Witherspoon Reflects on SNL’s Post‑9/11 Episode

Reese Witherspoon told Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast that hosting Saturday Night Live’s first episode after the Sept. 11 attacks at age 24 — the Sept. 29, 2001 episode — was overwhelming and “zero stars, do not recommend.” She said SNL creator Lorne Michaels persuaded her to appear because Rudy Giuliani, firefighters and Paul Simon would be on the show and he wanted something light to help restore the national spirit; the episode opened with Giuliani and a Paul Simon performance. The episode also marked the SNL debuts of Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers. Witherspoon, then a new mother fresh off Legally Blonde, said she “completely left [her] body,” did not address 9/11 in her monologue, avoided hosting for about 14–15 years, and now regards the night as ultimately “good.”