Miles Teller made his childhood dreams come true as the host of Saturday Night Live.
In the Season 48 opener, the Top Gun: Maverick star revealed that as a kid he and his sister would recreate sketches at home including Will Ferrell’s classic Spartans Cheerleaders skit.
However, Teller, as an eight-year-old, didn’t play Ferrell’s character but rather that of Cheri Oteri’s because he “had the frame for it” while his older sister took on Ferrell’s role.
“I’m so honored to be here. Growing up, me and my family would watch SNL every week,” he said during the monologue. “My sisters and I would reenact some of the sketches and my mom would videotape them.”
Thanks to Teller’s mom, footage of the home video was played including the memorable ending “who’s that spartan in my teepee?”
“How crazy is that? My parents used to watch me doing skits in my living room and now they’re here watching me host Saturday Night Live,” the first-time host added.
Teller’s monologue came after he appeared as Peyton Manning in the cold open, the first time that a first-time host appeared in the cold open since Chris Pratt in 2014, according to the Saturday Night Network. He was joined by his Top Gun: Maverick co-star Jon Hamm and snowboarder Shaun White.
SNL’s season 48 premiere comes after a major cast shakeup.
The new season of the sketch show saw the addition of four new comedians with Marcello Hernández, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker joining the SNL cast.
Cast members that made an exit ahead of the new season included Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney, Pete Davidson, Melissa Villaseñor, Alex Moffat, Aristotle Athari and Chris Redd.