SNL Host Lady Gaga Promises Not To Do Joker 3 After Winning A Razzie
Lady Gaga returned to "Saturday Night Live" on March 8, 2025, hosting the show for the first time since 2013. In the 12-year since her last hosting gig, a lot has happened in Gaga's life. She's not just one of the most talented musicians of her generation anymore, she's also a movie star.
In Gaga's opening monologue, she shouted out her most recent acting gig: the less-than-beloved "Joker: Folie à Deux." Gaga, of course, played Harley "Lee" Quinzel, a groupie for Arthur Fleck/The Joker (Joaquin Phoenix). "Folie à Deux" had some fans (including here at /Film, read our "Joker 2" review) but by most metrics it was a failure. Most critics hated it and, despite a higher budget, it only made about a fifth of the original's $1 billion box office gross.
Fortunately Gaga has always had a sense of humor about herself. On "SNL," she poked fun at "Joker: Folie à Deux" and herself for starring in it, joking: "I've been very diligent about selecting films that would showcase my craft as a serious actor. Films such as 'Joker 2.'"
Gaga is halfway to being an EGOT winner (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). She's won more than a dozen Grammys and "Shallow" in "A Star Is Born" took home the Oscar for Best Original Song. She even reframed her "Joker" Razzie win as a step on that journey.
"Joaquin and I even got nominated for a Razzie, which is an award for the worst films of the year. So we won for worst onscreen duo. But joke's on them. I love winning things, and my Razzie brings me one step closer to an EGORT. It's like an EGOT, but it's hurtful."
She capped the monologue off by reassuring her audience that: "I respect everyone here so much, so tonight I promise to act, to sing, and to not do 'Joker 3.'" Considering the performance of "Joker 2," though, she probably won't even get the chance to turn it down.
Joker 2 was not the stage that Lady Gaga deserved
Gaga has previously said she wasn't letting the negative "Joker" reviews get her down, telling Elle that:
"People just sometimes don't like some things. It's that simple. And I think to be an artist, you have to be willing for people to sometimes not like it. And you keep going even if something didn't connect in the way that you intended."
That attitude makes sense coming from an artist as experimental as Gaga. Early in her career, she was dismissed a bit as a one-note sideshow, thanks to her camp performances and outrageous costumes. But she's endured as a relevant artist, and shown her talent has layers along the way. In her new "SNL" monologue, she self-effacingly compares her age (38) to younger pop stars like Chappel Roan, but in showbiz (an industry hostile to any woman older than 29), her age is a mark of strength and greatness. And frankly, the failure of "Joker 2" shouldn't be put at her feet.
Sure, I imagine some were turned off by it being a musical, but Gaga's presence is just a symptom of that creative choice. A common criticism of the movie is actually that it didn't commit enough to being a musical, and that director Todd Phillips didn't know how to execute the idea. Seriously, you've got Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn in a jukebox musical and you don't let her sing "Bad Romance"?
Gaga's acting career isn't, and probably can never be, as illustrious as her music one, but I hope "Joker 2" is just a speed bump on her still in-progress Hollywood legacy.