--- description: Rock and Prince made previous appearances on SNL as a cast member and musical guest, respectively. title: Chris Rock Will Host SNL With Prince As Musical Guest image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Chris Rock Will Host _Saturday Night Live_ With Prince As Musical Guest  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 14, 2014 8:16 PM CUT  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 14, 2014 8:16 PM CUT Comedian and actor Chris Rock will host _Saturday Night Live_ alongside musical guest Prince for its Nov. 1 show, NBC [announced](https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/522111727853645824 "undefined") Tuesday on Twitter. > [](https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/522111727853645824) Rock, who began his career as a start-up comedian, rose to fame when he became a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show in the early 1990s. Rock left the show in 1993 to join the predominantly African-American sketch comedy show _In Living Color,_ later returning to SNL to host an episode in 1996. It also isn’t Prince’s first time on SNL, which is celebrating its 40th season. Prince, who now performs with backing band 3rdeyegirl, first appeared on the show in 1981 to perform the song “[Partyup](http://www.wat.tv/video/prince-partyup-saturday-night-5vi89%5F2hztv%5F.html "undefined").” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3507801/snl-chris-rock-prince/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3507801/snl-chris-rock-prince/"},"headline":"Chris Rock Will Host Saturday Night Live With Prince As Musical Guest","datePublished":"2014-10-14T20:16:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:47:22.534Z","description":"Rock and Prince made previous appearances on SNL as a cast member and musical guest, respectively","url":"https://time.com/3507801/snl-chris-rock-prince/","keywords":["Television","celebrities","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3507801/snl-chris-rock-prince/","name":"Chris Rock Will Host Saturday Night Live With Prince As Musical Guest"}}]}] ```