Drew Barrymore confirms she's attending “Saturday Night Live”'s 50th anniversary special: 'Put me in, coach!' (exclusive)

Drew Barrymore will be in attendance during Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary special next month.

“I don’t know to what extent, but I will be there,” she tells Entertainment Weekly. “I’m in the Five-Timers Club and still the youngest host.”

The actress, who teamed up with Orlando Bloom for MSC Cruises’ forthcoming Super Bowl ad, doesn’t know in what capacity she’s going to be involved in the show, but is ready for whatever opportunities come her way. “I’ve hosted six times, so if it’s just to be there, that’s enough for me,” she says. “And if anybody needs me, you can put me in, coach! I don’t know what will happen, but I’ll be there.”

Barrymore was only 7 when she first hosted Saturday Night Live, following her turn as Gertie in Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982. She has since returned to Studio 8H to host an additional five times in 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2009, and is one of the small group of hosts in its prestigious Five-Timers Club.

Related: See every host in elite Saturday Night Live Five-Timers Club

Looking back at her first appearance on the show, Barrymore credits former SNL writer and cast member Tim Kazurinsky with making her feel comfortable on set. “For whatever reason, they just felt like we were a really good match,” she says, noting that he is also featured in her opening monologue. “He was very kind and nurturing and funny, and he was really good to me.” 

Despite being so young, Barrymore doesn't recall ever really feeling nervous on the show — except when asking Spielberg for permission to do a Mr. T and E.T.-themed sketch starring her and Eddie Murphy. “We were not going to do it unless Steven gave the greenlight and the blessing, and he was there, and he brought Robin Williams with him,” she recalls. “And that really intimidated me, because I was such a Robin Williams fan that I was like, ‘Ooh, now I have the nerves.’” (The sketch made it to air in the end.)

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In general, though, Barrymore says she didn’t feel that different from any of the other cast members on set. “I didn't feel like a kid at that point,” she admits. “I’d been working since I was 11 months old, and nobody treated me like a kid there, but they were still kind and sweet and familial without being like parental, patronizing, and they just made me feel like I fit in, and I loved it.”

Now, however, she’s amazed that she pulled off the feat at such a young age. “I have two daughters: one's going to be 11, one's going to be 13. None of this makes sense to me. They're twice my age [as a child star], and I don't see how they would do it,” she confesses, referring to her daughters, Frankie and Olive. “So it is weird, and it didn't feel weird at the time. It felt so normal.”

Related: Robert Downey Jr. and Anthony Michael Hall recall their short stint on SNL cast: 'Out-of-body experience'

It was on the E.T. press tour that Barrymore got her first taste of international travel, which she says “changed my life” forever. That experience is why she chose to team up with Bloom for MSC Cruises’ Super Bowl ad, which showcases the pair going on an exciting holiday together aboard its newest flagship, MSC World America.

“I was like, ‘Okay, so somebody could get on this boat, go, be taken places, [and] be shown the world,’” she says. “And now most importantly, let's look at the price point, because that's going to be really important to me…. And I saw the prices, and I was like, ‘Okay, attainable, affordable.’ And then it's memories you get from travel and trips. So I just thought, ‘Alright, I'm in.’” 

The only problem? Barrymore and Bloom had never actually met prior to partnering for the ad. “He was like, ‘Let's get together and speak beforehand so that we can know each other going into it.’ And I was like, ‘We're going to have such a good time, because that is the sign of a good person,’” Barrymore explains. “We've all done jobs where we show up on the day, and you kind of go, ‘Okay, here we go.’ But showing up having gotten to know him a little bit just felt totally different."

Their chemistry can be seen in a teaser clip (above) that shows Barrymore belting out her own rendition of Madonna’s “Holiday” at a piano — much to Bloom’s chagrin. “I think we're companions,” she says of the pair's connection in the commercial. “Also the juxtaposition of America and Europe, okay, I get that representation, but we're just, you know, a male and female who are bouncing off of each other, and there's a mission, but there's a lightness, there's a joy.” It sounds like the start to an unforgettable holiday.

Related: Timothée Chalamet recruits posse of lookalikes to help with SNL hosting duties in new sketch: 'It's a lot of work'

MSC World America sets sail from PortMiami on Apr. 9, 2025, with the Europe-based company launching cruises out of Galveston, Texas, and to Alaska later in the year. To learn more about the experience, click here.

Catch the full ad during Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, Feb. 9. 

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