The 49th season finale of Saturday Night Live was hosted by Road House star Jake Gyllenhaal, who previously headlined the show in 2007 and 2022. On this outing, his screen time came to about 26 and a half minutes, or nearly 42% of the episode’s running time.
Scroll down to see how Gyllenhaal stacked up against each of the show’s named performers, including musical guest Sabrina Carpenter and surprise guest Jon Hamm. 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 opening credits, bumpers and goodnights are not included, nor do those portions factor into our assessment of the episode’s total running time.
Jake Gyllenhaal – 26:33 / 41.64%
Including cameos, Gyllenhaal has now appeared in six SNL episodes throughout his career. After kicking off his third hosting gig with a parody of Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road,” he took part in six live and two pretaped sketches, with his most prominent role (5:37) being that of frustrated Southwest customer Reginald in “Canceling a Flight.”
James Austin Johnson – 9:58 / 15.63%
Johnson outpaced all of his cast mates for the second time in 2024 thanks primarily to his sixth cold open appearance of the season as Donald Trump. After playing the high-profile defendant for almost five and a half minutes, he was seen four more times, including for just under two minutes as the titular fear-inducing tavern patron in “Snake Eyes.”
Sabrina Carpenter – 8:30 / 13.33%
Carpenter’s SNL debut came one month after the release of her first Billboard top 10 single, “Espresso,” which she performed on the show along with a medley of “Feather” and “Nonsense.” Both music segments were preceded by her unexpected appearance as teen sleuth Daphne in the pretape “Scooby-Doo.”
Colin Jost – 7:52 / 12.34%
This was the fifth Season 49 episode in which Jost’s screen time exceeded seven minutes. For the seventh time ever and second time this season (after December 16), he and Michael Che closed the “Weekend Update” segment by swapping jokes that the other anchor had never seen.
Andrew Dismukes – 6:55 / 10.85%
Dismukes more than tripled his May 11 screen time by participating in five of this week’s live sketches and voicing the CGI title character in “Scooby-Doo.” Over three minutes of his time was spent playing a young man sworn to secrecy by his treat-sneaking prospective father-in-law (Gyllenhaal) in “Dad Has a Cookie.”
Kenan Thompson – 6:35 / 10.32%
Having hit his Season 49 screen time peak (10:18) in the premiere episode, Thompson amassed a comparatively unremarkable total in the finale. After taking a solo verse in Gyllenhaal’s musical monologue, he racked up about three and a half minutes on “Weekend Update” as a representative of the Northern Illinois cicada brood.
Michael Che – 6:10 / 9.67%
Che and Jost’s latest screen time gap of 102 seconds is a full minute lower than their Season 49 average. Their finale proximity is not only attributed to the five-minute joke swap session but also to the fact that only about a quarter of the entire “Weekend Update” segment was devoted to guests.
Mikey Day – 5:50 / 9.15%
Day experienced a 26% screen time drop after coming in second last week behind host Maya Rudolph. In addition to spending over half of his time in “Bike Trail” as a hiker in the midst of a breakup, he was seen as one of many customer service reps in “Canceling a Flight” and as Shaggy in “Scooby-Doo.”
Marcello Hernandez – 5:24 / 8.47%
Hernandez now stands apart from his cast mates as the only five-time “Weekend Update” visitor of Season 49. Before appearing alongside Thompson as a Great Southern Brood cicada, he played a revue performer in “Beautiful Girls” and a Xiemu model in “Fast Fashion Ad.”
Chloe Fineman – 4:51 / 7.61%
This was the third Season 49 episode (after October 14 and April 6) in which none of the female cast members reached five minutes of screen time. Fineman topped that subset by showing up five times, including for just under three minutes as Day’s character’s soon-to-be ex-girlfriend in “Bike Trail.”
Heidi Gardner – 3:33 / 5.57%
Gardner’s relatively low finale time was spread over five segments, including the cold open in which she impersonated South Dakota governor Kristi Noem for the second time in three weeks. Her longest performance of the night as an audience member in “Beautiful Girls” lasted for just over one minute.
Devon Walker – 3:09 / 4.94%
For the fourth time this season, Walker appeared as failed presidential candidate Tim Scott during the cold open. The remaining 83% of his time in this episode was spent playing ensemble roles in “Beautiful Girls,” “Canceling a Flight” and Gyllenhaal’s monologue.
Sarah Sherman – 2:46 / 4.34%
Sherman’s finale time was four and a half minutes lower than what she reached last week. After embodying Velma for close to a minute in “Scooby-Doo,” she was most heavily utilized (for 90 seconds) at the end of the night as the girlfriend of Johnson’s Snake Eyes.
Bowen Yang – 2:46 / 4.34%
Yang participated in four of this week’s live sketches, each for 75 seconds or less. About one quarter of his time was devoted to perhaps his most memorable role of the night: the godlike highest ranking Southwest employee who finally got Reginald his refund.
Ego Nwodim – 2:21 / 3.69%
Nwodim came close to landing at the bottom of this week’s repertory cast ranking by showing up in four segments for less than 65 seconds each. The one in which she stood out the most was the pretaped “Fast Fashion Ad,” where she played one of four models hired by a clothing company with questionable labor policies.
Michael Longfellow – 2:20 / 3.66%
Following his May 11 placement behind every one of his cast mates, Longfellow bounced back with roles in three sketches. Prior to participating in “Beautiful Girls” and “Canceling a Flight,” he made a silent yet memorable 24-second appearance alongside Johnson’s Trump as apparent VP hopeful Hannibal Lecter.
Chloe Troast – 2:06 / 3.29%
This was the third time featured player Troast hit the two-minute mark in 2024. In addition to playing Gyllenhaal’s daughter in “Dad Has a Cookie” and a cigarette girl in “Beautiful Girls,” she audibly contributed to “Canceling a Flight” as Southwest’s automated operator.
Punkie Johnson – 1:13 / 1.91%
Directly after achieving a five-week screen time high of almost two minutes, Johnson finished under 100 seconds for the 11th time this season. She was only seen twice in this episode, first as a backup singer during the monologue and then as a Southwest employee training another (Walker) in “Canceling a Flight.”
Molly Kearney – 0:45 / 1.18%
Kearney finished their second year at SNL by bringing up the cast screen time rear for the sixth time this season. After playing a racist airline employee for 15 seconds in “Canceling a Flight,” they spent twice as long portraying a reporter in “NYPD Press Conference.”
Jon Hamm – 0:24 / 0.63%
Hamm’s cameo as himself in “NYPD Press Conference” makes him one of only a few people (along with Fred Armisen, Paula Pell and Lorne Michaels) to make unannounced appearances in two Season 49 episodes. He was previously seen for just over four minutes during the April 6 show, hosted by Kristen Wiig.
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.
