'Saturday Night Live' is Back With Michael Phelps

After he hosts NBC's Saturday Night Live this weekend, there might not be much more the network can squeeze out of Michael Phelps.For now, anyway. Phelps' historic eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics were the driving force behind NBC's prime-time Olympic ratings, just as Phelps' six golds in Athens were the key to NBC's 2004 Olympic ratings. NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol told The New York Times that after NBC gained Olympic officials' support in its bid to have swimming finals moved from evenings to mornings so they could be shown live in prime time on the East Coast, the "first outsider" he consulted was Phelps, who was agreeable. After Phelps worked his way through various NBC outlets — this week giving Jay Leno his best rating in nearly three months — it was inevitable he'd end up on SNL.

Saturday also marks the comedy debut of Phelps -- talk about a fish out of water. The swimmer who won a record-setting eight gold medals at last month's Olympics has been riding a pop-culture wave since Beijing, making the rounds of the TV talk shows, presenting at MTV's Video Music Awards and being gossiped about in the tabloids.Phelps follows in the athletic footsteps of such jocks as LeBron James, Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter and Michael Jordan, who also hosted NBC's late-night sketch show.