10 Iconic SNL Hosts Who Only Hosted Once

For over 50 years, “Saturday Night Live” has invited some of the biggest celebrities in the world to try their hand at live sketch comedy. From movie stars to television icons, politicians to athletes, and pop stars to supermodels, all kinds of A-listers have had the honor of hosting “SNL.” Some have even joined the exclusive Five-Timers Club — those who’ve hosted five or more times — including Tom Hanks, Emma Stone, and Justin Timberlake. 

There’s been plenty of stellar hosts who not only have yet to join the Five-Timers Club, but have only hosted once. In fact, some of the best sketches and characters of the last decade of “SNL” have come from episodes hosted by celebrities who only appeared once. 

Even the most recent Season 51 has featured some incredible first-timer hosts, including Sabrina Carpenter, Glen Powell, and Nikki Glaser, none of whom even made this list due to recency bias. However, the stars that did make this list are either comedy legends who made “SNL” history with only one episode, or recent stars who proved they deserve a second shot in the near future. These are our picks for the best “Saturday Night Live” hosts who only ever hosted once, believe it or not. 

At the time “Saturday Night Live” began airing in 1975, Richard Pryor was one of the most iconic, albeit controversial, names in comedy. It’s no wonder producer Lorne Michaels was so adamant to get him as a guest host early in the show’s run, despite pushback from the network due to Pryor’s reputation. It was seven episodes into “SNL’s” first season, and Pryor’s appearance was so feared by NBC executives that the episode was aired on a five-second delay to catch any improvisations.

Pryor delivers a standout monologue, but the most memorable moment from the episode is “Word Association,” an infamous sketch in which Pryor interviews for a job opposite Chevy Chase, and a round of word association escalates into both men exchanging racial slurs (yes, even that one). It’s such a perfect performance from Pryor and easily one of the greatest sketches in the show’s history, even though it could never be done today. 

“Word Association” aside, the night also featured several other notable sketches, including the debut of John Belushi’s samurai character, as well as “Family Dinner,” in which Dan Aykroyd portrays a father delivering a racist rant while members of his family are slowly replaced with Black actors. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Pryor delivered a front-to-back stellar “SNL” episode.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Carrie Fisher hosted “Saturday Night Live” at a time when there was only one “Star Wars” movie that existed, and not a whole cavalcade of “Star Wars” TV shows and spinoffs. This episode, which aired in November 1978, not only featured Fisher as the show’s celebrity guest, but the musical act for the night was none other than the Blues Brothers. Yes, the show’s own cast members Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi performed the show’s cold open, preluding Fisher’s own cameo in “The Blues Brothers” movie two years later.

While Fisher’s monologue featured her wearing her iconic Princess Leia outfit from “A New Hope,” it wasn’t the show’s only exploitation of her “Star Wars” fame. “Beach Blanket Bimbo from Outer Space” parodied a 1950s beach party with Leia as a guest, while later non-“Star Wars” sketches like “Loud Family” and “The Tomorrow Show” showcased how well she played opposite cast members like Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Gilda Radner. 

It’s hard to believe that this was Fisher’s only time hosting the show, and that her only other appearances were a short film by Tom Schiller and a cameo during the show’s 100th episode in 1980. However, her role in “The Blues Brothers,” as well as her high-profile relationships with Aykroyd and frequent guest Paul Simon, make it surprising that her appearances on the show were so scarce. 

Norm Macdonald is an interesting pick for this list, given that he was a writer and cast member on “Saturday Night Live” for five years, famously hosting “Weekend Update” for four of them. However, the circumstances of his firing are the stuff of legend, as Macdonald’s constant jokes about O.J. Simpson’s murder trial angered NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer, a personal friend of Simpson, resulting in both Macdonald and writer Jim Downey being fired midseason in 1995. 

Even more surprising, Macdonald was invited back to host the show in 1999 and wasted no time lampooning his firing in his monologue. Since Ohlmeyer had claimed he was fired for being “unfunny,” Macdonald surmised that the only reason he was invited back to host is because the show itself had become unfunny, though the content of the episode would beg to differ. 

Macdonald’s hosting stint not only included great uses of the comedian in “Greatest Moments in Yankee History,” satirizing Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech at Yankee Stadium, as well as a runner featuring Macdonald as Larry King. Of course, the most famous moment from the episode was an installment of “Celebrity Jeopardy,” featuring Macdonald as Burt Reynolds — widely considered the best iteration of the recurring sketch — alongside Jimmy Fallon as French Stewart, Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery, and Will Ferrell as an exasperated Alex Trebek. 

Taylor Swift is technically an “SNL” Five-Timer, but only as a musical guest. The only time she hosted, in November 2009, she pulled double duty in easily one of the best episodes of that era.  It may not be much of a surprise, given that the 2009 cast included heavy-hitters like Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg, and Bill Hader, but the MVP of the episode was Swift herself, starting with her memorable “Monologue Song,” which satirizes her tendency to frighten men with her songwriting and references the then-recent Kanye West VMAs incident. 

The episode’s other highlights include a Digital Short parodying the trailer for “Twilight,” with Bill Hader as Frankenstein’s monster, as well as a hilarious PSA sketch by a teenager (Swift) raising awareness for bad driving habits of parents. Swift also joined Kenan Thompson for a “Scared Straight” sketch, as well as playing an obnoxiously physically affectionate roommate, bothering a visiting boyfriend played by Samberg.

Overall, it was a strong outing for the songstress. Swift showed off some impressive chemistry with one of the best casts the show has had, but she has yet to return as host. That being said, she’s made a few memorable cameos over the years: in Seth Rogen’s monologue in 2014, during the “SNL 40” special in 2015, a Please Don’t Destroy song in 2021, and most recently introducing Ice Spice as musical guest in 2023. 

Betty White hosting “Saturday Night Live” was a big deal for many reasons. For starters, the iconic sitcom actress had never hosted before despite her more than 60-year career in Hollywood. Secondly, she’s the only host who was invited onto the show based on a fan campaign, according to Lorne Michaels. Her hosting stint came in May 2010, timed with the show’s Mother’s Day episode, and she delivered a performance that later earned her an Emmy for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. 

Beyond the fact that White is a stand-out in sketches like “Scared Straight” and “Census,” the episode is really a love letter to the many women of “SNL” history. The episode features cameos from cast members like Tina Fey, Molly Shannon, Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph, and Amy Poehler, along with returning sketches like “Delicious Dish,” in which White hawks her “dusty muffin,” and an appearance on “Weekend Update” as Sally O’Malley’s 90-year-old counterpart. 

While White later appeared during the “SNL 40” special, these were her only appearances on “SNL” before her death in 2021. However, it’s remarkable that so late in her career, Betty White was still delivering some of her best work when she hosted “SNL.” 

Donald Glover was on a roll when he hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2018. Not only was his FX series “Atlanta” an Emmy-winning hit, but he also had a thriving music career as Childish Gambino, a role in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” as Lando Calrissian, and was even set to voice Simba in a live-action remake of “The Lion King” releasing in 2019. His “SNL” episode helped send the multi-hyphenate into the stratosphere almost overnight.

Glover’s episode in May 2018 saw him pulling double duty as host and musical guest. After an impressive monologue in which Glover lampoons the fact that he once auditioned for “SNL,” the episode becomes a nonstop run of sketches that feel especially suited to his talents. As a veteran of sketch comedy in the early days of YouTube, “Jurassic World” and “’80s Music Video” feel like a return to form for Glover, who had moved away from straight-up comedy after his “Community” exit in 2014. 

The sketches from this episode would’ve been enough to make it an all-timer, but the real highlight was Glover’s musical performances as Childish Gambino. “Saturday” was an aptly titled track from his then-unreleased short film “Guava Island,” which debuted in 2019, but the second performance was the world premiere of his hit song “This Is America,” which dropped on streaming services along with its visually stunning musical video concurrently with the “SNL” broadcast. 

Halsey’s double-duty episode of “Saturday Night Live” in February 2019 was quite a surprise for those unfamiliar with the then-up-and-coming singer-songwriter. The episode was a perfect mix of scathing topical satire and fun silliness, all bolstered by two stellar musical performances from the host herself that make you wonder why she hasn’t already become a Five-Timer. 

One of the first sketches of the night, “Virginia State Capitol,” finds Kenan Thompson schooling clueless Virginia government officials on when blackface is and is not acceptable (spoiler alert: never). It’s a really bold sketch that utilizes a huge portion of the cast, as well as Halsey, so well. There’s also “Parent Phone Call,” in which Halsey showcases strong chemistry with Beck Bennett as guilt-tripping parents, as well as a “Riverdale” sketch in which Pete Davidson plays a corpse experiencing realistic rigor mortis. 

Aside from some of Halsey’s best sketches of the night, she also delivers an emotionally powerful performance of her song “Without Me.” Her second performance, “Eastside,” features her painting a self-portrait on the floor while singing, an impressive and uniquely creative display from a performer already pulling double duty on “SNL.” Halsey has returned to “SNL” as a musical guest twice since 2019, with brief cameos that highlight what a missed opportunity it is that she hasn’t been invited back to host yet. 

Adam Sandler was notoriously fired from “Saturday Night Live” in 1995 during a massive overhaul of the cast following poor ratings and even worse critical reception. In hindsight, Sandler’s era of “SNL” is beloved, with sketches like “Lunch Lady” among the show’s best. After over two decades of transitioning from TV to a blockbuster movie career, Sandler finally returned to host “SNL” in 2019, and did not waste the opportunity to make audiences laugh and cry. 

His monologue featured a guest appearance from Chris Rock, with both singing about their firings from “SNL,” as well as a “Sandler Family Reunion” sketch in which the cast, including Jimmy Fallon, Kristen Wiig, and musical guest Shawn Mendes, plays oddly familiar members of Sandler’s extended family. There’s also an appearance from Sandler’s classic character Opera Man on “Weekend Update,” but some of the best sketches of the night are brand-new, including Sandler playing an earnest and brutally honest salesman of Italian tours, and a commercial parody for erectile dysfunction featuring a suspiciously large suppository pill. 

Easily, the highlight of the night wasn’t a sketch, but a performance of Sandler’s tribute song to fellow cast member Chris Farley, which had previously appeared in his Netflix special “100% Fresh.” It’s already a tearjerker of a song, but performing it on the same stage Sandler shared with Farley many times before his death is incredibly heartfelt and earnest, and all from the same guy who brought Canteen Boy to life. 

Frankly, it’s surprising that Pedro Pascal has only hosted once given how much of a star he’s been in recent years. That being said, even after hosting just once in January 2023, Pascal has seemingly become part of the “SNL” family, making appearances in the “SNL 50” special as well as during Bad Bunny’s hosting debut that same year. If you watch any of the sketches from his first appearance, it’s easy to see why everyone at 30 Rock seems to love him.

In addition to memorable sketches in which Pascal plays a man who wakes from a coma with a Valley Girl accent and a teacher concerned about the fancams his students are making, the episode also introduced two recurring characters. One, played by Ego Nwodim, is Lisa from Temecula, an obnoxious dinner guest who disrupts Pascal’s story with her aggressive meat-cutting. There’s also one played by Pascal himself: the overprotective mother of Marcello Hernandez’s character, who is bringing a girl home for the first time — a role Pascal later reprised with Bad Bunny.

Hopefully, a day will soon come when Pascal will once again be named Performer of the Week by TVLine, not for “The Last of Us” or “The Mandalorian,” but for a returning hosting gig on “Saturday Night Live.” It’s not like he has any shortage of projects to promote over the next few years, whether it’s “The Mandalorian & Grogu” or “Avengers: Doomsday.” 

Though she rose to A-list stardom with a dramatic performance in “The Bear” and film roles like “Bottoms,” “Inside Out 2,” and “After the Hunt,” Ayo Edebiri is a comedian at her core. She was a friend and collaborator of the Please Don’t Destroy trio prior to their joining “SNL” in 2021 and previously performed at Upright Citizens Brigade and on Comedy Central. There’s an alternate universe where she would’ve shined as a cast member on “SNL,” which is even more evident with her back-to-back great sketch performances in her hosting episode.

“Drugs on Campus” is one of her best performances in the episode, as she and Mikey Day play obnoxiously straight-laced college students reprimanding a classmate for microdosing mushrooms. “Bad Couples,” “Stuck in the Elevator,” and “Trivia Quest” also find her fitting in brilliantly with the 2024 cast. 

There’s also a sketch not currently available on YouTube, “School Hypnotist,” in which a visiting hypnotist played by Andrew Dismukes faces backlash from a skeptical student, Solomon, played by Edebiri. It’s easy to imagine that, had Edebiri been a cast member on “SNL,” Solomon would’ve become a recurring character a la Kristen Wiig’s Gilly or Molly Shannon’s Mary Katherine Gallagher. Hopefully, if Edebiri ever returns to host, she gets an opportunity to reprise the character of Solomon, but if not, we’ll at least be expecting another banger episode featuring the comedienne.