Alec Baldwin Says He Will Host SNL Season Finale

During an interview on the red carpet of the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Alec Baldwin, star of the hit television show "30 Rock" and 12-time SNL host, said he will host the season finale of Saturday Night Live on May 15th.

Gawker.com features a video where Baldwin discusses hosting the show, which can be found here.

Screen and stage actor Alec Baldwin received 2008 and 2009 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his starring role in the current television series, 30 Rock; he won the 2007 Golden Globe, SAG, and Television Critics Association awards for the same role. The Long Island native also has starred on Knot's Landing on CBS and numerous other television shows. On Broadway he appeared in The Roundabout Theatre Company's 2006 revival of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane, directed by Scott Ellis, and with Roundabout's 2004 revival of Hecht and MacArthur's The Twentieth Century, directed by Walter Bobbie.

He was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in the 1992 revival of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, and for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for the television movie of the same production. He won an Obie Award for the 1991 Off-Broadway production of Craig Lucas's Prelude to a Kiss, and a Theatre World Award in 1986 for his turn on Broadway in Joe Orton's Loot. Alec Baldwin's films include Beetlejuice, Miami Blues, The Hunt for Red October, Malice, The Shadow, Glengarry GLen Ross, Heaven's Prisoners, Ghosts of Mississippi, The Edge, The Cat in the Hat, The Aviator, The Departed, Running with Scissors, and The Good Shepherd. He received the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Cooler, directed by Wayne Kramer (2003), and was nominated for an Oscar for the same film. Mr. Baldwin is the author of A Promise to Ourselves (St. Martin's Press). He made his New York Philharmonic debut narrating the Inside the Music program on October 10, 2008, and this season became the host of the Philharmonic's national radio series, The New York Philharmonic This Week.

"Saturday Night Live," NBC's Emmy Award-winning late-night comedy showcase, entered its 35th season September 26, 2009 for another year of laughs, surprises and great performances.

Over the last three decades, "SNL" has launched the careers of many of the brightest comedy performers of a generation; and, as The New York Times noted on the occasion of the show's Emmy-winning 25th Anniversary special in 1999: "In defiance of both time and show business convention, "SNL" is still the most pervasive influence on the art of comedy in contemporary culture." At the close of the century, "Saturday Night Live" placed seventh on Entertainment Weekly's list of the Top 100 Entertainers of the past fifty years.

The program has won 21 Emmy Awards and been nominated for scores more. "SNL" has been honored twice, in 1990 and 2009, with the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award and cited as "truly a national institution." "Saturday Night Live" was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame by the National Association of Broadcasters, and the show continues to garner the highest ratings of any late-night television program, entertaining millions each week.

"SNL" sketches still bear repeating on Monday mornings. With live show surprises, especially those timed to the election - from Barack Obama's surprise walk-on, Hillary Clinton's performance opposite Amy Poehler, and Senator John McCain's "Weekend Update" appearance - "SNL" is making headlines and influencing the political dialogue while skewering it at the same time. Beyond politics, the show's cast of recurring characters and take on pop culture targets remains spot-on. The addition of the show's Emmy Award-winning SNL Digital Shorts continues to keep the show as current today as it was when it debuted.

The impressive lineup of "SNL" guest hosts last season featured some of the biggest stars of film, television, music and sports including: Michael Phelps, James Franco, Anne Hathaway, Jon Hamm, Ben Affleck, Paul Rudd, Neil Patrick Harris, Steve Martin, Bradley Cooper, Alec Baldwin, Zac Efron and Justin Timberlake.

The show continued its unparalleled tradition of featuring both blockbuster and breakout musical acts, hosting such performers as Kings of Leon, Duffy, The Killers, Adele, Coldplay, Beyonce, Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Jonas Brothers, Kelly Clarkson, Phoenix and Green Day.

"Saturday Night Live," which premiered Oct. 11, 1975, is broadcast live from NBC's famed Studio 8H in New York City's Rockefeller Center. The program is a production of Broadway Video in association with SNL Studios. Lorne Michaels is the executive producer.