Can Robert De Niro Learn From These 5 SNL-Hosting Miscues?

It was announced Thursday that Robert De Niro will host Saturday Night Live on Dec. 4, and SNL fans are already nervous considering his last two outings as host. (Admittedly, the guy does look like he's giving it his all.) But maybe the increasingly complacent Oscar-winner won't be that bad -- after all, SNL has seen far, far more challenged hosts than De Niro could ever be.

It's with them in mind (and with a hat-tip to Tom Shales' ageless book Live From New York) that Movieline looks back on the low points De Niro would do well to consider -- and avoid -- when stepping into Studio 8A:

· Louise Lasser (July 24, 1976)

The godmother of terrible hosts. Lasser was so bad that this episode was banned by Lorne Michaels from ever repeating. In fact, the full show was never re-aired until the DVDs of the entire first season were made available for purchase. Production assistant Neil Levy explained in the Shales book, "I remember Louise Lasser on her hands and knees crawling into my office looking for pot ... and then the day of the show, she decided she wasn't going to do the show unless a certain sketch was cut ... And then Lorne told her agent that he would make sure everyone knew if she walked out." They should have let her go, as it remains one of the worst SNL's to ever air.

· Milton Berle (April 14, 1979)

Berle was from another time and never really fit into what SNL was trying to do. Imagine an episode filled with Berle relentlessly mugging for the camera and doing overdone spit takes. He even managed to whip out his famously large penis for Alan Zweible in the dressing room. As Zweibel told Shales, "He parts his bathrobe and he just takes out this -- this anaconda. And he goes, 'What do you think of the boy?'" Berle topped off the evening by staging a standing ovation to end the show. Lorne Michaels informed the booth that they were not, under any circumstance, to show the ovation. In the end, showing Berle's third leg might have been an improvement.

· Steven Seagal (April 20, 1991)

According to David Spade, SNL almost did an unheard of "cast show" because Segal was so terrible. In the Shales' book, Julia Sweeney describes what it was like being in a pitch meeting with Seagal: "He had this idea that he's a therapist and he wanted Victoria Jackson to be his patient, who's just been raped ... and then the therapist tries to have sex with her." Stay classy, Steve.

· Paris Hilton (Feb 5, 2005)

I could never describe how bad Paris Hilton was as host of SNL as good as Tiny Fey described it on The Howard Stern Show: "She's a piece of sh*t." Well, then. "She's so dumb; she's so proud of how dumb she is." Just watch Fey's interview with Stern -- it's pretty fantastic.

Tina Fey rips Paris Hilton on Howard Stern
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Chevy Chase (Multiple)

Thanks to Community, Chase seems to have rehabilitated himself to a degree, but, nevertheless, for a good part of his career, he was a prick. The high point (low point?) of this behavior might have come on Nov. 16, 1985. Terry Sweeney, an openly gay cast member, described him as a "monster." He asked Robert Downey Jr., "Didn't your father used to be a successful director ... you know, he sure went to hell?" Sweeney recounts the story of Chevy's idea for a sketch that week: "How about we say you have AIDS and have to weigh you every week?" Jon Lovitz added that Sweeney asked Chevy at one point what he could do for him; Chevy asked if Sweeney was gay, and when he responded that he was, Chevy answered, "Well, you can start by licking my balls." A few years later, Tim Meadows described Chase as similar to "watching a car accident over and over again, just watching him deal with people." Don't we know it.

Who else?