The first time iconic comedian John Mulaney hosted Saturday Night Live in 2018, his most popular sketch was one called "Lobster Diner" - where Pete Davidson orders lobster in a diner simply because it's on the menu.

What ensues is a roughly four-minute song in which said lobster - who has lived in the diner for years - laments his impending death, to the tune of "Who Am I?" from the popular musical Les Miserables. His daughter Clawsette and the rest of the staff eventually join, in a musical parody number that will forever go down in SNL history.

Mulaney didn't need to top that when he hosted again in 2019, but he did anyway, with his "Bodega Bathroom" sketch - which, just like the first time, starred himself, Pete Davidson, and Chris Redd, with Keenan Thompson once again singing the lead. This time, Pete tries to use the bathroom in a bodega, and as a result he is treated to a musical montage warning, consisting mostly of songs from Willy Wonka, but also some references to Little Shop of Horrors, Cats, and Rent.

Then he did it AGAIN the next year, not once, but TWICE: When he hosted in March of 2020, he was in one sketch parody of "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" from The Sound of Music, in which Liesl - played by Cecily Strong, who is now the only actor to appear in all of these aside from Mulaney himself - finds out that Rolf is...older than she thought.

But not to disappoint, they also did a big group number - "Airport Sushi" went absolutely buck wild, featuring refrences to The Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Annie, Wicked, and also Little Shop of Horrors again - plus, because David Byrne happened to be on the show, also "The Road To Nowhere" by The Talking Heads. (Also, no doubt because this was shortly after John finished working on Sack Lunch Bunch, Jake Gyllenhaal made a surprise appearance.)

When he appeared again in November of 2020, just three days before what many will likely remember as one of the most charged elections of their lifetime (at least, we hope), spirits were a little damper, but Mulaney still managed to shove six musical theatre refrences into one sketch. It was about a struggling souvenir shop and all the lonely mascots wandering around an empty Times Square - and some of these songs were notably more obscure than the ones in previous sketches. We had references to A Chorus Line, A Little Night Music, Fiddler on the Roof, Follies, Sweet Charity, and a reprise of Les Mis' "One Day More" - sort of a callback to the first one.

We hope that "One Day More" callback didn't indicate a finale or an end to these joyful sketches, because we're really looking forward to seeing how Mulaney, Davidson, Redd, Thompson, and all the rest can top themselves this time around, since Mulaney is hosting SNL for the fifth time this Saturday - especially now that we've all got some juju back compared to where we were in November.

But we've got two days left before we can know for sure, either way, so in the meantime, here's our list of hopes and dreams for Musicals We Want John Mulaney To Parody on SNL.

Mamma Mia!

Who could resist an opportunity to do a fun parody of an ABBA song? "Mamma Mia" would be the obvious choice to parody from this musical, but there are plenty of others, including "Dancing Queen" and "Take A Chance on Me." (Come to think of it, "take a chance on ____" would be a great segue from whatever odd thing Pete Davidson's character doesn't seem to understand that it's not acceptable to ask for.)

Mary Poppins

I'll be honest, part of me only wants this so I can see Keenan Thompson either a) dressed like one of those animated penguins from the Mary Poppins movie, or b) as Mary Poppins herself. I think it'd be a very fun twist on the character. Also, consider: John Mulaney as Dick Van Dyke's character. Picture him as a chimney sweep and tell me that's not perfect casting.

Into The Woods

Admittedly, there's probably a reason they haven't parodied Into The Woods yet, because recognizable though it may be, Sondheim's music is incredibly wordy and complex and would be really difficult to write lyrics over. Still, you could make it work with Cinderella's song "On The Steps of The Palace," which several of the actresses on SNL could probably sing pretty well.

Little Shop of Horrors Again

They've refrenced it twice, why not go for a third time? Little Shop of Horrors is an amazing musical. Besides, "Somewhere That's Green" is a song ripe for parody.

Oklahoma!

"Ohhhhhhhhh Corona, where the Zoom chats lag all live-long day! / Where we all must keep / Apart six feet / Though there's not that much room on the subway!"

That's just a suggestion. There are literally so many places to go with that song alone. Oklahoma! isn't just A classic - it's THE classic. (Seriously, this was the first musical with a plot that all the songs actually followed.)

Chicago

Chicago is such a popular musical it's actually kind of surprising that they haven't touched this one yet. For your entertainment, please imagine John Mulaney, Pete Davidson, Chris Redd, Keenan Thompson, and whoever else they happen to get for this one doing the whole routine from "He Had it Comin'." I don't care what it's about, I just need to see it.

Dear Evan Hansen

John Mulaney seems more likely to reference the classics, but a parody of "Waving Through A Window" might be a fun choice for a parody, especially because so many people know it even if they've never seen Dear Evan Hansen.

Singin' In The Rain

We have to wonder if he missed this one because it's too easy, because people reference the song - and the musical - Singin' In The Rain in media all the time. It can even be one of the quicker refrences - just long enough for either John Mulaney or Pete Davidson to swing from around a streetlight.

Regardless of what songs they decide to go with, we can't wait to see what John Mulaney and the rest of the Saturday Night Live cast have planned for us a couple nights from now. With John Mulaney hosting (hopefully performing some of that new-dad-material I've so been looking forward to hearing), and LCD Soundsystem performing, this Saturday's episode is sure to be one for the books.

Tags
John Mulaney, Pete Davidson, Chris Redd, Cecily Strong, Jake Gyllenhaal, Dick Van Dyke