Paul Mescal Mocks Nude Scenes, Irish Pride, and Short-Shorts in Hilarious ‘SNL’ Debut

“Gladiator II” star Paul Mescal hosted ‘Saturday Night Live’ for the first time during its 50th season, joking about everything from his lack of comedic roles to his Irish heritage.

Dressed in all black with a mustache, Mescal stepped onto the Studio 8H stage and said, “I’m Paul Mescal and it is great to be here. I’ve always loved SNL. This place has such history.”

Mescal, who is from Maynooth, Ireland, added, “Growing up back home I never expected to be here. I’m also excited to be here because I’m not really known for comedy, which is funny to me because I think I’ve given a lot of really funny performances.”

Paul Mescal was humorously commenting on his range as an actor. He was joking that while he’s known for doing emotional and even nude scenes, he recently took on a different role in ‘Gladiator II,’ which is a big action film. To playfully highlight this shift, he showed a clip of himself crying in the shower, blending his emotional acting with the new action-packed role.

I think it’s funny, no? I think it’s clear, I’m not afraid to do emotional scenes, or nude scenes, or nude emotional scenes. But recently, I did pivot to something new in ‘Gladiator II.’ It’s a big action-packed blockbuster.

It’s safe to say there’s not a lot of comedy on the resume

The actor was humorously expressing his pride in being Irish, mentioning the challenges the Irish people have faced, including British occupation, the Great Famine, mass immigration, and even joking about the U2 album that was automatically downloaded to people’s phones.

Anyway, I do take great pride in being Irish. The Irish people have been through a lot. Centuries of British occupation, the great famine, mass immigration, that U2 album that automatically got downloaded on people’s phones.

There’s a nasty rumor that Irish people have sex with our cousins. That’s offensive and it’s ridiculous. We have sex with our second cousins,

He joked that while people might think the Irish hate the British, it’s not true—they just don’t think of them the same way – as people. When asked about Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish mascot, he responded jokingly that it’s not offensive, and added that his high school had its own humorous mascot, the “Fighting Fat Asses,”

“Not at all. We do the same thing with the Americans; in fact, my high school’s mascot was the Fighting Fat Asses.”

The actor also cleared up the idea that Irish people wear kilts. “No, that’s the Scottish. Traditionally, the Irish wear short shorts,” he said, as a picture of him in tiny shorts appeared on the screen. “Did someone say short shorts?” asked Marcello Hernandez, who then came onstage wearing tiny shorts as well.

Mescal talked about one Irish stereotype that feels true for him tonight. “People often talk about the luck of the Irish. I do feel very, very lucky to be here. I’m in New York City, I’m hosting SNL, and this feels totally insane to me,” he said with a smile.

In his first skit, Mescal took part in a musical version of ‘Gladiator II,’ imagining the film with 50 extra minutes of music. In it, Mescal sang about being a misunderstood killing machine.

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