#Saturday Night Live ratings with Elon Musk surge, to no one’s surprise

There is one big reason why Saturday Night Live brought in Elon Musk to host their latest episode: Ratings. There’s no need to beat around the bush here at all. The billionaire has an enormous following and with his lack of acting experience, there was a real curiosity to see what was going to happen with him.

(We’ve noted this before, but in the Joe Biden presidency be prepared to see more surprising host announcements — the show isn’t relying on politics as much for content as they were during the previous administration, so they may be reliant more on hosts for attention.)

To the surprise of no one, SNL ended up getting precisely what they wanted last night. The Musk episode ended up generating a 2.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic for last night’s episode, which is up significantly versus the most-recent installment hosted by Carey Mulligan. It’s also the third-best performance for an episode this season, behind only that of Chris Rock and then also the Dave Chappelle episode, which was the first one after the Presidential Election.

Just based on these numbers alone, we’re reminded that hosts do remain the primary selling point of this show, even if there are so many fantastic cast members on SNL including Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, and breakouts like Bowen Yang. It’s a little easier for viewers to take cast members for granted, given that they have been a part of the show for years and you can see them week in and week out.

Honestly, we’d be surprised if SNL does generate better ratings at any point this season, but we’ll take a wait-and-see approach on some of that. (We’re a little surprised that they aren’t bringing back a former cast member to get a bump for the season finale.)

Related – Have you seen the new SNL – Mare of Easttown parody yet?

What did you think about the Elon Musk episode of Saturday Night Live?

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