Witherspoon recalls hosting SNL after 9/11 as overwhelming

Reese Witherspoon said she felt overwhelmed when she hosted Saturday Night Live less than three weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks, describing the experience as “too much responsibility for a 24‑year‑old” during a recent appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast. The episode, broadcast on September 29, 2001, was the first SNL to air after the attacks and featured an appeal to New Yorkers to carry on that included a speech from then‑Mayor Rudy Giuliani and a performance by Paul Simon in front of firefighters and police officers.

Witherspoon, who was 24 at the time and fresh off the summer release of Legally Blonde, said she had originally been scheduled to host the season’s second show but was asked by SNL creator Lorne Michaels to step in after the planned premiere was canceled. Michaels, she recalled, told her, “I really need you to show up. I really, really need this. Rudy Giuliani is gonna be here. All the firefighters are gonna be here. Paul Simon is gonna be here. I just need you to come out and do something a little light and tell America that we gotta laugh again.” Witherspoon said Michaels told her she could decline, but she chose to go on. “If you...