Omicron limits SNL recording

Paul Rudd-hosted episode won’t include live audience

NEW YORK — People’s Sexiest Man Alive of 2021 was inducted into the vaunted Five-Timers Club on “Saturday Night Live,” but the surging omicron variant of the coronavirus meant there wasn’t a live audience to see it happen.

The long-running sketch comedy show announced on social media Saturday afternoon that the night’s episode, featuring “Ant-Man” star Paul Rudd as host, would tape without a live audience and with only limited cast and crew “due to the recent spike in the omicron variant and out of an abundance of caution.”

Singer Charli XCX had been scheduled to perform but announced Saturday afternoon on Twitter that she was bowing out.

“Due to the limited crew at tonight’s taping of SNL my musical performances will no longer be able to go ahead,” she wrote. “I am devastated and heartbroken.”

She then urged her fans to “look after yourselves out there and make sure you get vaccinated if you haven’t already.”

Rudd was returning to Studio 8H as host for the fifth time — typically a milestone of much fanfare. The Dec. 18 episode was the NBC show’s last announced episode for the year.

It was unclear as of Saturday evening which cast members would appear on the show, which usually tapes a dress rehearsal at 8 p.m., followed by the live show at 11:30 p.m.

The show returned for its 47th year in September with 16 cast members and five featured players.

This is far from the first time the Lorne Michaels-produced show has had to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic. The virus outbreak halted its 45th season for about a month, but “SNL” was back on the air by mid-April with a “quarantine version” of the show hosted by Tom Hanks. The show returned to 30 Rockefeller Center for its 46th season after implementing covid-19 protocols, but booted singer Morgan Wallen from that season’s second episode for breaking rules. And just last month, British singer Ed Sheeran had to perform from home after contracting the coronavirus.