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 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, or catch the replay afterwards.
Nikki Glaser took her turn this past weekend as Saturday Night Live host, delivering a near nine-minute stand-up monologue and nine sketch appearances. She’s the first Season 51 host with no prior SNL appearances.
Scroll to see how she stacked up against each of the show’s named performers, including musical guest sombr and a “Weekend Update” pop-in from SNL alum Pete Davidson.
Note: Our screen time calculation method prioritizes face time, meaning that any contiguous (off-screen but in-scene) moments and most 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.
Nikki Glaser – 25:29 (40.5%)
After the first four weeks saw monologues averaging only 03:34, it only made sense for the season’s first stand-up to bring up the average. in all, Glaser’s routine ran 08:49. She also appeared in all six live sketches, averaging 02:16 in each. Her longest appearance came in the “Mechanical Bull” sketch (03:21), riding cross-country and through time with Sarah Sherman.
James Austin Johnson – 09:24 (14.9%)
JAJ led the cast in screen time for the first time since last season’s Jack Black episode. He returned as Trump in the shortest cold open in ten episodes and scored lead sketch roles as the airline captain in “Pilot Announcement” and as the folk ballad singer in “Mechanical Bull.”
Sarah Sherman – 08:23 (13.3%)
After a rare low week with Miles Teller, Sarah Sherman returned to form with her sixth-highest career screen time. Speaking of six, it was also her sixth career episode with six or more appearances. She’s currently tied with Andrew Dismukes with exactly 30:58 of screen time this season.
sombr – 07:32 (12.0%)
Recently nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist, sombr performed two songs, “12 to 12” and “back to friends.” The 20-year-old singer is the first SNL headliner to be born after Kenan Thompson joined the cast in 2003.
Mikey Day – 06:31 (10.4%)
Mikey Day had a big appearance in “Sorority Meeting” and paired up with rookie Jeremy Culhane in “Pinwheel,” the final sketch of the night. He also voiced “Brad” in an SNL animated short with writing partner Streeter Seidell. The ten-season vet is now the exact same age that Phil Hartman was in his final episode as a cast member in 1994.
Colin Jost – 05:25 (8.6%)
The shortest Weekend Update in 24 episodes saw Jost’s screen time drop to a number more typically seen prior to Season 48. A visit to former castmate and business partner Pete Davidson did extend the co-anchor’s streak to six consecutive guest segments (Che hasn’t had a guest visit his side of the desk since the season’s second episode.)
Andrew Dismukes – 04:40 (7.4%)
Dismukes made an impressive seven appearances this week for the fourth time in his six-season career. Pairing up again with Ashley Padilla as Tommy Brennan and Nikki Glaser’s parents in “Karaoke Night,” the duo have now appeared together for at least a minute in nine segments so far this season.
Jeremy Culhane – 03:49 (6.1%)
Culhane became the fifth and final Season 51 rookie to land a lead role as he portrayed “Dubbie,” a childhood stuffed animal overly enthusiastic about a pinwhee. That performance helped him earn a screen time career-high this week, having averaged 01:49 per episode up until this point.
Pete Davidson – 03:42 (5.9%)
A cast member from 2014–2022, Davidson made his second cameo since hosting the show’s Season 49 premiere. He was at the Update Desk to discuss the Staten Island ferry he owns with Colin Jost and being an expectant father. Davidson made his SNL debut in the Season 40 premiere at age 20.
Tommy Brennan – 03:26 (5.5%)
Reuniting with host Nikki Glaser after opening for her on her stand-up tour earlier in the year, Brennan and Glaser played uncomfortably close siblings in the post-monologue sketch “Karaoke Night.” Brennan made three additional small appearances (including a voiceover) totaling just 17 seconds.
Chloe Fineman – 03:03 (4.8%)
Fineman had a season-low screen time this week, after averaging 06:18 in each of the season’s first four episodes. 02:24 of her time came in supporting sketch roles, and 39 seconds in voice-overs.
Kenan Thompson – 02:59 (4.7%)
After one of his highest episode totals in years last week, Kenan made four appearances and dropped back to his pre-Miles Teller season average (02:55). He accumulated the most screen time this week playing Cogsworth to Bowen Yang’s Lumière in the “Beauty & Mr. Beast” sketch.
Ashley Padilla – 02:53 (4.6%)
Though she netted over 23 minutes of screen time in the previous two episodes, Padilla returned to her rookie season average (02:50) this week. She still leads the entire cast in screen time (35:03) and appearances (25).
Michael Che – 02:46 (4.4%)
Che logged his lowest screen time since the Chris Rock episode last December. He made his Weekend Update debut the same night as Pete Davidson in 2014.
Ben Marshall – 02:22 (3.8%)
Marshall leads the rookies in appearances through five episodes (20). This week, he had a lead sketch appearance as Mr. Beast opposite Belle, played by host Nikki Glaser, in the “Beauty & Mr. Beast” sketch.
Bowen Yang – 01:48 (2.9%)
This week marked Yang’s second episode this season with under two minutes of screen time. Prior to Season 51, he’d had only two such episodes in the previous 64. He stars in Wicked: For Good opening this month.
Veronika Slowikowska – 01:29 (2.4%)
Slowikowska became the first rookie to surpass 15 minutes this season when she made her fourth appearance of the night in the “Sorority Meeting” sketch. She has now logged 18 appearances over the season’s first five episodes. The last female rookie cast member to come close was Heidi Gardner, who appeared in 17 sketches over the first five episodes of Season 43.
Marcello Hernández – 01:09 (1.8%)
Almost all of Hernández’s screen time this week was spent in the background as Dr. Oz in the Cold Open. Of his 63 episodes as a cast member, he’s had less screen time in only 10 episodes.
Jane Wickline – 00:59 (1.6%)
Wickline made two live sketch appearances this week. After a quick exit at the start of the “Mechanical Bull” sketch, she was among the female ensemble in “Sorority Meeting.”
Kam Patterson – 00:50 (1.3%)
Patterson has yet to beat his per-episode screen time high from the season’s first episode. In fact, his Weekend Update piece that night still accounts for nearly a third of his total screen time so far this season.
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