Saturday, April 2, 2016

Peter Dinklage Hosts SNL: Tells Cecily Strong 'Summer Is Coming'

Peter Dinklage has apparently been having a blast with the buildup to tonight’s SNL appearance.

Dinklage has never hosted the show before, and is making the most of all the attention, including this promotional video with Cecily Strong, where he seems to build her up, but then adds, “Gwen Stefani is so fine.”

Stefani and Strong had some banter going on in the promos, according to Billboard.com, quoting the Lannisters from Game Of Thrones to the tune of Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl.” Dinklage is the adult in the room.

Stefani sets him up for the question everyone wants the answer to: “Is Jon Snow…”

She ends it with, “Single?”

Dinklage simply tolerates it all.

The Golden Globe and Emmy winning actor plays the beloved Tyrion Lannister on the HBO smash, Game of Thrones. Dinklage is a somber-appearing character, although quick to laugh and has an obvious rapier-like wit and intelligence. He is four feet six inches tall, according to an article in Esquire, and asking about his height is tricky. His response is quick.

“Uhm, how tall was Lincoln?….Well, he’s a much more important figure in history and hu­manity than I am. But we don’t know how tall he was exactly, do we?”

Dinklage was born with achondroplasia, a genetic dis­order that causes abnormalities in bone formation. There was a one-in-twenty-five-thou­sand chance that he’d have it.

He calls New York home, but told Esquire he was outgrowing the hustle.

“I’m getting to that age where I love New York City, but I don’t call it a vacation anymore. It sort of drives me crazy.”

Dinklage 46, said that despite being born with an obvious difference from other kids, he had a pretty normal childhood just outside Morristown, New Jersey. His dad was an insurance salesman. His mom was a music teacher.

“They never acted like I was special. It was just who you are. You’re just a little bit more unique because you’re not like, you know, everyone else.”

Dinklage attended a Catholic high school, where he developed a friendship with an eccentric priest who loved films. It was there that he decided to become an actor.

“He showed me Fellini for the first time and all of Cassavetes. It sounds pretty pre­tentious to say you found, like, Antonioni at such an early age. But there you have it.”

After college, Dinklage worked for seven years for a company called Professional Examination Service.

“I still don’t know what the company did. But I just, like, plugged information into a computer. I stuck it out because they let me—it was goofy, I had a little cubicle, I made people laugh, I smoked cigs with the guys from the mail room. They didn’t seem to mind that I called in sick every Friday because I would go out Thursday night with my friends and get drunk.”

Like many thespians, he took to music and for awhile performed with a punk-funk-rap band called Whizzy. One night, he told Esquire, he was playing at CBGB.

“…jumping around onstage and got accidentally kneed in the temple. I was like Sid Vicious, just bleeding all over the stage. Blood was going every­where. I just grabbed a dirty bar napkin and dabbed my head and went on with the show.”

He naturally fell in with a group of actors and indie filmmakers. His friend, screenwriter Tom McCarthy, wrote The Station Agent with Dinklage in mind. That was the film which became his breakout role.

It’s easy to see when briefly recapping his career, how hosting Saturday Night Live should be a breeze for this seasoned actor with his understated talent. One just wonders what took him so long to get there.

Game of Thrones Season 6 premieres April 24 on HBO.

[Image via FeatureFlash Photo Agency/Shutterstock]

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