The Best One-Time Hosts In SNL History

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https://www.looper.com/1256544/the-b...n-snl-history/

BY WILL FANCHER/APRIL 13, 2023 6:39 AM EST

"Saturday Night Live" has never shied from featuring the same hosts over and over again; comedian Buck Henry hosted twice a year for the first five seasons of the show, and double-digit hosts like John Goodman, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin have logged more airtime than some actual cast members. In December 1990, returning host Tom Hanks was inducted into the "Five-Timers Club," a joke that in the decades since has evolved into a legitimate milestone, and has codified the idea that multi-episode hosts are a cut above the rest. If someone has hosted more than once, it's because they deserve to; and if someone hasn't hosted more than once, the same thinking applies.

The list of "SNL's" one-time hosts is overall not very impressive: Nearly 50 years of non-performers like athletes and politicians, flash-in-the-pan movie and TV stars, a contest winner, and famous actors whose style just did not jibe with the show's unique structure. Plenty of these hosts were indeed terrible, although simply being bad at the job isn't enough to keep you from being welcomed back: Steven Seagal's lone outing in 1991 may represent the show at its worst, but former President Donald Trump hosted twice despite his clear ineptitude at sketch comedy.

In the nearly 1,000 episodes that have aired since 1975, though, there are also a lot of hosts who helmed hilarious and interesting episodes, but for whatever reason never returned for a second time around. Let's take a look at some of the best one-time hosts in "SNL" history.