Yahoo Lifestyle Mikey Madison Shows Off Her Pole-Dancing Skills in 'SNL' Monologue
As Mikey Madison would tell you, she's had a crazy month. Firstly, the 26-year-old ingénue took home an Academy Award for Best Actress for her instantly iconic performance as the titular Russian stripper in Anora, beating out the award's frontrunner nominee, The Substance's Demi Moore. And last night, the young actress had another big first: she took to the Studio 8H stage in her Saturday Night Live hosting debut, with country star Morgan Wallen serving as musical guest.
Festively dressed in a glittery black gown, the first-time host kicked off her opening monologue by poking fun at the "relaxed vibe" of her filmography, before playing a decidedly not relaxed clip package of the actress trying to stab people and being engulfed in flames in movies like Scream V and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. "Just to clarify, those were two different characters who were lit on fire, and that's range!" she joked.
She segued into relatable details about her childhood as a "very proud, self-proclaimed horse girl" — "basically a nerd, but with long hair" — and saucy jokes about how horseback-riding prepared her for her Oscar-winning role in Anora ("Instead of riding horses, I was riding a Russian twink") before having the audience decide from a lineup of four young men which one was her twin brother, Miles. ("If you guessed the one who looks like Ron Weasley on testosterone, you win.")
Madison then cheekily responded to criticism about her pole-dance work in Sean Baker's Best Picture winner Anora. “I performed all my own stunts for the film, including all the dancing, so it does kind of bother me when people assume it wasn’t actually me on the pole, because it was. I can prove it right now,” the star said, making her way to a dancer's pole. However, the goofy bit saw Madison get swapped out last minute by a very muscular performer doing spread-eagle handstands while wearing a long brunette wig and the same sparkly black dress as our host.
Related: The Funniest 'SNL' Season 50 Skits, Monologues, Weekend Updates and Moments (So Far)
Check out Mikey Madison's full opening monologue below:
