Jack Black hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time in almost 20 years this weekend, amassing more than 23 minutes of screen time over the course of 11 segments, making him one of Season 50’s most heavily utilized hosts so far.
Scroll down to see how Black stacked up against each of the show’s named performers, including musical guests Elton John and Brandi Carlile.
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.
Jack Black – 23:39 / 37.67%
Black’s history with SNL began over a quarter of a century ago when his band, Tenacious D, performed during Season 23’s penultimate episode. Including his monologue, he sang in four of this weekend’s sketches, amassing his most screen time as fictional jam band frontman Big Ricky in “Bass Lake.”
James Austin Johnson – 9:34 / 15.24%
James Austin Johnson’s April 5 screen time was his highest in a single episode since the Season 49 finale. At just under six minutes, his turn as Donald Trump in the latest cold open is now the longest Season 50 sketch performance by a current cast member outside of “Weekend Update.”
Colin Jost – 8:48 / 14.02%
Five months after losing this season’s most prominent performer title to Bowen Yang, Colin Jost has reclaimed that position with Yang now trailing him by 76 seconds. His screen time this week was his highest since May 4, 2024 and made him the first to hit the 100-minute mark this season.
Andrew Dismukes – 8:09 / 12.98%
Andrew Dismukes’s April 5 screen time was spread over seven segments, including the cold open in which briefly portrayed Howard Lutnick. He was also the only cast member to take part in the “Flamin’ Hot Commercial” pretape, where he provided the voice of Cheetos mascot Chester.
Brandi Carlile – 7:53 / 12.56%
Carlile took the SNL stage for the third time in her career to promote her new collaborative album with Elton John, Who Believes in Angels? In addition to performing two songs from that record, she appeared as herself for about 80 seconds in the live sketch “Making Love.”
Elton John – 7:37 / 12.13%
This was also John’s third time serving as an SNL musical guest following stints in 1982 and 2011. At just over five minutes, his and Carlile’s rendition of their album’s title song is now Season 50’s longest musical performance, barely passing Stevie Nicks’s October 12 performance of “The Lighthouse.”
Heidi Gardner – 6:39 / 10.59%
After appearing in last week’s episode for a mere 25 seconds, Heidi Gardner bounced back this week with her fifth highest screen time of the season so far. The largest portion of her time (42%) was spent playing a 1940s nurse in “Times Square Kiss.”
Ego Nwodim – 6:28 / 10.30%
Ego Nwodim spent over 57% of her time in this episode making a memorable “Weekend Update” visit, which was her fourth this season. Clocking in at 3:42, her latest news segment performance was also her longest of the season by a full minute.
Sarah Sherman – 6:08 / 9.77%
Sarah Sherman showed up three times this episode, racking up over four minutes of screen time in “Making Love.” Along with Michael Longfellow and the “Weekend Update” anchors, she was one of only four cast members who did not participate in “Bass Lake.”
Michael Che – 6:01 / 9.58%
This was Michael Che’s second strongest Season 50 episode to date, with his December 21 performance being just 39 seconds longer. Even so, his and Jost’s April 5 screen time gap stands as their fifth largest of the season.
Marcello Hernandez – 5:55 / 9.42%
This episode marked Marcello Hernandez and Jane Wickline’s second joint appearance as “Weekend Update” characters Grant and Alyssa, whom they first played on November 2, 2024. Hernandez appeared during three other segments this week, including Black’s musical monologue.
Kenan Thompson – 5:45 / 9.16%
Kenan Thompson has now appeared in three monologue segments this season, matching a record set by Yang on March 1. This week also saw Thompson reach one hour of cumulative Season 50 screen time.
Bowen Yang – 5:37 / 8.95%
Though Yang is now behind Colin Jost in terms of total Season 50 time, he still boasts a three-minute advantage over the rest of his SNL castmates. He was seen for a maximum of two minutes each in five of this week’s live, post-monologue sketches.
Chloe Fineman – 4:45 / 7.57%
This episode put Chloe Fineman within nine minutes of reaching one hour of Season 50 screen time. By this time last season, she had already hit the 65-minute mark.
Mikey Day – 4:43 / 7.51%
Mikey Day this week became the ninth cast member to achieve a Season 50 screen time total of at least 75 minutes. His biggest sketch of the night was “The First Play,” where he outpaced Black and seven of his fellow regulars.
Jane Wickline – 4:17 / 6.82%
Though Wickline continues to rank as this season’s least utilized featured player, there are now only 47 seconds separating her from Emil Wakim. Prior to this episode, that gap was nearly five times larger.
Michael Longfellow – 1:47 / 2.84%
Longfellow has yet to appear in more than two minutes of a single episode since January 25. Between his brief performances in “The First Play” and “Times Square Kiss,” he earned over 81% of his time this week as the titular character in “Goth Kid on Vacation.”
Mike Myers – 1:47 / 2.84%
Former cast member Mike Myers has now spent almost eight minutes impersonating Elon Musk across three Season 50 cold opens. His appearance this week was the shortest so far, by a margin of almost one minute.
Emil Wakim – 1:07 / 1.78%
This was the fourth consecutive episode in which Wakim was seen in two or fewer segments. Following his relatively sizable speaking part in “The First Play,” he took on one of several ensemble roles in “Bass Lake.”
Ashley Padilla – 0:26 / 0.69%
Ashley Padilla has now fallen behind fellow featured players Wakim and Wickline in six episodes. Nonetheless, she maintains a five-minute lead over each of them when it comes to their current Season 50 totals.
Devon Walker – 0:25 / 0.66%
After pulling 63 seconds ahead of Wickline last week, Devon Walker is now almost three minutes behind her on this season’s cumulative screen time list. Both he and Padilla made their sole appearances this week in “Bass Lake.”
Season 50 of SNL continues this coming weekend with host Jon Hamm and musical guest Lizzo.
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.
