Editor’s note: Mike Murray hosts 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 afterward.
NBC’s Saturday Night Live returned from its Winter Olympics break with Connor Storrie, star of Crave and HBO Max’s Heated Rivalry, suiting up to host for the first time. See how he and musical guest Mumford & Sons stacked up against the cast, including some highly anticipated cameos.
Note: Our 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 is not included, nor do those portions factor into our assessment of an episode’s total running time.
Connor Storrie – 21:44 (34.7%)
With an over five-minute monologue and seven other sketch appearances, Storrie ranked No. 7 among Season 51 hosts in screen time, placing above hosting vets Ariana Grande, Miles Teller, and Bad Bunny. Storrie’s stats were comparable to other recent first-timers Ana de Armas (21:48) and Travis Kelce (21:27). His longest appearance outside the monologue came in the night’s final sketch (03:33) which saw him play a Vegas stripper who was hit by a car on the way to a bachelorette party.
Veronika Slowikowska – 12:23 (19.8%)
Slowikowska achieved a rare SNL feat this week, leading the cast in screen time as a rookie—it was only the third time in eight years this has occurred, and she easily bested the totals of both Marcello Hernández in Season 48 (09:07) and James Austin Johnson in Season 47 (10:15). She made her “Weekend Update” debut as “Katie, Beth’s Maid of Honor,” and also had her longest career appearance (04:44) in “Ice Skating.” Her 12:23 is the third-highest cast screen time recorded so far this season, trailing only Ashley Padilla’s 13:45 (in Sabrina Carpenter’s episode) and Bowen Yang’s 13:12 (in his final episode, hosted by Grande). Milestone watch: Slowikowska is four appearances from 50, and 7.5 minutes from one hour of cumulative screen time.
Sarah Sherman – 09:38 (15.4%)
Following her lowest three-episode average (01:57) in nearly three years, Sherman has now posted two strong back-to-back veteran stat sheets—10:01 in Alexander Skarsgård’s episode, and 09:38 this week with Storrie. All told, she made five appearances this week, including the final guest segment on “Weekend Update,” where she played the absentee mother of Punch, the adorable viral monkey (played by Hernández). Perhaps, like Slowikowska, a beneficiary of Chloe Fineman being absent this week, Sherman enjoyed her fifth-highest career screen time.
Colin Jost – 09:00 (14.4%)
One benefit of this weekend’s rewritten Cold Open, Jost returned as SecDef Pete Hegseth for a fifth time (02:03) and logged an even nine minutes of screen time—his third-highest of the season. Jost on “Update” hosted the debut of rookie Slowikowska, and was a familiar foil to Sherman’s momma macaque. This episode marks the 10th time in eight years that Jost has posted a nine-minute episode; he’s currently on pace to break his single-season screen time record of 2 hours and 14 minutes.
Marcello Hernández – 07:36 (12.1%)
Hernández had his eighth-highest career screen time this week, and his best of Season 51 so far. He anchored the post-monologue sketch for the first time this season (03:35), channeling his own prep school teacher as “Mr. Fronzi.” He also nabbed the lead in the post-“Update” sketch “Leg Surgery,” appeared in the night’s only pretape, “The Gentlemen’s Code,” and played Punch on “Update.”
Mumford & Sons – 07:17 (11.6%)
Mumford & Sons were previously musical guests in 2012, 2015, and 2018, and Marcus Mumford cameoed when his wife, Carey Mulligan, hosted in 2021. Promoting their sixth album, Prizefighter, the band performed “Rubber Band Man” with Hozier, and “Here” with Sierra Ferrell. They also made an appearance in “Office Dance,” the first full musical group to appear in a sketch since boygenius in Timothée Chalamet’s November 2023 episode.
Mikey Day – 05:48 (9.3%)
Day has achieved over five minutes of screen time in more than 46% of his episodes dating back to Season 43, and this week boosted that number with a minute more than his Season 51 average. He shined brightest going head-to-head with Storrie in “The Gentlemen’s Code,” and looked like a natural on rollerblades when “Ice Skating,” heightening a premise he and writing partner Streeter Seidell had success with in Season 48’s “Waffle House,” Season 49’s “Subway Platform,” and Season 50’s “Spring Break.”
Ben Marshall – 05:43 (9.1%)
Marshall delivered his longest career live sketch appearance (02:23) in “Tutoring the Cool Kid,” where he played school nerd Dirkus to Storrie’s class jock PJ. That fueled his best-ever live screen time as he also made his fifth-longest appearance in “Leg Surgery” and seventh-longest in “Ice Skating.” Marshall is set to hit one hour of Season 51 screen time during Ryan Gosling’s fourth turn as host this weekend.
Ashley Padilla – 05:40 (9.0%)
Padilla became the first cast member this season to hit 90 minutes total of screen time this week, having logged at least five minutes in nine of the 13 episodes. She appeared in three live sketches, playing parents to Marshall with James Austin Johnson in “Tutoring the Cool Kid,” and two lead pairings with Storrie in the back half of the show.
James Austin Johnson – 05:36 (8.9%)
JAJ officially joined the unfinished Mt. Rushmore of SNL impressions by playing Donald Trump for a 50th time. (Alec Baldwin appeared as Trump 52 times, and Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton 89 times). He kicked off the night alongside Jost’s Pete Hegseth for nearly three minutes, and later sang with Padilla in “Tutoring the Cool Kid.” Johnson grabbed more laughs in “Office Dance” and had a blink-and-you-miss-it voiceover during “Update.”
Tommy Brennan – 04:38 (7.4%)
Brennan has been chasing an episode with over four minutes of screen time since Glen Powell hosted in November. The elusive goal was netted in a single sketch this week, “Ice Skating,” where he played a proposing boyfriend distracted by the friend group skating behind him at Rockefeller Plaza.
Aaron Dessner – 03:46 (6.0%)
Dessner enjoyed renewed fame in the past half-decade producing albums for Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and Gracie Adams. He produced Mumford & Sons’ latest LP, Prizefighter, and accompanied them on guitar for both of their performances (meriting a shoutout from Marcus Mumford himself for a guitar solo during “Here.”) Dessner appeared on SNL in March 2014, performing with his band, The National, alongside twin brother Bryce.
Michael Che – 02:56 (4.7%)
Che finally made a live sketch appearance this week, in “Tourette’s”—but it was cut at dress rehearsal and posted to YouTube (where it did not go unnoticed!). His only appearance during the live show was at his usual post, co-anchoring “Update” with Jost. He has now appeared in 235 consecutive episodes, dating back to Season 40.
Hozier – 02:45 (4.4%)
Hozier has appeared twice before as the SNL musical guest, in Bill Hader’s first hosted episode in 2014, and last season in Martin Short’s Five-Timer Christmas episode. This week, he sang his verse in Mumford & Sons’ first performance, “Rubber Band Man.”
Jeremy Culhane – 02:29 (4.0%)
Johnson’s Trump called out the rookie by name in the Cold Open—”Poor Jeremy, he’s got a light show” referencing the late re-write. Culhane did make two appearances, first playing classmates with Storrie in “Mr. Fronzi,” and as a coworker in “Office Dance.” He is still on pace to hit just around one hour of screen time if he can grab three to four larger sketch appearances over the remainder of the season.
Kenan Thompson – 02:29 (4.0%)
Thompson logged his sixth episode of the season with under three minutes of screen time, though he had his usual scene-stealing moments in “The Gentlemen’s Code” (00:59) and “Office Dance” (01:30) . Thompson has yet to appear on “Weekend Update” or say “Live From New York, it’s Saturday Night!” this season. As Season 51 screen time totals go, he is in a tight race with one of the show’s newest cast members, ahead of Slowikowska by just 26 seconds.
Jack Hughes – 02:27 (3.9%)
It took this Hughes brother just 21 seconds of OT to score the game-winning goal vs. Canada that brought the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team their first gold medal since 1980—that’s a full two minutes less than his SNL cameo in this week’s monologue. The New Jersey Devils’ 2019 first overall draft pick was joined by big brother Quinn, Team USA teammate and a defenseman for the Minnesota Wild, marking the first SNL appearance by pro athlete brothers since Travis and Jason Kelce of the NFL, three years ago today.
Sierra Ferrell – 02:23 (3.8%)
The West Virginia singer sang an upbeat duet with Marcus Mumford during the second musical performance of the night. She sang “Here,” covering Chris Stapleton’s part on the opening track of Mumford & Sons’ new album, Prizefighter.
Quinn Hughes – 02:15 (3.6%)
As reported by LateNighter last Friday, the Minnesota Wild defenseman was the only confirmed cameo before SNL went live. He appeared alongside Team USA teammate and younger brother Jack three minutes into Storrie’s monologue, where they and women’s team’s Hilary Knight and Megan Keller were met with 12 seconds of applause. (The bros also appeared with Knight on Monday’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.)
Andrew Dismukes – 02:08 (3.4%)
Dismukes ranks fifth this season in traditional live sketch screen time (48:25), a few minutes behind Day and few ahead of Thompson. In Storrie’s episode, his total screen time was under three minutes for just the second time this season (Finn Wolfhard, 01:18). Dismukes appeared in “The Gentlemen’s Code” (00:56) and “Office Dance” (01:26).
Kam Patterson – 01:56 (3.1%)
Patterson was shut out of SNL’s 1,000th episode prior to the Olympic break, but made one appearance in this week’s post-monologue sketch, “Mr. Fronzi.” He is on pace for under 40 minutes of screen time in his rookie season, which doesn’t bode well for his return next season, as recent rookies Emil Wakim (with 53 minutes) and Chloe Troast (44 minutes) were one-season-wonders.
Jane Wickline – 01:56 (3.1%)
Wickline checked into the episode at 12:54 a.m. ET, with her sole appearance, in Storrie’s “Stripper” sketch. “Car Song,” her and Slowikowska’s follow-up to December’s “Cousin Planet” pretape, fell victim to the cut-for-time YouTube designation. Wickline is averaging 02:49 per episode in her second season.
Hilary Knight – 01:30 (2.4%)
As first noted by the Saturday Night Network, Knight is now the first female athlete to appear twice on SNL, having previously interacted with Leslie Jones on “Weekend Update” almost six years to the day (March 3, 2018). The inaugural captain of the PWHL’s Boston Fleet (Team USA teammate Megan Keller is the current captain), Knight holds Olympic records with 15 career goals and 33 points ,and won her second gold medal in Milan. Knight and Keller were greeted with a 29-second applause break when they cameoed in Storrie’s monologue.
Hudson Williams – 01:22 (2.2%)
In a fitting “Ice Skating” reunion with Heated Rivalry scene partner Storrie, Williams made his SNL debut to a raucous 31-second ovation from the 8H crowd. Williams fit right in with the ice skating friend group that also included Mikey Day and Ben Marshall. He teamed up with Storrie once more to introduce Mumford & Sons’ first musical performance, while “Movie Q&A,” a second sketch in which he also made an appearance was cut from dress.
Megan Keller – 01:20 (2.1%)
Storrie joked with Jack Hughes about playing for the fictional hockey team, the “Boston Raiders,” before they were joined by the current real-life captain of the PWHL’s Boston Fleet during the monologue. Keller scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Team Canada to bring home the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team’s third goal medal in 18 years.
I’ve missed many seasons on SNL, because it’s hard to find full episodes anywhere. also it’s not what it once was…FUNNY The new cast members are dull, the writing leaves much to be desired, as a writer I can officially say this…and I’m not enjoying SNL anymore.
so missing the show most of the past 3 yrs isn’t heartbreaking, it’s actually giving me time to scroll TilTok.