When delivering his monologue for the December 5 episode, the 'Ozark' actor looks back at the scary moment he almost lost his nose to the ape co-star 15 years ago.

• Dec 7, 2020

AceShowbiz - Jason Bateman relived a dangerous moment as he returned to host "Saturday Night Live" at the weekend, revealing he almost lost his nose to a chimpanzee.

The "Ozark" star last fronted the U.S. TV sketch show 15 years ago and recalled a nasty moment with an ape co-star.

During his monologue on Saturday, December 5, Jason explained the chimp tried to bite his face during the end credits - and showed the clip of the near-attack as the SNL regulars at the time watched in horror, but did nothing.

"If that show did that sketch today, they would use a puppet or a kid in a fuzzy suit for safety, but back then, they used a real male adult chimpanzee. This was 2005 -- things were loose," he said. "Things were so loose that at the end of the show, the monkey was allowed to take a bow with us up here. We're all hugging, we're saying good night, the credits are rolling, and then the monkey tried to kill me."

"I'm a nice fella -- but not the chimp. The chimp unhinges his jaw, he flashes the teeth, and he tries to bite my entire nose off. ... They hate that humans have faces and they want to remove them," Jason jokingly recalled, before sharing the footage from the 2005 episode.

"I am smiling but inside I'm thinking a monkey just attacked me and nobody cares. They're just hugging."

Bateman then joked that he and the chimp made up backstage before he had the creature destroyed.