Taylor Swift Crashes Dakota Johnson’s ‘SNL’ Monologue With a Joke About Her Dating Life
Swift turned up unexpectedly during Johnson’s opening monologue, playing the actress’s very unqualified “therapist” before returning later with a birthday cake.
Taylor Swift gave Dakota Johnson an unexpected assist during her “Saturday Night Live” return, appearing in the middle of the actress’s opening monologue to joke about her dating history — and later showing up again with a birthday cake.
Johnson had been talking about her recent romantic life when she introduced her “literal therapist,” telling the audience that her closest friends were supportive and never judgmental.
Swift then appeared onscreen.
“I’m not your therapist, actually,” Swift said, before describing Johnson as someone who regularly arrives at her house with an empty wine bottle, flops onto her couch and starts oversharing.
Johnson immediately embraced the bit.
“Sleepover, yay!” she replied.
Swift’s version of the friendship was slightly less glamorous. After listening to Johnson’s problems, she said, she gives her Pedialyte and has her security team drive the actress home.
The surprise appearance was one of the night’s biggest celebrity moments, particularly because speculation had been building around whether Swift would turn up during the episode.
Johnson had plenty to say about her musician exes
Swift’s appearance came after Johnson had already made her dating history one of the central jokes of the monologue.
The actress referenced her two recent high-profile breakups with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and musician Role Model, describing them as “two very public, very lame breakups with two very awesome musicians.”
Then she added, “Looking for a third.”
Johnson also connected her dating life to her new movie, Verity, describing the film as a “psychosexual erotic thriller” before comparing that description to dating musicians.
“Some of them don’t wear shoes, some of them are terrible in bed, but all of them are in my DMs,” she joked.
Her punchline about concerts was even more pointed: “Some people leave concerts with merch, and I leave concerts with a two-and-a-half-year relationship.”
With Swift beside her later in the monologue, Johnson returned to the subject.
She joked that she was doing a “public service” by dating musicians because she was saving people money on Zoloft. She then expanded the joke to America, England, parts of Ireland and Cleveland — the last reference pointing toward Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce.
“Allegedly,” Swift replied.
Swift also accidentally got Johnson’s birthday early
The two continued the exchange with another personal joke when Swift suddenly squealed, “It’s her birthday!”
There was one small problem: Johnson had already explained that her birthday would arrive at midnight.
Swift was therefore celebrating a little early.
The birthday joke eventually became a real birthday surprise. During the goodnights at the end of the episode, Swift returned with a birthday cake for Johnson, turning her surprise cameo into one of the episode’s final moments.
Swift’s ‘SNL’ appearance had been a possibility for weeks
Swift’s appearance did not include a musical performance. Turnstile had already been announced as the episode’s musical guest, leaving Swift free to make her appearance as part of the comedy instead.
Still, her arrival on “SNL” was hardly an entirely random possibility.
Swift had already appeared in an Easter egg-filled “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” sketch at the Emmys. During that sketch, a large “Saturday Night Live” emblem could be seen on a bulletin board behind her.
For Swift fans, it looked like a conspicuous hint.
That speculation finally paid off when Swift appeared alongside Johnson, turning what began as a joke about friendship and dating into one of the episode’s most memorable celebrity cameos.
Johnson’s monologue had already promised plenty of jokes about musicians. Swift simply made sure she got the last word.
