Say what you will about comedian Shane Gillis, but when it comes to screen time, he’s consistent. The polarizing comic returned to host Saturday Night Live for the second time on March 1, 2025, racking up an impressive 27 minutes of screen time. Although this episode consisted of one less segment than when he hosted a year ago, his screen time tallies across both episodes are almost identical.
Scroll down to see how Gillis stacked up against each of the show’s named performers, including musical guest Tate McRae and former cast member Mike Myers, who cameoed in the cold open.
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.
Shane Gillis – 27:22 / 43.50%
Five of this week’s 12 segments featured performances from Gillis that were at least three minutes long. While he didn’t revive any of the characters he played on the show last year, he did take on a prominent role in “Mid-Day News 2,” a sequel to a Season 45 sketch that starred Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
Heidi Gardner – 6:57 / 11.05%
This week marked the second episode this season where Heidi Gardner has logged more screen time than any of her fellow regulars. She played Gillis’s significant other in three of her four March 1 sketches, including “Dad’s House” in which she voiced a puppet named Bridget.
Tate McRae – 6:41 / 10.62%
Like Gillis, McRae earned about as much screen time this week as she did when she made her SNL debut last season (with host Jason Momoa). In addition to performing “Sports Car” and “Dear God” on this outing, she was the first musical guest to take part in a Please Don’t Destroy sketch (“The Sound”) since Travis Scott on March 30, 2024.
Mikey Day – 6:36 / 10.49%
Mikey Day’s cold open portrayal of Volodymyr Zelenskyy constituted his longest single-sketch performance of Season 50 to date. He is now the seventh SNL cast member to accumulate more than an hour of screen time this season.
Colin Jost – 6:32 / 10.38%
At 13 minutes and 13 seconds, March 1’s “Weekend Update” segment was the fifth longest of the season so far. Colin Jost was seen in 49.43% of it, coming just short of breaking his Season 50 record.
James Austin Johnson – 6:19 / 10.04%
At just under six minutes, James Austin Johnson’s latest cold open performance as Donald Trump was the longest of the nine he’s given so far this season. He later appeared in “Dad’s House” as both an off-screen announcer and Ashley Padilla’s character’s boyfriend.
Sarah Sherman – 5:22 / 8.53%
Although she finished fifth among her castmates this week, Sherman now comfortably ranks as this season’s most prominent performer cumulatively, with 87 seconds separating her from second-pace finisher Jost. She spent over 70% of her time this week portraying a flustered bride in “Wedding Interruption.”
Marcello Hernandez – 4:36 / 7.31%
This week marked Marcello Hernandez’s third “Weekend Update” guest spot of the season and first solo Update appearance since May 4, 2024. He was seen twice earlier in the episode, including as Marco Rubio in the cold open.
Ego Nwodim – 4:13 / 6.70%
Ego Nwodim gave her longest single-sketch performance of the season to date in “Mid-Day News 2,” the original version of which she starred in with Kenan Thompson and Alex Moffat. Her only other appearance this week was in “The Sound,” where she played fictional R&B mogul Coco Summers.
Kenan Thompson – 4:06 / 6.52%
This was the ninth episode this season in which Thompson participated in no more than two sketches. After reprising his“Mid-Day News” role in its sequel, he took on the part of a somewhat shady priest in “Wedding Interruption.”
Jane Wickline – 3:33 / 5.64%
Jane Wickline has now matched Sherman’s record of visiting “Weekend Update” four times this season (including three times as herself). Since joining the featured cast in September, she has achieved more screen time than both of her fellow new hires in six out of 13 episodes.
Andrew Dismukes – 3:14 / 5.14%
After taking part in the cold open, Andrew Dismukes was seen in two other live sketches, spending relatively equal amounts of time playing Gillis’s father in “Winery Tour” and son in “Dad’s House.”
Mike Myers – 3:13 / 5.11%
Myers showed up unannounced during this week’s cold open, taking over the role of Elon Musk from his former castmate, Dana Carvey. Though he appeared on the show’s 50th anniversary special two weeks ago, Myers hadn’t appeared on SNL proper since December 2015.
Michael Che – 3:03 / 4.85%
With nearly four minutes separating Michael Che from Jost, this week’s “Weekend Update” screen time gap was one of the largest of the season so far, and raises their average by six seconds. When it comes to cumulative Season 50 screen time, Che and Jost are currently separated by more than 26 minutes.
Emil Wakim – 2:52 / 4.56%
Emil Wakim’s sole appearance this week was in the closing sketch “Doctor’s Visit,” which featured Gillis as his only costar. This makes him the first of Season 50’s three new featured players to appear in a sketch with no other series regulars.
Devon Walker – 2:47 / 4.42%
Although this was Devon Walker’s fourth strongest episode since joining the repertory cast, he remains at the very bottom of Season 50’s cumulative screen time list. At this point, he and Wickline are the only regulars yet to cross the half-hour mark this season.
Ashley Padilla – 2:19 / 3.68%
Padilla’s March 1 screen time was spread over three live sketches, each of which she appeared in for no more than 60 seconds. Her longest performance of the night was as Gillis’s character’s Merlot-loving mom in “Winery Tour.”
Bowen Yang – 1:22 / 2.17%
After delivering his first post-election performance as JD Vance in this week’s cold open, Yang was benched for the remainder of the show. However, the regulars who technically had the lowest amounts of screen time in this episode were the totally absent Michael Longfellow and Chloe Fineman, the latter of whom tested positive for COVID-19 a few days earlier.
Ben Marshall – 1:09 / 1.83%
“The Sound” (a parody of The Voice) was the third Please Don’t Destroy short to air this season and first since December 7. Although Ben Marshall outpaced the other members of the trio this time, his cumulative Season 50 screen time is still the lowest of the PDD crew.
John Higgins – 1:01 / 1.62%
John Higgins’ appearance in “The Sound” as judge Mikey Fiesta moved him to the top of this season’s Please Don’t Destroy cumulative screen time ranking. The longest performance in the group’s latest short was that of Gillis, who appeared for 83 seconds as aspiring singer Reggie T.
Martin Herlihy – 0:50 / 1.32%
“The Sound” featured all three Please Don’t Destroy members’ shortest Season 50 performances to date. The last time all three clocked in under 70 seconds was March 2, 2024 (“Gone Too Soon”).
Season 50 of SNL continues this coming Saturday, March 8th, with host and musical guest Lady Gaga.
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.
