‘SNL’: Oscar Isaac Teases ‘Moon Knight’, Brings Out Old Home Movies In Opening Monologue

Oscar Isaac tonight made his debut as host of Saturday Night Live, speaking in his opening monologue about the upcoming Disney+ series Moon Knight, which will serve as his introduction to the MCU, and more.

“I’m so excited to be here. This is my first time hosting SNL,” Isaac said up top. “They actually asked me to host back in 2015 but I said, ‘Nah, I’m not ready. I want to wait until after the pandemic.’ And they were like, ‘What pandemic?'”

The actor went on to say that while his stage name is Oscar Isaac, his full name is Oscar Isaac Hernández Estrada. “I said to Hollywood, ‘You can pick two of these names.’ Guess what they went with? The white ones,” he joked. “I’m half Guatemalan, half Cuban—or, as casting directors call that, ‘Ethnically ambiguous.’ According to them, I can play anything from a pharoah to Timothée Chalamet’s daddy.”

You know that joke about a priest, a rabbi and a minister walking into a bar, Isaac asked? “Yeah,” he deadpanned, “I could play anyone in that joke.”

Isaac then pivoted to express his excitement about “joining the Marvel universe” with Moon Knight, in which he plays the mercenary of the same name. This, he said, is “kind of a full-circle moment” given the fact that the first movie he was ever in was The Avenger. “Not The Avengers, which was a massive blockbuster. No, no. This was The Avenger, which is a movie I wrote, directed and starred in when I was 10 years old,” he explained. “It was shot on location in my buddy Bruce Ferguson’s backyard, in our hometown of Miami, Florida. I play a ninja assassin training to fight his nemesis, and we actually have a clip.”

We then cut to that clip, which offers a glimpse at Isaac’s wannabe assassin. “[The film’s] arguably better than the real Avengers, and I made it for half the budget—only about $110 million,” he continued. “But I took it really seriously—maybe a little too seriously. Like in this scene.”

Cut to Isaac “acting [his] heart out” as his friend Bruce’s dad cleans his pool in the background. The actor then offered a shout-out to Bruce, noting that he’s at home watching SNL tonight, and that he has no idea that the film they made together is appearing on national TV. “I actually had to sign a licensing agreement to show it. It’s true,” said Isaac. “NBCUniversal now owns The Avenger, coming this fall to Peacock.”

Isaac then set up a third clip, which featured him playing two characters, one of whom was licking blood off of a sword. Naturally, he praised himself for showing “total commitment” to his craft from the start.

“Now you may be asking, Oscar, why are you using your monologue to show us old home videos? And the reason is, it’s important to encourage kids to be weirdos,” said Isaac, as he was handed a bloody prop sword to lick on stage. “Because every once in a while, one of those weirdos grows up to host SNL.”

Moon Night debuts on Disney+ on March 30. The series’ star, who also recently appeared in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, is joined for tonight’s episode by musical guest Charli XCX. Isaac’s opening monologue can be found above.