Former “SNL” cast member Amy Poehler had a hilariously reassuring response for the actor on her podcast, “Good Hang.”

Tom Holland reveals why he’s never hosted Saturday Night Live: ‘I’m so petrified’

Former "SNL" cast member Amy Poehler had a hilariously reassuring response for the actor on her podcast, "Good Hang."

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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June 2, 2026 2:05 p.m. ET

Tom Holland at the Critics Choice Awards in 2024. Credit:

Monica Schipper/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty

- Tom Holland admits he's been asked to host *Saturday Night Live* multiple times but keeps turning down the offers.

- The *Spider-Man: Brand New Day* star said his dyslexia and fear of reading the cue cards have been holding him back.

- "I'm just so petrified," Holland told three-time *SNL* host and former cast member Amy Poehler on Tuesday's episode of her *Good Hang *podcast.

Live from New York, it's… not Tom Holland.

The *Spider-Man: Brand New Day* actor, who just turned 30, has already crossed plenty of career milestones off his list, but there's one honor that he has yet to embrace. Despite being an A-list movie star, the Marvel actor has never signed on to host *Saturday Night Live*. During a recent sit-down with three-time *SNL* host and former cast member Amy Poehler on Tuesday's episode of her *Good Hang** *podcast, Holland explained why that is.

"I'm heavily dyslexic," Holland told Poehler, adding, "Which is one of the reasons why — and I'd love to talk to you today about it, actually — is why I've never done *SNL*."

Pointing to the show's handwritten cue cards, which are used to make last-minute adjustments to the script, Holland said, "I'm just so petrified at the concept of, like, trying to read something and they change [it]."

Dyslexia causes "difficulty reading" due to "individual differences in areas of the brain that process language," according to the Mayo Clinic. The learning disorder has nothing to do with "intelligence, hearing or vision."

Tom Holland at Covent Garden in 2025.

Tristan Fewings/Getty

The actor explained that, for him, reading itself isn't the problem, but when it comes to reading aloud, it can be a struggle.

"I can read fine. But when I have to read out loud, it just becomes… it's like a mental block," he shared. "And I can freeze.”

Holland shared that his dyslexia means that his "worst day" on film sets is usually table-read day, when the cast unites with the director to read through the script out loud. Luckily, the actor has figured out a strategy that helps him.

"I will really try and highlight everything and learn my lines ahead of time," he shared. "So that I'm more kind of skimming it than I am reading."

But Holland fears that if he accepted the offer to host *SNL*, there would be nowhere to hide if last-minute adjustments led to wholly new lines appearing on the cue cards.

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"I've been really lucky that they've asked me a few times to do it," Holland said. "And the truth is that I'm actually just really scared at the prospect of…  I love the show, and I love the idea of having fun and making a fool of yourself in such a fun, creative way. It's just that thing of the cue cards."

Poehler offered a hilarious remark to bolster his confidence, replying, "You have to remember, there have been people that have hosted that have been fully on drugs."

As Holland burst out laughing, she added, "So I think you can do it."

Holland is certainly not the first star to avoid *SNL* over fear of the cue cards. Back in 2019, *Lords of the Rings** *alum Orlando Bloom revealed that he had passed on hosting the sketch comedy show because he also has dyslexia and worried about reading on the live broadcast.

"I was really insecure at the time,” Bloom said during a visit to *The Howard Stern Show*. "Partly my dyslexia, partly, like, that window of time where I couldn’t even… think straight and see the wood through the trees."

Bloom has since changed his tune, saying, "I would love to [host] *Saturday Night Live* now."

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Should Bloom or Holland finally decide to step into the venerated Studio 8H, they wouldn't be the first stars with dyslexia to embrace the challenge. Whoopi Goldberg, Channing Tatum, and Jennifer Aniston are just a few of the former *SNL* hosts who have openly discussed living with dyslexia.

Aside from his hesitations over the *SNL* cue cards, Holland has not shied away from live performance itself. After all, the actor got his start playing the titular dancer in *Billy Elliot* on the West End. Not to mention his most beloved performance to date: his 2017 rendition of Rihanna's "Umbrella" for *Lip Sync Battle.*

Watch Holland discuss *SNL* and more in his conversation with Poehler above.

Original Article on Source

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