Mars to Pull Double-Duty on “SNL” This Month…

He’s proved his comedic chops in a recent FunnyorDie.com clip. And now Bruno Mars will be taking his acting work one step further.

The 26-year-old part-Puerto Rican Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has signed on to pull double-duty on an upcoming episode of NBC’s Saturday Night Live.

Bruno Mars

Mars, who will be releasing his sophomore album late this year, will serve as the host and musical guest on the October 20th installment of the late-night comedy sketch show.

SNL kicked off its 38th season on September 15 with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane as the host.

It’ll be the first time as host for Mars, who made his SNL debut as a musical guest on October 9, 2010.

Mars Discusses Sophomore Album in Billboard Cover Story

Bruno Mars will be locked out of Heaven next week… And, he’ll live to sing about it.

In this week’s Billboard magazine cover story, the 26-year-old part-Puerto Rican singer-songwriter discusses his highly anticipated sophomore album, which will be titled Unorthodox Jukebox, as well as the album’s energetic first single, “Locked Out of Heaven,” which debuts digitally and on the radio on October 1.

Bruno Mars Billboard Cover

“This is me going into the studio and recording and writing whatever I want,” Mars says confidently. “This album represents my freedom.”

The follow-up to Mars’ Grammy-winning Doo-Wops & Hooligans is an eclectic set that includes production from Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse), Jeff Bhasker (Beyonce), Emile Haynie (Eminem), Diplo (M.I.A., Usher) and Supa Dups (John Legend, Doo-Woops & Hooligans) as well as the Smeezingtons, Mars’ songwriting and production team. The talented trio executive-produced and co-wrote Unorthodox Jukebox, an album Mars says doesn’t “pick a lane.”

“I’ve had big record label presidents look me in the face and say, ‘Your music sucks, you don’t know who you are, your music is all over the place, and we don’t know how to market this stuff. Pick a lane and come back to us,'” he says. “That was disgusting to me, because I’m not trying to be a circus act.”

Mars says he refused to let himself get boxed in to a specific genre during the recoding process.

“I listen to a lot of music,” says Mars, who recently showed his comedic chops in a hilarious FunnyorDie.com video, “and I want to have the freedom and luxury to walk into a studio and say, ‘Today I want to do a hip-hop, R&B, soul or rock record.'”

Mars’ debut album, released in October 2010, debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and spawned four Hot 100 hits: the Grammy-winning “Just the Way You Are” (No. 1), “Grenade” (No. 1), “The Lazy Song” (No. 4) and “Marry You” (No. 85). The album has sold 1.7 million in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

His other top 10s include “It Will Rain” (No. 4) from the Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 soundtrack, and he was a featured artist on B.o.B‘s “Nothin’ On You” (No. 1), Travie McCoy‘s “Billionaire” (No. 4), Bad Meets Evil‘s “Lighters” (No. 4) and Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa‘s “Young, Wild & Free” (No. 7).

Unorthodox Jukebox is set for a December 11 release on Atlantic Records, according to Billboard.

Here’s a look at the albums track list (in no particular order):

“Locked Out of Heaven”
“Young Girls”
“Gorilla”
“When I Was Your Man”
“Natalie”
“Treasure”
“Moonshine”
“Money Makes Her Smile”
“Show Me”
“If I Knew”

Mars is a “Mighty, Mighty Good Man” in FunnyorDie’s New Video

There’s no denying Bruno Mars is Da Man… And whatta man he is…

The 26-year-old part-Puerto Rican singer-songwriter stars in a hilarious new FunnyorDie.com video.

Bruno Mars' Whatta Man Video

“People ask me all the time what it’s like to be Bruno Mars,” he says at the beginning of the video. “That’s like asking me what it’s like to be a man. A mighty, mighty good man.”

Entitled “Whatta Man,” the clip features the Grammy-winning singer being a mighty, mighty good man. He gets his James Bond on while shooting down bad guys, showers in a tuxedo, channels Bruce Lee and even saves a dog and a pregnant woman from a burning building.

Fittingly blasting in the background: Salt ‘N’ Pepa and En Vogue’s 1993 hit song “Whatta Man.”

Mars, who is set to get animated on The Cleveland Show this season, promoted the FunnyorDie video on Twitter to celebrate the completion of work on his second album.

“Over a year workin on it and now Im finally finished,” he tweeted. “My 2nd album is complete!!!!! Therefore IM THE MAN!!!”