Lady Gaga Sets SNL Season 50 Screen Time Record

Lady Gaga served as both the host and musical guest of Saturday Night Live on March 8th, less than 48 hours after the release of her sixth solo album, Mayhem. Her screen time across 11 segments amounted to over 48% of the episode, which is a new record for a Season 50 host.

Scroll down to see how Gaga stacked up against each of the show’s named performers, including former cast member Mike Myers, who made his second cold open cameo in as many weeks.

Note: Our screen time calculation method has been developed in partnership with longtime SNL statistician Mike Murray, host of the Saturday Night Network’s weekly By The Numbers podcast. We prioritize face time, meaning that any contiguous (off-screen but in-scene) moments and practically all partial body appearances do not count. Screen time in the opening credits, bumpers, goodnights and cut-for-time sketches are not included, nor do those portions factor into our assessment of the episode’s total running time.

Lady Gaga – 30:26 / 48.00%

Gaga spent just over one quarter of her screen time in this episode performing the Mayhem tracks “Abracadabra” and “Killah.” She also sang in three of her eight sketches, including twice with Bowen Yang as her duet partner (“Wonderful Tonight” and “No More Slay”).

Marcello Hernandez – 10:14 / 16.14%

This week marked the second time in his three-season SNL career that Marcello Hernandez outpaced each of his castmates in terms of screen time. Over eight of his 10 minutes on screen came during his portrayals of Marco Rubio in the cold open and Gaga’s character’s boyfriend in “A Long Goodbye.”

Bowen Yang – 9:16 / 14.62%

Yang, who called to Gaga as his “favorite artist in the world” at SNL50: The Homecoming Concert, performed with her in three of this week’s sketches and introduced her “Abracadabra” performance. He also briefly showed up during her monologue, making him the only cast member to appear in three such segments this season (the other two being Ariana Grande and Martin Short).

James Austin Johnson – 8:12 / 12.93%

As of this episode, James Austin Johnson has now logged more Season 50 screen time as Donald Trump than Maya Rudolph did as Kamala Harris. His latest cold open performance also made him the eighth repertory player to accumulate more than one hour of screen time this season.

Ego Nwodim – 7:53 / 12.43%

Ego Nwodim played sizable roles in all of this week’s final four live sketches, with her largest being in “Birthday at Friendly’s.” Along with Sarah Sherman and Kenan Thompson, she also took on the duty of introducing Gaga’s “Killah” performance.

Sarah Sherman – 7:04 / 11.15%

Sherman now holds the distinction of being the only performer to physically appear in all three of Dan Bulla’s “Midnight Matinee” sketches, the newest of which was this week’s “Pip.” She also continues to rank as the cast member with the most Season 50 screen time overall, albeit by a margin of only 69 seconds as of this week.

Andrew Dismukes – 6:56 / 10.94%

Dismukes gave his longest performance this week in “Birthday at Friendly’s,” a five-minute live sketch that featured every current cast member except Colin Jost and Michael Che. After Yang and Jost, he is now the third male regular to pass the 75-minute cumulative screen time mark this season.

Colin Jost – 6:36 / 10.41%

Though Jost surpassed Yang as this season’s most prominent male performer last week, the two have switched places again, with their screen time totals now differing by nearly a minute. Jost’s screen time in the latest two “Weekend Update” segments are practically identical.

Kenan Thompson – 6:36 / 10.41%

This episode was Kenan Thompson’s second strongest of the season so far in terms of screen time. In addition to introducing “Killah,” he played fictional characters in three sketches and spent over three minutes impersonating ESPN commentator Kendrick Perkins during “Weekend Update.”

Mikey Day – 6:22 / 10.04%

Mikey Day racked up a decent amount of screen time this week thanks primarily to the fact that he made his first visit to the “Weekend Update” desk in over two years. He was the last male cast member to take part in one of this season’s news segments, with the only female cast members yet to do so being Chloe Fineman and Ashley Padilla.

Heidi Gardner – 5:47 / 9.12%

Heidi Gardner ended up in 10th place among her fellow regulars this week after topping the March 1 cast screen time ranking with just under seven minutes. She spent the bulk of her time in this episode playing an insensitive funeral director in “Funeral Home” and an ill-fated casual diner in “Birthday at Friendly’s.”

Michael Che – 4:24 / 6.94%

This was a relatively strong week for Che, as evidenced by the fact that his Season 50 screen time average is now over four minutes per episode. Each “Weekend Update” anchor conducted a single interview this week, with Che and Thompson being paired for the second time this season.

Mike Myers – 2:46 / 4.36%

Myers follows Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Dana Carvey, and Adam Sandler as the fifth SNL alum to make surprise appearances in multiple Season 50 episodes. His second cold open performance as Elon Musk was close to half a minute shorter than his first.

Ashley Padilla – 2:22 / 3.73%

Padilla remains Season 50’s most heavily utilized featured player by a margin of four full minutes. Her current lifetime sketch count is 41, while those of other new hires Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline are 38 and 31.

Jane Wickline – 2:13 / 3.50%

This episode was the fifth this season in which Wickline appeared for at least two minutes. She was seen in four of this week’s sketches, with her longest performance being as a rideable luggage gang member in “A Long Goodbye.”

Michael Longfellow – 1:51 / 2.92%

Following his complete absence from last week’s show, Michael Longfellow took on two small roles in “Wonderful Tonight” and “Birthday at Friendly’s.” He spoke a total of about 40 words in the former sketch and none at all in the latter.

Devon Walker – 1:50 / 2.89%

Devon Walker’s current Season 50 screen time average is exactly two minutes per episode, which is 44 seconds lower than the average he had achieved by this time last season.

Chloe Fineman – 1:38 / 2.58%

Fineman, who skipped the March 1 show after testing positive for COVID-19, showed up in four of this week’s sketches for less than 30 seconds each. She was the only cast member to appear with Gaga in both pretapes: “Pip” and “Mascara Commercial.”

Emil Wakim – 1:13 / 1.92%

After December 7’s show, this was the second Season 50 episode in which each current cast member appeared for at least 60 seconds. This week, for the third time this season, Wakim was seen in just one sketch: “Birthday at Friendly’s.”

Martin Herlihy – 0:17 / 0.45%

Martin Herlihy’s inconspicuous appearance as Lamashtu in “Birthday at Friendly’s” brings his Season 50 screen time total to four minutes and 38 seconds, putting him at least nine seconds ahead of his fellow Please Don’t Destroy members.

Can’t get enough SNL stats? Join us for an in-depth discussion of this week’s screen time, power rankings, and more on the Saturday Night Network’s By The Numbers podcast, streaming live Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET, right here on LateNighter.