All 27 Members Of The 'Saturday Night Live' Five-Timers Club, Ranked

Number of Times Hosting: 5

Officially Joined The Club: December 21, 2024

SNL Fun Fact: Martin Short was a member of the SNL cast for one year and turned down an offer to extend his contract with the show. According to Short, working on SNL was much more challenging than SCTV and, when he talked to Lorne Michaels, he made his thoughts about going forward with SNL clear:

I went to Lorne's apartment -- the season is finished -- and he was going to give me the script to Three Amigos And he kept talking about what I was thinking about him going back. And we talked about that: "Now, if we went back together..." And I kept saying, "No, I don't want to go back. I mean, how can I go back if I make this movie?" And he's like, "Well, things can be worked out." I just knew in my head. I had a new baby, which I had not seen all year. I just knew. I had done three years of "SCTV," so that was four years of this. I just knew that I didn't want to do that. I thought one year was a great experience.

Standout Sketch: Short appeared in a skit opposite Mickey Day and Chloe Fineman that saw them fighting over a parting spot. As SHort acted out his rant at the father-daughter duo, they retunred the favor, offering hilarious takes on words like “HO, HO, HO!” As the holiday shoppers exchange words and physical movements, Short's “wife” - played by Melissa McCarthy, one of the many stars who cameoed in the episode - tells Day and Fineman off with fierce words and bodily movements alike. 

Number of Times Hosting: 16

Officially Joined The Club: April 22, 1978

SNL Fun Fact: Steve Martin hosted so many times during the early days of SNL that many people thought he was a regular cast member. 

Standout Sketch: The Festrunk Brothers, Yortuk (Dan Aykroyd) and George (Martin), are two wild and crazy guys from Czechoslovakia. The recurring sketch first aired in 1977 and then an additional five times. The corny brothers thought they could go to dance clubs and attract foxy American women, but they were dead wrong.  

Number of Times Hosting: 7

Officially Joined The Club: May 19, 2001

SNL Fun Fact: Christopher Walken may not be as enamored by his famous “More Cowbell” sketch as we would like to think. Will Ferrell revealed during an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon:

But here’s the crazy thing. So, I go to see Christopher Walken years later, in a play. I say hello to him back stage, and he’s like, ‘You know, you’ve ruined my life. People during the curtain call bring cow bells and ring them. The other day I went for an Italian food lunch and the waiter asked if I wanted more cow bell with my pasta bolognese.'

Standout Sketch: Was there ever any doubt? Walken may hate the legacy of the 2000 “More Cowbell” sketch, but it's undefeated in generating laughs. 

Number of Times Hosting: 10

Officially Joined The Club: December 8, 1990

SNL Fun Fact: During his 1990 monologue, Hanks became the first host to actually note that he was a member of the Five-Timers Club. The Castaway actor made the esteemed club an official honor. 

Standout Sketch: On October 8, 1988, Hanks showed fake outtakes from his hit movie Big. In the clips, an adult-sized Hanks is shown bullying little kids and pushing them to the ground. He keeps repeating, “Look how big I am.”

Number of Times Hosting: 6

Officially Joined The Club: December 19, 2015

SNL Fun Fact: In 1999, Fey became the first female head writer at SNL. 

Standout Sketch: Tina Fey appeared as look-alike Sarah Palin multiple times during the 2008 election. Her funniest appearance as the former VP candidate was the first time she put on Palin's signature glasses. Fey's Palin and Amy Poehler's Hillary Clinton addressed the nation for a news conference. 

Fey's most famous Palin-jab was born that night, “I can see Russia from my house."

Number of Times Hosting: 13

Officially Joined The Club: May 7, 1994

SNL Fun Fact: Goodman auditioned for Saturday Night Live in 1980. He talked about how “awful” his audition was during a 2022 interview on The Tonight Show.

"It's not that I had any material to show or anything good to do. I just knew they'd hire me, 'cause I'm a nice guy," Goodman said. "It's the worst thing I've ever done in front of people in my life. I wrote something about 15 minutes before I went over there and... oh, God, it was awful."

Standout Sketch: Goodman puts on a dress to play Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky sex scandal leaker Linda Tripp. The sketch occurred during the cold open on February 7, 1998. The visual alone is worth the price of admission.