10 Best SNL Guest Hosts Of All Time

Saturday Night Live‘s best guest hosts highlight the many enduring strengths and approaches to the long-running sketch comedy show. Saturday Night Live debuted fifty years ago and has spent the last half-century for one of the best spotlights in the entertainment industry. Some of Saturday Night Live‘s best episodes have featured actors, musicians, comedians, and all sorts of other entertainers at the top of their game. Becoming a Saturday Night Live host is a unique experience that underscores someone’s success in their field.

The best Saturday Night Live hosts time don’t just showcase themselves, though. While plenty of former cast members have been great hosts across Saturday Night Live‘s fifty year run, some of the most interesting (and entertaining) can bring their own energy to the show even as they gel with the rest of the cast. They elevate the bizarre, satirical, and purely silly aspects of the comedy in their own deeply memorable ways. Here are the ten best Saturday Night Live guest hosts.

10

Nate Bargatze

Guest Hosted In 2023 And 2024

A relatively new addition to the Saturday Night Live guest hosts roster, Nate Bargatze has quickly established himself as a natural fit for the role and stands out as one of the best modern guest host. The stand-up comdian’s genial observations about life is ideal material for the opening monologuing. It highlights his universal appeal and sets him up as a normal guy who has some sweet (and hilarious) thoughts about his life. He proved be a deft addition to several sketches across his two episodes, with his muted approach to the bits a true asset to their comedic effect.

His grounded performances and muted approach to bizarre lines give Bargatze’s Saturday Night Live sketches like “George Washington” and “Water Slide” a deadpan element that improves their inherent wacky nature. However, he could use that same tone to elevate sketches like “Cooking Competition” where the sheepish Bargatze is able to ground a sketch in real world discomfort. In only two appearances, Bargatze has proven he can deliver goofy dialogue with confidence, and bounce well off his co-stars. Bargatze is a natural on Saturday Night Live, and should hopefully have several future appearances hosting the show.

9

Emma Stone

Guest Hosted In 2010, 2011, 2016, 2019, And 2023

Two-time Academy Award winner Emma Stone has proven to be an incredibly versatile performer over the course of her career, something that she brings to her multiple times hosting Saturday Night Live. Throughout it all, Stone brings a theatrical level of commitment to the premise, throwing herself into characters even when they’re just nameless stand-ins (like her singing nudist community helper in “Fully Naked In New York City”). Stone is a great actress, and she brings that award-winning skill-set to great use on the show.

Emma Stone works as a put-upon comedic target in sketches like “Question Quest,” but fully commits to the over-the-top performance in sketches like “Make Your Own Kind Of Music.” Stone even knows how to use her dramatic acting chops to great effect, with her sheer commitment to a character’s internal struggle makes the punchline of “The Actress” even better. Emma Stone has a great ability to bring real pathos to her characters, which is a great tool in Saturday Night Live‘s repertoire.

8

Christopher Walken

Guest Hosted In 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003, And 2008

One of the most idiosyncratic actors of the 20th and 21st century, Christopher Walken’s unique vocal delivery and committed performances made him a star for decades. It’s also a skill set that makes for a deeply memorable Saturday Night Live host. His most famous contribution to the show, as legendary music producer Bruce Dickinson in “More Cowbell, remains a highlight of that era of the show.

However, it was far from his only strong performance on the show. Characters like the Continental have given Walken plenty of opportunities to show off his comedy chops, while the wild edges of Colonel Angus and Ed Glosser, Trivial Psychic are both great examples of the more straight-faced performance that Walken can bring to his silly characters on Saturday Night Live. Walken’s self-aware nature and full-throated commitment to any bit, no matter how silly, makes him one of the all-time best hosts of the show.

7

Adam Driver

Guest Hosted In 2016, 2018, 2020, And 2023

Adam Driver is known primarily for his dramatic roles in films like Marriage Story, but he’s also got a deft hand for applying that intensity for comedic purposes. Driver commits fully to the premise around him, with his performances in sketches “Career Day,” “Medieval Times,” and “Beep Beep” turning that white hot intensity into a great source of comedy. Even when dressed up in a giant bottle costume for “Marrying Ketchups” or a comically melodramatic version of Kylo Ren, Driver uses his specific skills to great effect as a guest host.

There’s a self aware level to his Saturday Night Live performances though. His opening monologues portray him as an unflinchingly funny and grounded actor, making his melodramatic performance in sketches like “Marrying Ketchups” all the more memorable. Driver is one of the most impressive modern hosts of the show, fitting neatly into original pieces and clear pop-culture parodies alike.

6

Candice Bergen

Guest Hosted In 1975, 1975, 1976, 1987, And 1990

A legend of TV comedy and the star of shows like Murphey Brown, Candice Bergen was the first female host of Saturday Night Live — and remains one of the best ever hosts, period. Bergen was a natural fit alongside the original stars of the show, finding plenty of great comic foils in Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, and Garrett Morris. Bergen brought an eager and enthusiastic approach to the live-comedy, whether that’s in a minor part of sketches like “Jaws II” or at the center of them in bits like “Right To Extreme Stupidity League.”

Bergen was at home playing big broad characters like in her “Chanel” perfume parody. However, she could also deliver surprisingly grounded perspective to increasingly wacky beats in sketches like “Anne Boylen.” More than anything, Bergen’s clear love for the material and the cast shines through her performances and elevates her appearances as host above almost all of her peers.

5

John Mulaney

Guest Hosted In 2018, 2019, 2020, 2020, 2022 And 2024

This may be cheating a bit given that Mulaney was a writer Saturday Night Live, but John Mulaney remains one of the best hosts in the history of Saturday Night Live because of how well he fits into the dynamic of the entire enterprise. Mulaney has a similar skill-set to Steve Martin in that sense, as he gels into many roles on the show. He can be a crumbling straight man like in “What’s That Name,” the goofy center-piece in “Monkey Trial,” and a committed gatekeeper to the bizarre in his traditional New York City musical series.

That adaptability is matched by an energy that suits the sketch series’ legacy, adaptable on subject matter but always with a touch of goofy nonsense. “Beppo” hops around all kinds of dark and bizarre humor, with Mulaney and the rest of the cast maintaining full sincerity in cheering on an unkillable astronaut monkey. Mulaney is a self-confessed “silly” person, and brings the exact right vibe to his hosting gigs on Saturday Night Live.

4

Richard Pryor

Guest Hosted In 1975

Richard Pryor remains a legendary figure within the world of stand-up comedy, a legacy that was cemented even before he appeared as a guest host for Saturday Night Live. Pryor proved perfectly at home in the sketch comedy setting, highlighting the skills he would later bring to a succesful film career and delivering an all-time great episode of Saturday Night Live that made his one hosting gig a highlight of the entire series. Pryor is hilarious in sketches like “The Excorist II” and “”Suicide Pill,” playing up a variety of emotional heights to great effect.

What makes the Richard Pryor episode so special and Pryor such an important host is the way his episodes proved how challenging Saturday Night Live‘s satire can be. While some of the sketches like “Samurai Hotel” have not aged well, other sketches like his running “Police Line-Up” sketches remain timely. His controversial and analyzed sketch is “Word Association,” which famously saw him facing off with Chevy Chase in a job interview that turns intense, with Pryor highlighting what an aggressively pointed comedy sketch show can do. He only hosted Saturday Night Live once, but it was an all-time great showing.

3

Melissa McCarthy

Guest Hosted In 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, And 2017

Melissa McCarthy has proven to be particularly adept at throwing herself into broad comic characters. While the Academy Award nominated actress has more then proven her dramatic chops, her performances in films like Bridesmaid and Spy make it clear why she’s a great fit for Saturday Night Live. More then anything, McCarthy brings a fully committed and boistrous performance to her Saturday Night Live sketches. “Outside the Lines” highlights the Chris Farley-style energy McCarthy can bring to the sketches, with her ridiculously intense and cartoonishly cruel basketball coach working only thanks to that level of performance.

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McCarthy uses this for great comic effect, especially when portraying characters like White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. The parody of Spicer was so all encompasing and memorable that it can be hard to remember all the other great sketches McCarthy has elevated, like “Pizza Business” and “Million Dollar Wheel.” She can even become a defining character in a sketch as a walk-on punchline, as seen in Martin Short’s season 50 episode. McCarthy would have made a perfect addition to the show as a cast-member and brings a larger than life quality to her comic performance as a guest host.

2

Tom Hanks

Guest Hosted In 1985, 1988, 1988, 1990, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2006, 2016, And 2020

Tom Hanks is one of the most celebrated actors of the last fifty years, with a wealth of amazing performances to his name. He’s also a supremely funny actor, which is reflected in his many appearances on Saturday Night Live. Sketches like “Mr. Short-Term Memory” and “Girl Watchers” were good early examples of what Hanks could do with Saturday Night Live‘s silly characters and concepts, but it’s his most recent appearances that have produced his best work with the show.

“Haunted Elevator” turned the gag character David S. Pumpkins into a pop-culture phenomenon. The character only works in the sketch because of Hanks, who delivers a strangely mesmerizing performance as Pumpkins. However, it’s sketches like “Black Jeopardy!” that best highlights how well Hanks fits on the show as a guest host. Bouncing back and forth against Kenan Thompson’s Darnell Hayes, Hanks gives the sole white contestant Doug a surprising likability and a sneakily subversive edge. It’s a reminder of how good Hanks is as a performer, especially in comedy.

1

Steve Martin

Guest Hosted In 1976, 1977, 1977, 1978, 1978, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1994, 2006, 2009, And 2022

At times considered an unoffical member of the original cast, Steve Martin has been a long-standing fixture of Saturday Night Live. Steve Martin has hosted the show 16 times and has appeared on it in guest spots over a dozen more, with the enduring comedy star melding into any number of sketch set-ups thrown his way. His dance with Gilda Radner in “Dancing In The Dark” is sweet and romantic just as much as it is broadly hilarious, while sketches like “Rise” and “Steve Martin’s Christmas Wish” only work thanks to his impeccable delivery.

Martin brought musical flair to his appearances in famous sketches like “King Tut,” big bravado in “Theatre Stories,” and terrific delivery to his monologues. That connection with the cast and creatives of Saturday Night Live synthesize into pure comic gold, explaining why Martin has been on the show as often as he has. Steve Martin has remained in the spotlight for decades for a reason, and those same skills are what make him the best host in the history of Saturday Night Live.

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Release Date

October 11, 1975