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Predictions that Taylor Swift would make a cameo on “Saturday Night Live” with host Dakota Johnson came to fruition when the duo appeared together in the opening monologue.
After Johnson joked about her failed relationships,
she said “I have really good friends. They don’t judge me, they’re really supportive. Ladies and gentlemen, my literal therapist.”
Swift then appeared onscreen — in what one Swiftie on X delightedly described as a “Taylor Swift jump scare” — and said, “I’m not your therapist, actually. You just show up once a week at my house with an empty bottle of wine and ask if I want some… You flop on my couch and overshare and every so often I say ‘Damn, that’s crazy,'” Swift continued. “And then you say…”
“Sleepover, yay!” said Johnson.
“Then I give you Pedialyte and my security drives you home,” Swift said.
Then the subject returned to Johnson’s dating life. Earlier in the monologue, after jokes about her “tight-ass latex dress” and the failure of “Madame Web” around the time of her last “SNL” hosting gig, the actress said, “What else has happened since the last time I hosted? Well, I went through two very public, very lame breakups with two very awesome musicians. Looking for a third.”
WIth Swift beside her minutes later, Johnson picked up the subject and continued, “Just quickly while we’re on the subject of musicians, I think actually I’m doing a public service by dating them, because, ladies, I am saving you a lot of money on Zoloft. So you’re welcome, America. And also England. And parts of Ireland. And Cleveland,” a reference to Travis Kelce, which led to the rejoinder, “Allegedly.”
Swift then squealed “It’s her birthday!,” just slightly prematurely, as Johnson had earlier announced her birthday would be arriving at midnight.
There was no question of Swift doing a musical number on the episode, since the musical guest had long since been announced as Turnstile. But the singer turning up at some point on “SNL” this season seemed like an inevitability after Swift participated in an Easter egg-laden “Law & Order SVU” sketch on the Emmys. Behind her in the skit, a large “Saturday Night Live” emblem was tacked to a bulletin board… not her subtlest clue ever.
Swift fans had recently seen her and Dakota paired up in the music video for the single “Patient Zero,” which the pop superstar directed as well as co-starred in. The video, which premiered last Sunday night on the MTV Video Music Awards, stars Johnson and Colin Ferrell as an upper-class couple whose marriage appears to be on the skids. Swift appears as a spectral figure trying to warn Johnson that, based on her own experience, her rich husband has more sinister intentions than his current bride imagines.
Earlier on Saturday, Swift bowed “Patient Zero (Expanded Video),” which is exclusive to Apple Music. She used her Instagram Stories to link to the new eight-minute video release, which adds making-of scenes to the original clip.
Swift had not been in studio 8H in some time. Her last on-screen appearance on the show was in October 2023, when she came on to introduce musical guest Ice Spice, with whom she’d collaborated on a remix. Her sole time hosting came in 2009. She was the musical guest on that show, an earlier episode in 2009, and subsequently in 2017, 2019 and 2021. Swift also made cameos during a monologue in 2014 and a “Californians” sketch in 2015.
The singer’s latest project came out Sept. 25: “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore,” an expanded edition of her 2025 with four additional tracks. The fresh songs were said to have been cowritten and coproduced by Swift with Max Martin and Shellback about a year ago, well after they completed the original album, when Swift was on a celebratory trip to Sweden.
