Jon Hamm returned for his fourth Saturday Night Live hosting stint this weekend, winning high marks from fans and critics, even if his screen time total fell below average for a host during the show’s landmark 50th season. In fact, only eight minutes separated Hamm and his musical guest Lizzo (the average this season has been around 14 minutes).
Scroll down to see how Hamm and Lizzo stacked up against each of the show’s named performers, including surprise guests Kieran Culkin, Scarlett Johansson, Alex Moffat, and Beck Bennett.
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.
Jon Hamm – 16:41 / 27.13%
Hamm kicked off his first hosting stint in 14 years with this season’s fifth shortest monologue so far. He subsequently appeared in four live and three pretaped sketches, with his largest role being that of “Check to Check Business News” anchor Kenneth Albright.
Mikey Day – 10:39 / 17.32%
This week saw Mikey Day clock in ahead of all of his castmates for the second time this season (the first was the show’s Timothée Chalamet-hosted episode on January 25). He was one of nine regulars who amassed more than four minutes of screen time in the cold open, frozen in place as James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump delivered an Easter message.
Andrew Dismukes – 10:03 / 16.35%
Andrew Dismukes achieved his second highest screen time of the season with roles in six April 12 sketches. The only other regular to match that segment total this week was Day, with whom Dismukes appeared in three sketches.
Sarah Sherman – 10:03 / 16.35%
Thanks primarily to her appearances in this week’s cold open and “Weekend Update,” Sarah Sherman is now only 42 seconds away from displacing Colin Jost as this season’s most heavily utilized cast member. Prior to this week, the gap between them was more than six times larger.
Emil Wakim – 9:05 / 14.77%
This was Emil Wakim’s strongest screen time week since joining the cast this fall, beating his previous screen time record by more than two minutes. This is only the second time he has ranked as an episode’s most prominent featured player (the first was in October during SNL‘s Michael Keaton-hosted episode).
Lizzo – 8:41 / 14.12%
In addition to performing two songs from her upcoming album, Love in Real Life, Lizzo made brief appearances in “The White POTUS” and “New Parents.” Not counting hosts who’ve performed double duty, she is the first musical guest to make multiple same-night sketch cameos since Ariana Grande on March 9, 2024.
Ego Nwodim – 8:24 / 13.66%
Ego Nwodim’s silent appearance in this week’s cold open was her longest single-segment performance of the season by a margin of more than 90 seconds. The same went for both Devon Walker and Jane Wickline.
Michael Longfellow – 6:49 / 11.09%
This was the second episode this season in which Michael Longfellow earned part of his screen time playing a game show host. He was seen in over 44% of “Guess the Correct Answer,” the night’s shortest live sketch by half a minute.
Colin Jost – 6:26 / 10.46%
Colin Jost went from appearing in 64.47% of last week’s “Weekend Update” segment to just 40.25% this week. His current average for the season is 47.15%.
James Austin Johnson – 6:08 / 9.98%
As was the case once earlier this season, Johnson’s participation in this episode was entirely limited to portrayals of Trump. Factoring in his work in the latest cold open and “The White POTUS,” he has spent more than 42 minutes playing Trump this season.
Bowen Yang – 6:07 / 9.95%
Though he was the last cast member to appear on screen this episode, Bowen Yang still amassed a relatively high amount of screen time and joined Dismukes and Sherman in reaching a Season 50 total of at least 100 minutes.
Kenan Thompson – 5:24 / 8.78%
For the first time this season, Kenan Thompson has hit the five-minute mark in two consecutive episodes.
Jane Wickline – 5:15 / 8.54%
Wickline made her only live appearance this week as a background character in the cold open. She later played small parts in two pretapes (“Missing Person” and “Medication Ad”), speaking just six words throughout the entire episode.
Devon Walker – 4:55 / 8.00%
Though he was given no lines in either of his two sketch appearances this week, Walker’s Season 50 screen time average is now 10 seconds higher than it was last week. In addition to remaining in frame for most of the cold open, he played one of many commercial actors in “Medication Ad.”
Michael Che – 3:54 / 6.34%
Though it’s been three years since the last time, this weekend marked the sixth time Michael Che has welcomed Yang’s Chinese trade minister character Chen Biao to his side of the “Weekend Update” desk. He has now led 11 interview segments overall this season, while Jost has led 21.
Heidi Gardner – 3:50 / 6.23%
Heidi Gardner was seen in four of this episode’s segments for no longer than two minutes each. Most of her characters this week were fictional with the exception of Kristi Noem (in “The White POTUS”), whom she last played in the Season 49 finale’s cold open.
Ashley Padilla – 3:22 / 5.48%
This episode marked the first time each of this season’s three new featured players appeared for at least three minutes apiece. While Wakim and Wickline were seen in three segments, Ashley Padilla took part in four, amassing her largest chunk of screen time as office worker Susan in “Icebreaker.”
Ben Marshall – 1:18 / 2.11%
Ben Marshall’s sizable role in “Missing Person” boosted him to the top of this season’s Please Don’t Destroy screen time rankings. He has now outpaced both of his fellow group members in three consecutive shorts.
Chloe Fineman – 0:53 / 1.44%
Not counting her November 9 and March 1 absences, this was the third Season 50 episode in which Chloe Fineman appeared for less than two minutes. She spent the majority of her time this week portraying Melania Trump in “The White POTUS.”
Kieran Culkin – 0:49 / 1.33%
After watching last week’s show from the audience, Culkin returned to make a cameo during Hamm’s monologue. The recent Oscar winner last appeared on the SNL stage in December 2022 as part of a Father of the Bride reunion with hosts Steve Martin and Martin Short.
John Higgins – 0:40 / 1.08%
“Missing Person” was the fifth Please Don’t Destroy sketch to air this season, and the first in which multiple members of the trio appeared for 40 seconds or less.
Marcello Hernandez – 0:38 / 1.03%
This was the first Season 50 episode in which Marcello Hernandez was outpaced by every one of his castmates. Like Fineman, he only showed up this week in “The White POTUS” and “Medication Ad.”
Martin Herlihy – 0:36 / 0.98%
Having brought up the rear in three consecutive Please Don’t Destroy sketches, Martin Herlihy now ranks behind both of his partners in cumulative Season 50 screen time. Prior to this week, he held the top spot by a margin of two seconds.
Alex Moffat – 0:30 / 0.81%
Former SNL cast member Alex Moffat was briefly seen in “The White POTUS” as Eric Trump, whom he had not portrayed since leaving the show at the end of Season 47. He mostly shared the screen with Day, who most recently reprised his Donald Trump Jr. role in October during SNL‘s Ariana Grande-hosted episode.
Beck Bennett – 0:22 / 0.60%
Beck Bennett, who left the SNL cast one season before Moffat, revived his impression of Vladimir Putin for “The White POTUS.” To date, 13 former series regulars have taken part in at least one Season 50 sketch.
Scarlett Johansson – 0:12 / 0.33%
Johansson’s silent appearance as Ivanka Trump in “The White POTUS” served as her first reprisal of the role in almost seven years. Having previously appeared as herself on December 21, she follows Maya Rudolph as only the second woman to cameo in multiple episodes this season.
SNL ‘s 50th season continues on May 3 with host Quinta Brunson and musical guest Benson Boone.
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.
