Sabrina Carpenter has spent a lot of time at Saturday Night Live in the past couple of years. She made her debut as musical guest in May of 2024, and then in February she appeared on SNL50: The Anniversary Special alongside Paul Simon. Last night Carpenter did double duty as musical guest and first-time host, 50 years to the day Simon hosted for the first time.
The cold open was the fourth recurring "Domingo" sketch; the first one, which aired in an Ariana Grande-hosted episode only a year ago, featured a parody of Carpenter’s "Espresso," Carpenter herself made an appearance during the previous "Domingo" bit on SNL50. (Marcello Hernandez, who plays Domingo, also showed up as the character at Carpenter’s LA show last fall.) On last night's "Domingo" sketch, the songs parodied -- about a girls' trip to Nashville -- were Taylor Swift’s "The Fate Of Ophelia," Lady Gaga’s "Abracadabra," and Alex Warren’s "Ordinary."
In her monologue, Carpenter cleared up some misconceptions about her image. “Everyone thinks of me as this, like, horndog pop star, but there’s really so much more to me,” she said. “I’m not just horny. I’m also turned on and I’m sexually charged. And I love to read. My favorite book is the encyclopedia. It’s so big, and it’s hard.” Kenan Thompson came out to arrest her for impersonating an officer. In the rest of the episode, Carpenter played a 12-year-old boy in a parody of the snack podcast MD Foodie Boyz that featured James Austin Johnson's Donald Trump; a Shop TV guest selling a neck pillow that she doesn't realize looks like a vagina; a singing washer/dryer combo with Veronika Slowikowska; the concussed Gen Z girlboss Princess Ayesha leading a female empowerment seminar; and an office employee who tries to throw a surprise party for her coworker that goes awry.
In a couple of pre-taped sketches, Carpenter and Bowen Yang (who did not otherwise appear in the episode because he was being honored at the annual Academy Museum Gala in LA) also sang about middle schoolers grinding at a dance, and she and Ben Marshall starred in a horror-themed movie trailer about how terrifying it is to have social plans.
And lastly, for her musical performances, Carpenter did "Manchild" in her underwear, which said "IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT!" on the back, as well as a karate-themed "Nobody's Son." During that second song, she sang "fuck" twice and it aired uncensored on the live broadcast; for the West Coast broadcast the expletives were muted.
Watch below.
oop Sabrina Carpenter just said "fuck" during her SNL performance, and they forgot to bleep it pic.twitter.com/hv5PXFCWmE
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) October 19, 2025
UPDATE: This Tall Plain Boyfriend sketch was cut for time.
