Editor’s note: Mike Murray hosts Saturday Night Network’s weekly By the Numbers podcast. Click the embed at the top of this post to watch it live Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, or catch the replay afterward.
Ryan Gosling made his fourth hosting visit to Saturday Night Live this week, having previously starred in one of the most-viewed sketches of the recent era, “Beavis and Butt-Head,” when he last hosted in April 2024. Gorillaz joined him as musical guest, and next week’s host, Harry Styles, quietly crashed the monologue. Read on to see how they all stacked up against the cast.
Note: Our screen time calculation method prioritizes face time, meaning that any contiguous off-screen-but-in-scene moments and most partial-body appearances do not count. Screen time in the opening credits, bumpers, goodnights, and cut-for-time sketches is not included, nor do those portions factor into our assessment of an episode’s total running time.
Ryan Gosling – 22:48 (36.0%)
Gosling had three fewer minutes of screen time than he did in his Season 49 effort (25:56). Even so, he still ranks seventh among Season 51’s 14 hosts thus far. Anchored by the longest non-standup monologue (over 6-1/2 minutes) since his aforementioned 2024 episode, Gosling appeared in all four live sketches (totaling 12:53) and two of the night’s pretapes (03:07). His appearance in “Passing Notes” was only the fifth time in the past eight years a host has clocked over five minutes of screen time in a single live sketch, the most recent being Melissa McCarthy in December’s “UPS Delivery Driver.” “Passing Notes,” which paired him in a classroom with Ashley Padilla, was the longest live sketch since Season 50’s”Port Authority Duane Reade” John Mulaney musical.
Ashley Padilla – 12:33 (19.8%)
Padilla led the cast for the third time of her career (and this season). Starting the night in the Cold Open as Kristi Noem, the sophmore featured player dominated after the monologue, participating in all four of the live sketches, totaling over ten minutes. Most notable were “Passing Notes” (05:20) and “Cyclops” (04:14), which account for two of her five longest career appearances. Padilla has increased her cast leads in both Season 51 screen time (01:42:59, 14 minutes ahead of Colin Jost) and appearances (71, ten ahead of Sarah Sherman).
Mikey Day – 10:40 (16.9%)
Day scored his eighth-best episode in eight years, racking up his most screen time since last season’s Timothée Chalamet episode (14:27). Having played half the duo in Season 49’s headline-grabbing “Beavis and Butt-Head” sketch, he increased his time by nearly seven minutes in this week’s show. He popped into Gosling’s monologue with an encouraging kiss on the cheek before leading the “Wedding Tradition” sketch (02:56) with Sarah Sherman, and making four more appearances of a minute or more throughout the night.
Sarah Sherman – 08:06 (12.8%)
Sherman hit an important milestone late in the evening with her 300th career appearance in “The Goo Goo Man.” She made consecutive appearances in the first four segments of the night and capped the best three-episode stretch of her career (averaging 09:15 of screen time across the Gosling, Connor Storrie, and Alexander Skarsgård episodes). This follows her worst three-episode stretch in four years, averaging 01:51 alongside hosts Teyana Taylor, Finn Wolfhard, and Ariana Grande.
Colin Jost – 07:52 (12.4%)
In his 13th season, Jost made three appearances in a single episode for the first time with a unique stat line—03:54 as Hegseth in the Cold Open, 03:42 anchoring “Weekend Update,” and 00:16 as himself in the final segment/Martin Herlihy’s short film. Still, it was only his fourth-highest screen time of the season, due to a short “Update” (09:43) where he hosted no guests at the desk.
Kenan Thompson – 07:06 (11.2%)
Thompson had been quiet the last two episodes (averaging just 01:47), but this was a standout week for the SNL vet, with five appearances and his second-most screen time of the season. His night was anchored by his first drop-by at the “Weekend Update” desk in a full year. His “Pastor Update” riffed off Michael Che and was joined by James Austin Johnson (as Teddy, his bandleader).
Veronika Slowikowska – 06:42 (10.6%)
Last week’s Connor Storrie episode saw Slowikowska leading the cast (with 12:23, the first rookie to do so in over 50 episodes). She also is the only rookie of the Season 51 class to not drop below a minute in any of the 14 episodes. Slowikowska logged over four minutes in “Cyclops,” joined the ensemble in Gosling’s monologue, and had a supporting role in the “Pastry Bakery” pre-tape. She made her 50th appearance of the season with a quick appearance in Herlihy’s “Lies” film.
Gorillaz – 06:25 (10.1%)
Promoting their ninth studio album, “The Mountain,” Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s virtual band made their SNL debut. The first performance celebrated the 25th anniversary of their self-titled debut album and featured Dell the Funky Homosapien (03:58), the original rapper on “Clint Eastwood,” the band’s first single. Later, “The Moon Cave,” off their latest release, featured Asha Puthli (02:57), Black Thought of The Roots (02:27), and Anoushka Shankar (01:51) on sitar.
Michael Che – 03:58 (6.3%)
Che had Thompson drop by his side of the “Update” desk as “Pastor Update.” He’s averaging 03:43 in Season 51 vs. 04:22 last season. Che is one of just five SNL cast members to reach a 12th season (two others are in the current cast: Thompson and Jost).
James Austin Johnson – 03:11 (5.0%)
In only the third episode of the season he did not appear as Donald Trump, Johnson returned to “Weekend Update” with his first in-person appearance since October 2024. He provided a voice in “Cyclops,” and appeared in two pretapes plus Gosling’s monologue. Johnson is on pace for his best statistical season yet.
Jane Wickline – 02:15 (3.6%)
Season 51 has been a tale of two Wicklines—seven episodes under two minutes, seven episodes over two minutes. Gosling’s episode was her sixth overall (and third this season) with four or more appearances. She was in “Wedding Tradition” (00:19), “Passing Notes” (00:56), Gosling’s monologue (00:41), and “Lies” (00:19). If Wickline does not make an appearance on “Update” in Harry Styles’ episode this Saturday, it would tie her longest streak (five episodes) away from the desk.
Chloe Fineman – 02:02 (3.2%)
Fineman returned to SNL after last week’s absence with her lowest screen time of the season. Her longest appearance came in the night’s second pretape, “The Pastry Bakery” (00:58). By this season’s finale, Fineman will tie Ego Nwodim for the eighth-longest tenure among female cast members in SNL history.
Martin Herlihy – 01:43 (2.7%)
“Lies,” Herlihy’s third short film of the season, saw the SNL writer and Please Don’t Destroy member transform into a Colin Jost imposter in his sixth-longest career appearance. He previously had short films in the Teyana Taylor and Sabrina Carpenter episodes, all airing in the final slot.
Harry Styles – 01:42 (2.7%)
Styles, who is set to serve as host and musical guest this week, dropped by to observe Gosling’s monologue from the front row of Studio 8H—and in doing so inadvertently (but very on purpose-ly) hijacked Gosling’s spotlight. He looked on as Gosling sang “Sign of the Times,” in promotion for the host’s upcoming sci-fi film, Project Hail Mary.
Jeremy Culhane – 01:10 (1.8%)
Culhane is three appearances shy of hitting 50 on the season, where he’d join rookie classmate Slowikowska. He was one of six cast members to make five or more appearances this week, averaging a mere 14 seconds across them. Culhane opened the show in the Cold Open, introducing Jost’s Pete Hegseth; kissed his sister (played by Wickline) in “Wedding Tradition”; and owned the dance floor in the “Otezla” pretape.
Kam Patterson – 01:08 (1.8%)
Patterson finished 2025/began 2026 with his strongest screen time streak, averaging 03:32 over three episodes (Grande, Wolfhard, Taylor). He has averaged 01:01 since (including being shut out of SNL‘s 1,000th episode, hosted by Alexander Skarsgård). This week he made three small appearances, as a DJ in “Wedding Tradition,” a student in “Passing Notes,” and as a man outside 30 Rock in Herlihy’s “Lies.”
Marcello Hernández – 01:06 (1.7%)
Hernández had his lowest screen time since last April’s Jon Hamm episode (00:38). He did not show up until after midnight, where he played one of the students/appeared for a minute in “Passing Notes.” He made a second appearance in Herlihy’s short film, as himself. His career average is hovering just under four minutes per episode.
Ben Marshall – 00:57 (1.5%)
Coming off a career-high in Connor Storrie’s episode, Marshall logged his fourth episode of the season with under a minute of screen time. He appeared in the first two segments of the night, playing a reporter in the Pete Hegseth Cold Open (00:16) and among the cast ensemble in Gosling’s monologue (00:41).
Tommy Brennan – 00:54 (1.4%)
In the first half of Season 51, Brennan averaged 03:41 per episode. He has averaged 01:26 per episode since, including his single appearance in last week’s episode—in “Ice Skating,” which ended up being his longest career appearance (04:38). Brennan could be spied in the Cold Open, Gosling’s monologue, and quickly in Herlihy’s “Lies.”
Andrew Dismukes – 00:35 (0.9%)
Dismukes, who last week hit the seven-hour career screen time milestone, had his quietest episode in more than 50 episodes (00:04, Bad Bunny in October 2023). He’s seventh on the cast screen time leaderboard for this season, due to being the most consistent player through the 2025 portion, but has had his lowest two-episode average in over a year with Connor Storrie and Ryan Gosling hosting.
