Returning to Saturday Night Live for his fourth hosting stint, Dave Chappelle racked up a whopping 27 minutes of screen time this week, outpacing each of this season’s other hosts so far by at least 99 seconds.
Scroll down to see how Chappelle stacked up against each of the show’s named performers, including musical guest GloRilla and surprise guest Donnell Rawlings.
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.
Dave Chappelle – 27:21 / 43.31%
Chappelle spent over 61% of his time in this episode delivering his nearly 17-minute opening monologue, which is officially the longest in SNL history. He went on to appear in just three sketches, including “Pop the Balloon” as Silky Johnson, a character he originally played on Chappelle’s Show and reprised in a 2022 SNL sketch.
Sarah Sherman – 7:56 / 12.56%
When it comes to screen time, Sarah Sherman stands alone, having finished first among her castmates four times this season. With this week’s episode, she is now the third performer to date (after Bowen Yang and Colin Jost) to amass at least one hour of cumulative Season 50 screen time.
Colin Jost – 6:52 / 10.87%
Jost was seen in half of this week’s nearly 14-minute “Weekend Update” segment. His 12th Season 50 guest interview was also his fourth this season with Sherman, who appeared this time as movie vampire Nosferatu.
GloRilla – 6:43 / 10.64%
GloRilla’s brief participation in “Pop the Balloon” makes her the second Season 50 musical guest to make a sketch cameo, after Billie Eilish in October 19’s “TikTok.” In her SNL debut, the rapper performed “Yeah Glo!” and a medley of “Whatchu Know About Me” and “Let Her Cook.”
Ego Nwodim – 6:16 / 9.92%
Ego Nwodim’s January 18 screen time was spread over three segments. In between her impersonations of Joy Reid (“MSNBC Special Coverage Cold Open”) and Arlette Amuli (“Pop the Balloon”), she racked up over three minutes as Chappelle’s character’s wife in “Evacuation Alert.”
Marcello Hernandez – 6:03 / 9.58%
Marcello Hernandez spent the bulk of his time this week reprising his Season 49 role of Joaquin Antonio in “Immigrant Dad Talk Show 2.” He also appeared for about a minute in the cold open as MSNBC anchor Ari Melber.
Devon Walker – 5:04 / 8.02%
Thanks to his prominent roles in “Evacuation Alert” and “Police Station,” this week’s show saw Devon Walker achieve his highest single-episode screen time since February 24, 2024. While he remains Season 50’s least utilized repertory performer, he’s moved ahead of featured player Ashley Padilla in the season’s overall cast member screen time rankings.
Michael Che – 4:43 / 7.47%
At this point in the season, “Weekend Update” anchors Jost and Michael Che are separated by 22 minutes of screen time overall. Che now ranks eighth among all Season 50 performers while Jost ranks second.
Mikey Day – 4:16 / 6.76%
Mikey Day was seen in two of this week’s live sketches, the latter of which (“Police Station”) did not involve Chappelle at all. He first showed up for 94 seconds in “Immigrant Dad Talk Show 2” as Joaquin’s neighbor, Kevin, whom he also played for 75 seconds in the Season 49 version of the sketch.
Bowen Yang – 3:35 / 5.67%
Counting off-screen voice work, Yang is the only cast member who exclusively appeared in January 18 sketches that did not feature Chappelle. Before taking on the role of a sketch artist in “Police Station,” he revived his impression of ex-congressman George Santos in the cold open.
Michael Longfellow – 3:09 / 4.99%
This episode was the first since November 9 in which Longfellow appeared for more than two minutes. Following his brief performance in “Evacuation Alert,” he visited “Weekend Update” for the first time in nine months to share his thoughts on TikTok’s potential U.S. ban.
Kenan Thompson – 3:07 / 4.94%
Along with Che and Day, Kenan Thompson is one of three cast members who surpassed 40 minutes of cumulative Season 50 screen time with this week’s episode. His largest of two roles was that of meddlesome janitor Dwayne in “Police Station.”
Heidi Gardner – 1:52 / 2.96%
Heidi Gardner’s brief appearances in this week’s first and last sketches resulted in her lowest single-episode screen time since March 30, 2024. She previously ranked behind Sherman as this season’s second most prominent female performer but has now been surpassed by Nwodim.
Andrew Dismukes – 1:38 / 2.59%
Andrew Dismukes showed up in three of this episode’s sketches for less than 45 seconds each. His longest performance was as returning “Immigrant Dad Talk Show” character Connor.
Chloe Fineman – 1:28 / 2.32%
Not counting her complete absence on November 16, Chloe Fineman’s screen time in this week’s episode was her lowest of the season so far. As of now, at least 20 minutes separate her from all of her fellow female repertory players in this season’s cumulative screen time tallies.
Jane Wickline – 1:16 / 2.01%
Featured player Jane Wickline’s sole appearance this week came at the very end of the night in “Pop the Balloon.” She has now outpaced fellow newcomers Padilla and Emil Wakim five times since the trio joined the show at the start of this season.
James Austin Johnson – 1:15 / 1.98%
All of James Austin Johnson’s physical screen time this week was spent making his seventh cold open appearance of the season as Donald Trump. Only his voice was later heard, in “Evacuation Alert” and “Weekend Update.”
Donnell Rawlings – 0:58 / 1.53%
Former Chappelle’s Show regular Rawlings appeared in “Pop the Balloon” as both Ashy Larry and Beautiful, the latter of whom he played in two earlier Chappelle-hosted SNL episodes. This marked his first on-screen portrayal of Larry since Chappelle’s Show ended almost two decades ago.
Ashley Padilla – 0:24 / 0.63%
Since Wakim did not appear in any of this week’s aired segments, Padilla has technically still only brought up the screen time rear four times during her debut season. Like Wickline, she was only utilized this week in “Pop the Balloon.”
Season 50 of SNL continues next week with host and musical guest Timothée Chalamet.
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.
