Maron never got a shot at making an SNL career work, not making it past the interview phase back in 1995. (There was the possibility that Michaels saw Maron as a replacement for Norm Macdonald behind the Weekend Update desk.) Whatever went wrong with that interview, SNL passed on Maron.
But, if you’ve listened to WTF over its sixteen-year run, you know that Maron didn’t let go of SNL. Whenever he had a former SNL cast member on his show, he’d not only dig into their time on the show but he’d also try to crack the secret of Lorne Michaels. (An interesting side note here is that Maron asked Sam Richardson, Robinson’s Detroiters costar and real-life buddy, a bunch of questions about Robinson when Richardson was on WTF.) If there’s one missing piece from Maron’s rise to stardom, it’s closure on SNL.
When Maron and his production partner, Brendan McDonald, started WTF, the world of podcasts was new. If you’re a celeb with a podcast in 2025, you owe its success and that opportunity to Maron and WTF.
Thanks to the success of WTF, Maron had a new entry point into pop culture. He released specials, most recently Panicked, had a self-titled show on IFC that ran for several seasons and landed key acting roles on GLOW and Stick. (He even voices a cartoon snake in the Bad Guys animated movies.)
With the end of WTF this fall and the release of Are We Good, Maron’s been on an extensive promotional tour. Never one to hold back, Maron’s been especially vocal when it comes to the state of the world and the responsibility of some of his fellow comedians when it comes to where society finds itself.
The Omnicosm founder. Popculturology, Deep SNL Thoughts and Snackology writer. A Rochester, N.Y., native now living in the Washington, D.C., area. Won’t pass up a Genny Cream Ale.
