Since its first air date of October 11th, 1975,Saturday Night Livehas had many hosts come through the halls of Studio 8H. The first ever hosting gig for the show went to comedian George Carlin.
Those who would follow that title of SNL host range from actors, politicians, musicians, professional athletes, returning cast members, and Steven Seagal. Many sketch comedy shows have come and gone; SNL has become an institution of the craft. So when you get a chance to host the show, you never pass it up.
Saturday Night Live
Some are so good at hosting that they have been called back multiple times. You’ll hear the term “Five Timers Club” a lot on this list. That’s because it’s a select group of hosts who have hosted the show five times or even more; it’s an exclusive club only a few are in, and they stand out the most of the many people who have hosted Saturday Night Live over its nearing half-century run.
20Emma Stone (5 Times)
Emma Stoneis now a two-time Oscar-winning actress who can do no wrong with any project she is attached to. Stone had comedic timing early on, even as the crush of Jonah Hill’s character inSuperbad.She evolved into so much more than just playing a throwaway comedic character. Stone makes us laugh with her physical comedy, and theSaturday Night Livewriters staff caters to that anytime she’s on the show.
Emma Stone Has Paid Homage to the SNL Greats
More recently, Stone entered the Five-Timers Club in late 2023 while on the Oscar campaign forPoor Things. Stone has stated how much of a Gilda Radner fan she was. She even paid homage to her by playing one of her iconicSNLcharacters, Roseanne Roseannadanna, in theSNL40th anniversary special.
Her memorable sketches include “Make Your Own Kind of Music” and the digital short “I Broke My Arm.” The actress is clearly in anexperimental phase, so maybe that means we will get more of her on the show.
19Bill Murray (5 Times)
Bill Murrayis one of the most successful former cast members. A comedic actor who dominated the 1980s, a decade that followed his run on Saturday Night Live in the late ’70s. Murray was hired to replace Chevy Chase on the show,which is always a topic of controversy among the SNL inner circle.Murray became one of the most bankable stars of the 1980s with theGhostbustersfranchise and other films likeScroogedandGroundhog Day.
Murray Has Not Hosted Since 1999
Here’s how old Saturday Night Live is. Bill Murray has not hosted the show in a quarter of a century. It could be time to bring him back. Murray has become a bit of an internet icon, with his face on t-shirts and the filmZombielanddevoting ten minutes of the runtime to his cameo in the film. Murray’s dry, witty humor gelled with audiences in the 1970s and still does to this day.
18Paul Rudd (5 Times)
The seemingly agelessPaul Ruddhas had an illustrious, three-decade-long career. FromCluelessto theMCU,the charm and wit of Rudd have kept fans coming back for more every year. Although his screen presence is highly entertaining, his comedic delivery thrives in front of a live audience just as much, hence why Lorene Michaels gets in touch with his agent from time to time.
13 Years to Get to the Five-Timers Club
Paul Rudd’s most recentSNLhosting gig was back in 2021. Just as the world was trying to put COVID-19 in the rearview,then came the Omnicron variant.The show had pre-taped sketches due to there being no live audience for the event. However, Rudd was still able to be inducted into the Five-Timers club that night, an event that was 13 years in the making, as his first appearance as an SNL host was back in 2008.
17Kristen Wiig (5 Times)
Kristen Wiig’shumor is so effortless. Her versatility in going from an upscale ditz in one sketch, to giving us a very relatable character like the crazy Target lady we have all encountered in the retail chain before. Wiig’s characters she played onSNLall felt original, like she walked around and people watched and wrote all the notes down that were needed. Even though she leftSNLfor bigger projects, we see why she comes back to host from time to time.
The Newest Member of the SNL Five-Timers Club
Wiig returned in April 2024 to host the show for a fifth time. Many have called her most recent duty the funniest episode of the season so far. Wiig took part in some digital shorts, and brought back a few memorable characters from her run as a cast member on the show, one of which was Aunt Linda who shows up on Weekend Update to critique the most recent Oscar wins. Wiig’s comic timing is a national treasure that we will never get enough of.
16Jonah Hill (5 Times)
If you think about the shape of comedy over the last couple decades,Jonah Hillhas been an integral part of it. Films likeSuperbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, andGet Him to the Greekput him on the map. The California native went to school in New York City, where he studied acting, producing, and theater. His studies would go on to make him a perfect fit for an SNL candidate.
Jonah and Leo
Jonah Hill took part in the now iconic Five-Timers club sketch that was spoken about previously on this list. He is not in the Five Timers Club with numerous sketches people have laughed at over and over again. However, one of his hosting duties stands out the most to us all.
During his monologue, he had hisWolf of Wall Streetco-star Leonardo DiCaprio make an appearance, where the pair pretended to be Jack and Rose fromTitanicin the famous “I’m Flying” scene from the film.
15Candice Bergen (5 Times)
The longevity ofCandice Bergenis one of the best stories in show business. Hailing from sunny southern California, Bergen got her career started in modeling before making the jump into acting. It’s a hard jump to do, but Bergen succeeded. Her sitcom,Murphy Brown, is what she is mainly known for in her career. Lasting ten seasons and receiving countless Emmys.
The First Woman to Host Saturday Night Live
Although Bergen is in the coveted Five Timers Club, there is another acolyte that goes with that title: Candice Bergen was the first woman to ever host the show. Opening the door for a long list of talented women in a male-dominated industry to own an episode ofSNLfor a night. Her five times as host of the show spanned from the show’s first season in 1975 all the way until 1990. The most memorable moment isher sketch with Gilda Radnertitled ‘Extremely Stupid’, where Bergen breaks character and laughs uncontrollably.
14Ben Affleck (5 Times)
Ben Affleckwent from struggling actor to Academy Award-winning screenwriter with his best friend in the 1990s for the filmGood Will Hunting. Affleck is a private guy with a very public life; he’s played Batman, become a successful director, and co-starred in the filmGigliwith his future wife, Jennifer Lopez. His comedic range can now be seen in Dunkin' Donuts commercials, but he has also given us some memorableSNLmoments as a host.
Affleck’s Versatility
Ben Affleck’s versatility can be seen in all aspects of his work. His comedic timing always surprises us; he knows how to collaborate well. Affleck’s impressions are unexpected, as more recently he appeared in sketches as MSNBC correspondent Keith Olbermann, while also delivering great sketches, like the New Beginnings Camp sketch, where he plays a counselor at a camp that is trying to turn gay kids straight.
It took Affleck a little over a decade, but he, too, is a member of the Five-Timers Club.Related:Danny Devito Confirms He Will Be Working With Arnold Schwarzenegger on a New Movie
13Woody Harrelson (5 Times)
Woody Harrelson’shosting duties for Saturday Night Live date back to 1989. The actor has given us roles in films likeNatural Born Killersand shows likeTrue Detective, where Harrelson brings his A-game of great drama. Yet, he also makes us laugh in films likeZombielandandSemi-Pro. Harreslon fits in well with whoever is in the SNL writers room.
The COVID Monologue
More recently, Harrelson’s hosting duties got him in the crosshairs of internet chatter due to his monologue where he joked about the COVID vaccine in a subliminal kind of way. Harrelson caught some flak from the press, as most jokes with statements do when they don’t seem to land in an SNL opening monologue. Regardless, Harrelson is in the Five-Timers Club as of 2022.
12Will Ferrell (5 Times)
Saturday Night Liveis an incubator for comedic talent; many go on to have great careers after leaving there; some go on to become mega stars who define comedy;Will Ferrellis the latter. From his arrival in the mid-1990s to his exit in 2002, Ferrell would go on to star in classics likeAnchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights, Elf, andStep Brothers.
Ferrell’s Return to Saturday Night Live
Eventually, one of the biggest stars to leave the show would return. Will Ferrell would join the Five Timers Club. Ferrell and a few others who are on this list are some of the few former cast members to return to host the show. Usually, when he returns to host, Ferrell brings his bits of oddball, over-the-top humor while giving us the characters we all loved he played when he was on the show. Nobody ever topped Ferrell’s George W. Bush impersonation, and nobody ever will.
11The Rock (5 Times)
There is no bigger movie star thanThe Rockthese days, or, should we say, no bigger wrestler, because Dwayne Johnson has stepped back into the squared circle as of late. The Rock was born to be an action star in Hollywood; he’s gone on to do more than that with his attachment to big-name brands and doing big business for Hollywood. He’s also hosted SNL five times now.
More Than a Wrestler
In the early 2000s, it was The Rock who carried the torch for the WWE. He had massive crossover appeal.Saturday Night Livewas the perfect audition for the star he would become, as what followed was super stardom for Dwayne Johnson. The Rock was not the first wrestler to ever hostSNL, though.
March of 1985 saw the hosting duties of Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. The pair hosted on March 30th, 1985, the very first Wrestlemania ever was the next night in New York City. Hogan and Mr. T’s gig as SNL hosts was more of a promo for the event. The Rock, however, got to stretch his acting wings a bit more, showing us all that he was more than just big muscles and trash talk.
