pack nucleon: One Direction Prove Themselves During 'SNL' Debut

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

One Direction Prove Themselves During 'SNL' Debut

The boys also show off acting chops during 'Manuel Ortiz Show' sketch.
By James Dinh

One Direction performs on SNL
Photo: NBC

It's usually the more seasoned artists that take to the "Saturday Night Live" stage as musical guests, but this season of the late-night NBC show has welcomed newer acts to provide entertainment mid-laughs. Back in January, Lana Del Rey raised eyebrows for delivering a pair of performances that didn't sit right with critics. And on Saturday night, it was One Direction, who continued their Stateside domination with some smooth performances on the Sofia Vergara-hosted episode of "SNL."

Beginning with their mega-smash "What Makes You Beautiful," One Direction worked each side of the Studio 8H stage. Dressed in blazers, vests and cardigans, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan crooned the feel-good track while showing off their boyish charm.

When the boys reappeared later on for a performance of their song "One Thing," they came with a bit more playfulness. As one of the groups behind the recent boy-band resurgence, the guys proved they have more than enough talent, teenage allure and overall packaging to keep them on the charts.

1D also got into the acting action when they made a brief appearance on "The Manuel Ortiz Show" skit. With the help of some wigs and mustaches, the British pop band acted as Spanish children of a rather dysfunctional family. And like all guests on Manuel's show, the singers strutted onto the stage doing the skit's signature dance.

One Directioners got a double-dose of acting from the boys when they made their national television acting debut on Nickelodeon's "iCarly" earlier in the evening. MTV News recently caught up with some of the show's actors, who had nothing but positive things to say about the British music sensations. While iCarly herself, Miranda Cosgrove, found the bandmates "really funny," another castmate, Nathan Krauss, admitted his initial uncertainty in regards to their acting chops.

"Having One Direction on set was really cool. We didn't really know what to expect from them, because we had heard that they didn't really have any acting experience because they have a lot of lines and are almost in every scene," the actor explains. "But we were all very pleasantly surprised. They did very, very well, especially Harry, because he had to pretend to be sick the whole time."

What did you think of One Direction's "SNL" set? Tell us below!

Related Videos