Harry Styles makes cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live ahead of hosting show
By Casey Cooper-Fiske, Press Association Senior Entertainment Reporter
Singer Harry Styles has made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) before he appears as the show’s musical guest and host next Saturday.
The former One Direction star, 32, was sitting in the front row as actor and guest host Ryan Gosling delivered his opening monologue at the start of the US sketch show on Saturday March 7.
Gosling, 45, said: “Thank you very much. I’m thrilled to be back hosting, especially now this is the perfect time to be in New York City, early March, no, it’s beautiful.
“Is that Harry Styles? What are you doing here man?”
Crowds screamed as Styles was shown in the audience wearing a T-shirt with a smiley face on it and the words “I hate you”.
Styles replied: “Well, I’m hosting next week, and it’s been a while, so I just wanted to watch, get a feel for it.”
Gosling said: “So professional, that’s awesome you’re here, I just wish someone would have told me.”
The actor began to speak about his new film, Project Hail Mary, before the camera switched to Styles, prompting Gosling to ask why, to which Styles said: “I don’t know, I’m just listening.”
Gosling added: “Well could you listen less cool? Your coolness is becoming a bit of an issue.”
The camera later moved to a split screen of the two, prompting Gosling to ask for it to be removed, but the screen went to Styles rather than the Drive actor.
It was then revealed that one of the cameramen was wearing a T-shirt which read: “I (heart) Harry.”
Gosling then attempted to sing Styles’s song Sign Of The Times, while the singer could be seen miming along from his seat, as Gosling called out: “Just please get him off the screen.”
Styles will appear on the March 14 episode of SNL, marking his second time pulling “double duty” on the show, having previously done so in 2019.
His fourth studio album, Kiss All The Time, Disco, Occasionally, was released on Friday after he performed the lead single Aperture at last weekend’s Brit Awards.
In support of the album, Styles will head out on the Together, Together tour, which will include 12 nights at Wembley Stadium, which could break the record for most performances by any artist in a single year at the national stadium in London.
The global tour, beginning in May, will also see Styles perform in Amsterdam, New York, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Melbourne and Sydney, while he also played a one-off show at Co-Op Live in Manchester on Friday, which is available to stream on Netflix from Sunday.
Styles’s solo career was launched after he and fellow One Direction members Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson went on hiatus in 2016, almost a year after Zayn Malik left the group.
Payne died at the age of 31 in October 2024 after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina, and the boyband’s surviving members reunited at his funeral alongside former manager Simon Cowell in November that year.
Styles released his self-titled debut solo album in 2017, and followed it up with Fine Line (2019) and Harry’s House (2022), with his debut and third record reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart, while Fine Line reached number two.
As a solo artist, Styles has had three UK number one singles in As It Was, Sign Of The Times and Aperture, giving him the most commercially successful solo career of the members of One Direction.
One Direction formed in 2010 when they were put together by Cowell on ITV talent show The X Factor.