November 16 marked Charli XCX’s first Saturday Night Live hosting gig and her third stint as the show’s musical guest. Her 16 minutes of sketch time and five minutes of music segment time added up to about 34% of the episode’s total length.
Scroll down to see how Charli XCX stacked up against each of the show’s named performers, including half a dozen unannounced guests.
A reminder: 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.
Charli XCX – 21:37 / 34.51%
Charli XCX directly follows May 4 host and musical guest Dua Lipa on the list of performers who have simultaneously served in both capacities on SNL. While both pop stars took part in 11 segments, Charli XCX’s sketch time was nearly 8% higher than Lipa’s.
Sarah Sherman – 10:38 / 16.98%
Until this week, Sarah Sherman had never hit the 10-minute mark in a single SNL episode. She now holds the distinction of being the first performer to visit “Weekend Update” three times this season, having appeared this week as Hazel, the widow of Peanut the squirrel.
Marcello Hernandez – 8:26 / 13.46%
This episode featured the return of Marcello Hernandez’s surprise hit character, Domingo, who he first played for 24 seconds in the October 12 sketch “Bridesmaid Speech.” After reprising that role for 38 seconds in “Babymoon,” he showed up in four more sketches, ultimately amassing his highest single-episode screen time since February.
Bowen Yang – 7:48 / 12.45%
Bowen Yang, who portrayed Charli XCX during this season’s first episode, revived his impression opposite the singer herself in this week’s “Wicked Auditions” sketch. Later in the episode, he became the first cast member to introduce a Season 50 music segment when XCX performed “Sympathy is a Knife.”
Ego Nwodim – 6:37 / 10.56%
Having clocked in above six minutes for two consecutive weeks, Ego Nwodim has surpassed Heidi Gardner as this season’s second most prominent female cast member. At this point, she is still six minutes and 19 seconds behind Sherman, who has topped the female list since October 12.
Andrew Dismukes – 6:31 / 10.40%
Along with Yang, Gardner, and “Weekend Update” anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost, Andrew Dismukes remains one of five cast members who have appeared in at least two minutes of every Season 50 episode so far. His largest chunk of time this week (40%) was spent playing podcast host Mark in “Banger Boyz.”
Colin Jost – 6:08 / 9.79%
Before appearing in over 45% of the latest “Weekend Update” segment and conducting his ninth guest interview of the season (with Sherman), Jost showed up for 15 seconds in the Lonely Island pretape “Here I Go.” This constituted his very first appearance in an SNL Digital Short.
Dana Carvey – 5:44 / 9.15%
Over 95% of Dana Carvey’s screen time in this episode was spent playing Joe Biden in the cold open, bringing his cumulative screen time as the sitting president to 12 minutes and 26 seconds. He later briefly impersonated Al Pacino in “Wicked Auditions.”
James Austin Johnson – 5:33 / 8.86%
James Austin Johnson’s five-minute and 29-second turn as Donald Trump in this week’s cold open now stands as the longest Season 50 sketch performance by a current cast member outside of “Weekend Update.” That distinction was previously held by Hernandez, who was seen in October 5’s “Sabado Gigante” for four minutes and 40 seconds.
Chloe Fineman – 5:15 / 8.38%
Chloe Fineman bounced back strongly following her complete absence from last week’s episode. She was utilized in five of this week’s sketches, including “Wicked Auditions,” in which she played four different celebrities: JoJo Siwa, Sydney Sweeney, Martha Stewart, and Leslie Mann.
Michael Che – 4:24 / 7.03%
Che appeared in 33.98% of this episode’s “Weekend Update” segment, boosting his season average by 0.87 points. For the second week in a row, he and Jost each led one guest interview, with his latest having been with Yang as Joe Exotic.
Ashley Padilla – 4:00 / 6.39%
Although her screen time in last week’s episode remains her longest to date, new featured player Ashley Padilla certainly made an impression this week, appearing in six sketches. Her only nonfictional character this week was Mary Kate Olsen, opposite Jane Wickline as her sister, Ashley.
Heidi Gardner – 3:56 / 6.28%
Heidi Gardner showed up four times in this episode, including as Mikey Madison in “Wicked Auditions” and as Cher in “It Girl Thanksgiving Special.” She also appeared in “Thanksgiving Baking Championship 2024,” playing competitive baker Sandy for the fifth time overall and first time since Season 47.
Emil Wakim – 3:11 / 5.08%
Despite a 26% screen time drop compared to last week, Emil Wakim now ranks as this season’s most prominent featured player by a margin of 14 seconds. The bulk of his time in this episode was split between the live sketches “Banger Boyz” and “Shrek: The Musical.”
Andy Samberg – 2:26 / 3.89%
Six weeks after debuting their first digital short in over six years (“Sushi Glory Hole”), The Lonely Island surprised viewers with “Here I Go,” in which Andy Samberg and Charli XCX played a couple of compulsive tattletales. Samberg now boasts more Season 50 screen time than six of the show’s current cast members.
Devon Walker – 1:31 / 2.42%
Although he outpaced four other cast members this week, Devon Walker remains this season’s least prominent repertory player by a margin of almost five minutes. Aside from Charli XCX, he was the only performer seen in both of this week’s pretaped sketches (“Wicked Auditions” and “Here I Go”).
Jane Wickline – 1:24 / 2.24%
Just like her fellow featured players Padilla and Wakim, Wickline has now landed below the 90-second mark four times this season. She now ranks behind every other cast member in terms of Season 50 screen time, with 31 seconds separating her from Walker.
Michael Longfellow – 1:16 / 2.02%
Michael Longfellow delivered his third shortest performance of the season across just two live sketches. He was first seen as a judge in “Thanksgiving Baking Championship 2024” and then as an actor playing the titular role in “Shrek: The Musical.”
Kyle Mooney – 1:06 / 1.76%
Kyle Mooney’s participation in Charli XCX’s monologue and his portrayal of returning character Ralph in “Thanksgiving Baking Championship 2024” constituted his first official SNL appearance since leaving the cast at the end of Season 47. Back in April, he took part in a pretaped sketch (“Papyrus 2”) that ended up being cut for time.
Alec Baldwin – 1:04 / 1.70%
Alec Baldwin made his second cold open appearance of the season this week, this time as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This marked the very first instance of him sharing the screen with Johnson as Trump, who he famously impersonated on SNL from 2016 to 2020.
Kenan Thompson – 0:46 / 1.22%
After finishing at the top of last week’s cast member ranking with a whopping 11 minutes and 17 seconds of screen time, Kenan Thompson almost landed at the bottom this week. He was only saved from that fate by the fact that Mikey Day was nowhere to be seen in any of this episode’s 13 segments.
Julia Fox – 0:07 / 0.19%
Actress Julia Fox’s SNL debut involved her enthusiastically introducing Charli XCX’s performance of “360,” the music video for which she stars in. Later in the episode, she was impersonated by Fineman for almost two full minutes in “It Girl Thanksgiving Special.”
Akiva Schaffer – 0:01 / 0.03%
Lonely Island member Akiva Schaffer appeared very briefly in this episode toward the end of “Here I Go.” The quick, silent cameo stands in stark contrast to his performance in “Sushi Glory Hole,” which lasted for 94 seconds (or nearly 60% of the sketch).
Season 50 of SNL continues on December 7 with host Paul Mescal and musical guest Shaboozey.
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.
