Editor’s note: Mike Murray hosts The Saturday Night Network’s weekly By the Numbers Podcast. Click the embed at the top of this post to watch it live Wednesday night at 8pm ET/5pm PT, or catch the replay afterwards.
Season premieres of Saturday Night Live always feel like an event, but this week’s Season 51 debut had an extra spark—five new featured players joined the cast, and Bad Bunny made history as the show’s first-ever back-to-back headliner, having been Scarlett Johansson’s musical guest in the Season 50 finale.
Scroll down to see how Bad Bunny stacked up against each of the show’s named performers, including musical guest Doja Cat and surprise guests Jon Hamm, Benicio del Toro, and HUNTR/X.
Note: Our screen time calculation method 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, goodnights and cut-for-time sketches are not included, nor do those portions factor into our assessment of the episode’s total running time.
Bad Bunny – 19:42 (31.7%)
With his week’s nearly 20 minutes screen time, Bad Bunny has now logged more than an hour total since his debut five years ago in a cameo during an SNL at Home pretape—trailing only Maya Rudolph, John Mulaney, and Dave Chappelle among non-cast members in that span.
He appeared in all seven of this week’s sketches following the cold open, and earned his most screen time during the “KPop Demon Hunters Brunch” sketch (04:42).
Colin Jost – 09:43 (15.7%)
Jost led the cast in screen time for the third straight episode, boosted by his return as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in the cold open. It’s just his second recurring impression, after six turns as Pete Buttigieg from 2019–2020.
He extended his Weekend Update record to 230 episodes and became the fourth cast member in history to reach a 12th season. Jost topped all cast members in total screen time last season (02:14:09) and opened Season 51 on pace for a repeat.
Doja Cat – 08:07 (13.1%)
Doja Cat performed “AAAHH MEN!” and “Gorgeous” from her new album Vie in her SNL debut. Though she didn’t appear outside her musical sets, her total still topped last season’s musical guest average by 37 seconds.
Marcello Hernández – 07:18 (11.8%)
The lone survivor of the Season 48 class, Hernández led the cast with appearances in a total of six total sketches. It marked his ninth career episode over seven minutes—but fell short of his 08:29 total when Bad Bunny previously hosted two years ago. The two also co-starred in Happy Gilmore 2 this summer.
Chloe Fineman – 07:06 (11.4%)
Now the most tenured woman in the cast following the exits of Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim, Fineman logging her sixth-highest screen time total ever this week. Her career best happened to come during another episode featuring Bad Bunny, when he appeared as musical guest in Season 46.
Andrew Dismukes – 07:05 (11.4%)
Dismukes, last season’s leader in live sketch screen time (01:20:35), is off to another strong start. He opened the night playing Ken Jennings in the Jeopardy! parody and appeared in four additional sketches.
Sarah Sherman – 06:04 (9.8%)
Sherman stayed right in line with her Season 50 average (06:06). The only female cast member to exceed two hours of screen time last season, she and Fineman are posied to share the entirety of the show’s female repertory workload this year.
Michael Che – 05:58 (9.6%)
Entering his 11th season, Che remains steady behind the Weekend Update desk—edging Jost by four seconds this week. For the 40th straight episode, he did not appear outside the segment.
Mikey Day – 05:12 (8.4%)
Day became the 11th longest-tenured cast member in SNL history this week, surpassing Kyle Mooney and Bobby Moynihan. He appeared in four sketches, including as the delegate from Barcelona in “Inventing Spanish,” echoing his classic “Washington’s Dream” energy.
James Austin Johnson – 04:40 (7.5%)
Johnson opened the season as Donald Trump for the 39th time, spending over half of his screen time last year in cold opens. If that pace continues, he’ll surpass Alec Baldwin’s Trump record (53) before the season ends. He also provided two voiceovers and appeared in “Inventing Spanish.”
Bowen Yang – 04:40 (7.5%)
Yang made his fourth straight season premiere Weekend Update appearance—this time as Dobby the House Elf. He was one of only three cast members to exceed two total hours of screen time last season.
Kenan Thompson – 04:19 (7.0%)
On the 22nd anniversary of his SNL debut, Thompson made four live sketch appearances. His average screen time dropped by more than two minutes between Seasons 48 and 50, but after leading last season’s anniversary special, he could be primed for a rebound with former castmate Poehler returning next week.
Ashley Padilla – 03:51 (6.2%)
Padilla didn’t appear until 12:49 a.m., but she made it count—leading the “Parent Teacher Conference” sketch in her third-longest segment to date.
Kam Patterson – 03:07 (5.0%)
Like Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, and Bill Hader before him, Patterson made his debut behind the Weekend Update desk. He also appeared alongside fellow rookies Jeremy Culhane and Tommy Brennan in “Inventing Spanish.”
Jeremy Culhane – 01:37 (2.6%)
Culhane became just the sixth rookie in SNL history to open a season, introducing Jost’s Hegseth in the cold open. The last to do so was Johnson as Joe Biden in his Season 47 debut.
Veronika Slowikowska – 01:33 (2.5%)
As Jeopardy! contestant Cynthia, Slowikowska made her debut opposite Thompson and Bad Bunny, followed immediately by a role in the “ChatGPTío” pretape. Her 01:33 total was close to Gardner’s 01:41 in her own debut episode.
Benicio del Toro – 01:07 (1.8%)
In one of the night’s three surprise cameo, del Toroappeared in “Inventing Spanish.” His new film, One Battle After Another, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, was name-dropped in “KPop Demon Hunters Brunch.”
Tommy Brennan – 00:58 (1.6%)
Brennan came just shy of a minute in his rookie debut, appearing twice: once in the episode’s lone pretape and again in a background role.
HUNTR/X – 00:55 (1.5%)
The fictional K-pop girl group from Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters appeared in a live-action cameo, with Audrey Nuna, Ejae, and Rei Ami briefly performing “Golden.”
Jon Hamm – 00:26 (0.7%)
Hamm—aka “Juan Jamón”—crashed the monologue and popped back up in the night’s final sketch, “El Chavo del Ocho.” Having hosted four times, he’s closing in on that Five-Timers Jacket.
Ben Marshall – 00:12 (0.3%)
Rounding out the report, Marshall had a quiet official debut as a cast member after years with Please Don’t Destroy. He made two brief appearances totaling under ten seconds, finishing ahead of Jane Wickline—the episode’s only shutout and the first of her career.
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