One of the greatest decisions made by Lorne Michaels when creating “Saturday Night Live” was to have a different guest host each week for the variety sketch program. Audiences greet each episode with new enthusiasm to see how that celebrity will handle the challenges of a live 90-minute show.
The program debuted 47 years ago on October 11, 1975. Let’s take a photo gallery tour of our choices for the 30 best “SNL” guest hosts over these four-and-a-half decades. Past cast members who returned to host are not included in our gallery.
It should be no surprise that our gallery is headed by the two men who have hosted the most times on the show: Steve Martin (15) in first place and Alec Baldwin (17) in second place. Almost all of the members of the “Five-Timers Club” are scattered throughout our rankings, including John Goodman (13), Tom Hanks (10), Buck Henry (10), Christopher Walken (7), Drew Barrymore (6), Elliott Gould (6), Scarlett Johansson (6), Candice Bergen (5), Dwayne Johnson (5), Melissa McCarthy (5), Justin Timberlake (5) and Paul Simon (technically 4 with numerous musical appearances). Other than previous cast members, ones in this group who we left out are Danny DeVito (6), Ben Affleck (5) and Jonah Hill (5).
Some people have only hosted once, but their appearances were so memorable that we just had to include them in our rankings. They include Carrie Fisher, Tiffany Haddish, Peyton Manning, Richard Pryor and Betty White (among others).
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30. William Shatner
Image Credit: NBC One-time host on December 20, 1986.
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29. Carrie Fisher
Image Credit: NBC One-time host on November 18, 1978.
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28. Michael Jordan
Image Credit: NBC One-time host on September 28, 1991.
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27. Tiffany Haddish
Image Credit: NBC One-time host on November 11, 2017 (Emmy winner).
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26. Robin Williams
Image Credit: NBC Three-time host in 1984, 1986 and 1988.
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25. Dwayne Johnson
Image Credit: NBC Five-time host in 2000, 2002, 2009, 2015 and 2017.
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24. Drew Barrymore
Image Credit: NBC Six-time host in 1982, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2009.
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23. Paul Simon
Image Credit: NBC Four-time host in 1975, 1976, 1986, 1987.
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22. Cameron Diaz
Image Credit: NBC Four-time host in 1998, 2002, 2005, 2014.
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21. Ian McKellen
Image Credit: NBC One-time host on March 16, 2002.
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20. Elliott Gould
Image Credit: NBC Six-time host in 1976, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1980.
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19. Emma Stone
Image Credit: NBC Four-time host in 2010, 2011, 2016, 2019.
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18. Jerry Seinfeld
Image Credit: NBC Two-time host in 1992, 1999.
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17. Lily Tomlin
Image Credit: NBC Three-time host in 1975, 1976, 1983.
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16. Peyton Manning
Image Credit: NBC One-time host on March 24, 2007.
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15. Paul Rudd
Image Credit: NBC Five-time host in 2008, 2010, 2013, 2019, 2021 (clip show).
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14. Scarlett Johansson
Image Credit: NBC Six-time host in 2006, 2007, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019.
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13. Dave Chappelle
Image Credit: NBC Two-time host in 2016, 2020 (Emmy winner for both).
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12. Buck Henry
Image Credit: NBC 10-time host in 1976 (3), 1977 (2), 1978 (2), 1979 (2), 1980 (1).
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11. Candice Bergen
Image Credit: NBC Five-time host in 1975, 1975, 1976, 1987, 1990.
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10. Jon Hamm
Image Credit: NBC Three-time host in 2008, 2010, 2010.
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9. John Goodman
Image Credit: NBC 13-time host in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2013.
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8. Justin Timberlake
Image Credit: NBC Five-time host in 2003, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2013 (Emmy winner twice).
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7. Melissa McCarthy
Image Credit: NBC Five-time host in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 (Emmy winner).
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6. Christopher Walken
Image Credit: NBC Seven-time host in 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2008.
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5. Richard Pryor
Image Credit: NBC One-time host on December 13, 1975.
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4. Betty White
Image Credit: NBC One-time host on May 8, 2010 (Emmy winner).
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3. Tom Hanks
Image Credit: NBC 10-time host in 1985, 1988, 1988, 1990, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2006, 2016, 2020.
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2. Alec Baldwin
Image Credit: NBC Record 17-time host in 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2017 (Emmy winner).
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1. Steve Martin
Image Credit: NBC 15-time host in 1976, 1977 (2), 1978 (3), 1979, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1994, 2006, 2009.
