It’s been quite the year for Miles Teller. It’s hardly surprising that Saturday Night Live invited him to headline the first episode of Season 48 given the popularity of Top Gun: Maverick! What an episode it was as well. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Teller, who gained notoriety in films like Whiplash and the Divergent series, shone in the Saturday Night Live premiere. Fans enjoy watching Teller because he is always changing and growing as an actor.
His speech included frequent mention to Top Gun: Maverick, the 1987 follow-up to Top Gun, which starred Tom Cruise as Maverick, a jet pilot with a craving for speed. Teller portrayed Rooster, Anthony Edwards’ (Goose) son, and the movie was a genuine success. Something that Teller mentioned during his monologue because he did mention that it is unusual to develop a film that appeals to both the LGBT and military communities (because Top Gun: Maverick does really feature a homoerotic sequence on the beach). Instead of volleyball this time, it’s football).
The fact that Teller clearly adores Saturday Night Live was what made his monologue so fantastic. So much so that he supplied video evidence to show his lifelong devotion to the comedy series.
In the short video, Teller and his sisters can be seen recreating a classic Saturday Night Live comedy in their living room. Do you recall the Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri-led Spartan cheerleaders? Teller played the part of Oteri and performed that in his home.
They were all behaving like they were on the show, and it was really adorable, but it also set the tone for the rest of the evening. We were all aware of how much Teller valued this and how long he had been waiting for it. It is what transforms an average Saturday Night Live episode into one of the best. When will we realize just how much the host values this? It improves it by that much.
Overall, it was entertaining to watch Teller enjoy himself and have a great time in the sketches. It was a very fantastic episode, and I hope they bring Teller back to host once more, even if there weren’t any particularly memorable sketches that we’ll talk about for the next few weeks.
