Dan Levy Didn't Actually Start That 'SNL' Dressing Room Tradition — Here's Who Did

Dan Levy definitely made his mark on Studio 8H during his Saturday Night Live hosting debut earlier this year. In addition to crushing it onstage, the Schitt's Creek star went viral for kicking off a small but sweet chain of kindness among SNL celebrity guest hosts when he left an encouraging note for the following week's host, Regina King, who then left a note for her successor, and so on. However, Dan Levy's recent quotes about the SNL note tradition reveal the Post-It positivity didn't actually start with him.

In case you missed it, Levy made headlines the weeks following his Feb. 6 SNL hosting gig for seemingly sparking a new backstage tradition among the show's hosts. An encouraging sticky note he left in the dressing room for Regina King seemingly inspired a trend. King left her own note for the next host, Regé-Jean Page, who then left a message for Nick Jonas ahead of his own SNL week.

Since the show took a month-long break after Jonas' episode (and the March 27 host Maya Rudolph doesn't really need any encouragement when it comes to slaying on SNL, obviously), it's unclear if Jonas continued the tradition. Since the notes felt more like a bit of camaraderie between first-time hosts, they could come back when Daniel Kaluuya and Carey Mulligan make their hosting debuts in April.

The messages have been a unique bright spot in SNL Season 46, but Levy clarified in a March 25 interview with Today that they go back a bit further than his own moment. "I feel the need to clarify this… I didn't start [the tradition]. I kind of continued it," Levy said, revealing he was actually inspired by a note he found in the dressing room from Woody Harrelson to Phoebe Waller-Bridge when they were hosts in 2019.

Levy said that note made him want to encourage another first-time host as well. "I asked if I could leave a note for Regina because the process is such a strange experience. Strange, wonderful and intimidating experience that like, a little note from the person that had just done it felt like such a sweet vote of confidence," he told Today.

Unfortunately, Levy didn't reveal what Harrelson's note to Waller-Bridge said, and since Waller-Bridge doesn't use social media, fans never even had a chance to check out a photo of the note. The message was probably very personal and loving, though, considering the overwhelming adoration Harrelson had expressed for Waller-Bridge prior to their back-to-back SNL episodes. The two co-starred in 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story, and in fact, Harrelson revealed he only agreed to that movie because he was such a massive fan of Waller-Bridge's show Fleabag.

While Harrelson may have started the sweet SNL tradition, it was Levy's note that brought it to social media to encourage future hosts to leave a little love for the next celeb taking on Studio 8H. Lorne Michaels better keep the host's dressing room stocked with sticky notes from here on out.