Martin Short to Enter SNL Record Books With Dec 21 Hosting Gig

Yes, Martin Short will be joining SNL’s ever-growing Five-Timers Club when he returns to host the show later this month, but that’s just one of several ways Short is set to enter and/or move up the ranks of Saturday Night Live‘s record books.

As host of the December 21st episode, Short will become one of just four people who’ve hosted more than one SNL Christmas episode, joining the ranks of Candice Bergen in 1975 and 1976, Jimmy Fallon in 2011 and 2013, and Eddie Murphy in 1982, 1984, and 2019. (Murphy’s 1982 turn carries an asterisk as he was still an SNL cast member at the time, called to fill-in at the last-minute for no-show Nick Nolte, his co-star in the movie 48 Hours.)

Short previously hosted the show’s Christmas episode in 2012, and he came very close to doing it again in 2022 when he co-hosted the Dec. 10 episode with longtime pal Steve Martin, but there was one more show before Christmas break that year. The Dec. 17 episode was hosted by Austin Butler, promoting Elvis.

As it happens, Short’s other two hosting gigs–in 1986 and 1996–also fell in the month of December, making him the only five-time host to consistently host the show in the same month.

Although it remains to be seen whether Short will be formally entered into the Five-Timer’s Club this go-around, he has rocked the club’s smoking jacket before, making fun of how easy it was to earn one of them when Kristen Wiig hosted earlier this year. Short joined Paul Rudd, Matt Damon, Jon Hamm, Ryan Gosling, Fred Armisen, and Will Forte in wearing Five-Timers Club jackets—despite the fact that none of them had actually hosted the show five times.

Short will be moving up a few spots on another list, as well. When he hosts Dec. 21, he will become the sixth oldest person to host the show—and the only person to appear twice among the show’s top ten oldest hosts. (His 2022 appearance currently ranks at ninth place.)

At 74 years old, he’s still more than a decade shy of No. 1: Betty White. She hosted in 2022 at 88 following a successful social media campaign in support of the Golden Girl.