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Jenna Ortega kicked off her Saturday Night Live hosting debut with a nod to her days as a child actor in a Colgate toothpaste commercial, but added a horror twist to the ad in light of her starring role in Wednesday, the Addams Family-inspired Netflix series.
“A lot of people assume that I am darkand twisted in real life because of theseroles that I play,” Ortega said after also pointing out her role in Scream VI.“But I am not like that at all.I think there’s just somethingabout my face when people seeit and they’re like, ‘Hey, let’s throwblood on that.’”
As to her beginnings as an actor, the 20-year-old joked, “I got discovered when my momput a video of me on Facebook, which someone explained to me is like TikTok but for racism instead of dancing.”
In the toothpaste ad, which she shot when she was nine, Ortega described germs as “invisible nasties.” But after some music and visual edits, that phrase became the title of an upcoming horror flick.
Wednesday, which has been green-lit for a second season and which inspired plenty of memes about Ortega after her goth dance scene went viral, also features former SNL cast member Fred Armisen, who sat in the audience.
“I am sohonored that you’re here,“ Ortega told him after inviting him on stage. “You’re the reason I startedwatching SNL, actually.My favorite sketch of all timeis The Californians.
“Thanks, Jenna.That’s so nice,“ Armisen replied.“You know, the original idea cameto me because I was givingdirections—“
“Yeah, we figured it was something like that,“ Ortega jumped in, nudging him back to his seat. “It’s all good.Thank you, Fred.“
During Saturday’s episode, SNL also revealed who will next deliver the monologue on the April 1 episode: Quinta Brunson will serve as host, with musical guest Lil Yachty:
