In headlining the March 2 episode of Saturday Night Live, 26-year-old Sydney Sweeney became Season 49’s youngest host so far, barely dethroning her own Euphoria cast mate, Jacob Elordi. As it happens, she far surpassed Elordi in terms of screen time, clocking in five minutes and 8% higher than he did.
Scroll down to see how Sweeney measured up to each of the show’s named performers, including veteran musical performer Kacey Musgraves and surprise sketch guests Glen Powell and Gina Gershon. Note that our screen time data is calculated using a method that prioritizes 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 show’s opening credits, bumpers and goodnights are not included, nor do those portions factor into our assessment of the episode’s total running time.
Sydney Sweeney – 21:56 / 34.85%
After delivering her three-and-a-half-minute monologue – the second shortest of the season so far behind Jason Momoa’s on November 18 – Sweeney appeared in six live and three pre-taped sketches, including Please Don’t Destroy’s “Gone Too Soon.” Her longest performance occurred toward the end of the show in “Hooters Waitress,” which involved her playing an extremely popular new employee of the titular restaurant for three minutes and 23 seconds.
Heidi Gardner – 11:33 / 18.35%
Gardner’s impressive position in this ranking makes her the only series regular this season to outpace all of her fellow cast members in four different episodes. Of the seven segments in which she appeared this time, the one that featured her most prominently was “Weekend Update,” with her newest visiting character – an unnamed woman claiming to be aging gracefully – taking up three minutes and 38 seconds.
Ego Nwodim – 9:31 / 15.12%
Appearing on camera for five more minutes than last week, Nwodim achieved her highest screen time of the season. Like Gardner, she took on roles in seven segments and was most heavily utilized during “Weekend Update,” where she showed up for two minutes and 44 seconds to commentate in character as Charlotte the pregnant stingray.
Chloe Fineman – 7:00 / 11.12%
Though she fell short this time when it came to placing first among her fellow repertory members, Fineman did manage to stand apart from the rest by appearing in all six live sketches. Close to one-third of her time (2:13) was in “Hooters Waitress,” in which she played one of Sweeney’s character’s jealous, vastly under-tipped coworkers.
Kacey Musgraves – 6:36 / 10.49%
Musgraves spent her third SNL stint promoting the upcoming release of her new album, “Deeper Well,” singing its title track as well as “Too Good to Be True.” As in 2018 and 2021, her pair of performances involved no help from additional vocalists, making her the first musical guest to sing completely solo this season since Billie Eilish on December 16.
Andrew Dismukes – 5:33 / 8.82%
Dismukes was highest ranking male cast member in a particularly female-first episode, participating in four live segments, the last of which – “Loud Table” – constituted almost half of his time (2:40). Of the 11 performers who took part in that sketch, he boasted the most screen time, outpacing even Sweeney by almost half a minute.
Sarah Sherman – 5:31 / 8.77%
Sherman almost matched her screen time from last week by appearing in three live sketches, with the bulk of her overall performance being split between “Makeup Artists” and “Hooters Waitress.” In the former, she and Sweeney both crossed the three-minute mark by playing a vapid pair of bridal stylists who fear that the sudden cancellation of their current client’s wedding will negatively impact their business.
Colin Jost – 5:28 / 8.69%
This episode marked the official beginning of Jost’s 11th year as a “Weekend Update” anchor, further strengthening his status as the person who has held that position for the longest amount of time. His screen time turned out to be his fourth lowest of the season, although he did still outpace his co-anchor by more than a minute.
Michael Che – 4:07 / 6.54%
Following two consecutive “Weekend Update” installments in which visiting characters exclusively interacted with Jost, Che was finally given a chance to act as straight man, thus more than doubling his screen time from last week. In this case, he welcomed Nwodim’s stingray character, who insisted he was the father of her soon-to-be-born quadruplets.
Mikey Day – 3:55 / 6.22%
Although Day appeared in a total seven segments, his screen time in each was quite low, with three of his appearances falling under 15 seconds. As the show neared its end, he spent just over a minute each playing two different restaurant patrons in “Hooters Waitress” and “Loud Table.”
Bowen Yang – 3:38 / 5.77%
Following his inexplicable absence from the live portion of “Big Bench” despite being seen in its pre-taped introduction, Yang appeared for at least 100 seconds each in “Bowen’s Straight” and “Hooters Waitress.” In the former (pre-taped) segment, he and Sweeney played fictionalized versions of themselves who end up having a very brief romantic fling.
Marcello Hernandez – 3:24 / 5.40%
Despite experiencing a nearly five-minute drop in screen time compared to last week, Hernandez still managed to outrank all of his fellow featured players for the third week in a row. This time, he played relatively small roles in five sketches, with his longest performance (1:07) being in “Loud Table.”
Michael Longfellow – 2:54 / 4.61%
Although he participated in twice as many segments as last week, Longfellow’s screen time decreased by nearly a minute as he consistently appeared in less than 31% of each of his latest sketches. He was most heavily featured during the cold open, in which he played Gavin Newsom opposite Gardner as “Inside Politics” host Dana Bash.
James Austin Johnson – 2:44 / 4.34%
Johnson played a total of four characters, with perhaps the most memorable being restaurant mascot Hooter B. Owl in “Hooters Waitress.” The largest share of his time (0:59) was devoted to “Loud Table,” in which he portrayed one of four obnoxious diners who disturb a couple on a date.
Kenan Thompson – 2:25 / 3.84%
Thompson’s second shortest performance of the season consisted of appearances in three live sketches, the first of which – “Detectives” – comprised nearly three-quarters of his time. For almost two minutes, he played an NYPD investigator whose team’s whole slate of tough cases were rapidly solved by a pair of social media savvy interns (Sweeney and Fineman).
Chloe Troast – 1:53 / 2.99%
A sizable majority of Troast’s time in this episode (1:12) was spent acting with Sweeney as the co-proprietors of Chanel & Chanel Interior Design in “Airbnb Design Commercial.” She also briefly appeared as a wedding guest in “Makeup Artists” and a waitress in “Loud Table.”
Devon Walker – 1:42 / 2.70%
A week after achieving one of his highest screen time totals of the season, Walker hit one of his lowest this go araound, showing up in just one pre-taped and two live sketches. Close to two-thirds of his time (1:03) was spent playing a “Loud Table” member alongside Day, Hernandez, and Johnson.
Molly Kearney – 1:36 / 2.54%
Although they improved upon their previous time by more than 20 seconds, Kearney still ended up as the least utilized featured player for the fifth time this season. In this case, they played roles in only two sketches: “Makeup Artists” (as the mother of the bride) and “Loud Table” (as a disruptive restaurant customer).
Punkie Johnson – 1:20 / 2.12%
For the sixth time this season, Johnson finished as the most underutilized member of the repertory cast, outpaced by every featured player in this case. Aside from appearing briefly in “Big Bench” and “Airbnb Design Commercial,” she spent over 80% of her time playing a generally silent bridesmaid in “Makeup Artists.”
Ben Marshall – 0:54 / 1.43%
Please Don’t Destroy’s eighth short of the season (and first since January 27) ran for just over three minutes and involved the trio explaining the bizarre circumstances of their friend’s recent death to Sweeney. This was the fourth of their Season 49 videos to feature Marshall most heavily, following “The Original Princes of Comedy,” “Bad Bunny is Shrek” and “Ramen Order.”
Martin Herlihy – 0:50 / 1.32%
Herlihy’s performance in “Gone Too Soon” comprised four lines of dialogue, whereas Marshall and John Higgins respectively spoke seven and 10. In the context of this segment, Sweeney outranked the entire trio, clocking in at exactly one minute with 15 lines.
John Higgins – 0:48 / 1.27%
Although he spoke more often than his partners in this particular video, Higgins ended up falling behind them in terms of screen time for only the second time this season. The first instance concerned his performance in “Bad Bunny is Shrek,” which lasted for just over one minute.
Glen Powell – 0:19 / 0.50%
Powell’s first of two very brief appearances in this episode occurred at the end of Sweeney’s monologue as the Anyone But You co-stars addressed rumors of them being romantically involved. He then showed up toward the conclusion of “Loud Table” as Sweeney’s character’s charming boss who steals her from her boyfriend.
Gina Gershon – 0:10 / 0.26%
This marked the second SNL cameo of Gershon’s career following one during the 25th season finale almost two dozen years ago. This time, instead of playing a fictional character, she appeared as a version of herself whose romantic obsession with Yang is revealed in “Bowen’s Straight.”
Season 49 of SNL continues next week with host Josh Brolin and musical guest Ariana Grande.
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.
