When Woody Harrelson hosted Saturday Night Live with Jack White as the musical guest, it was a first on one level — but a fifth on two other levels. If that sounds like some acting or musical lingo — close but not quite.
For both Harrelson and White, it was their fifth respective time appearing as an official performer on SNL — the former as host, the latter as a musical guest — giving both an induction to the “five-timers club.” It’s a concept that was made famous by Tom Hanks, and since has become a recurring part of SNL lore as more and more people gain entry to the club. And from the look of things, this is the first-ever time that both a host and a musician appeared for their fifth time on SNL as part of the same episode.
While the hosting side of things has been celebrated numerous times on the show, with skits to mark the fifth appearance as host for several people, the acting side hasn’t really seen such glory and acclaim. Until now. On top of that, several hosts have received honors and jackets to commemorate their fifth appearance. This time, a musician did as well, with White getting a five-timers club jacket during the send-off portion of their episode, which aired on Saturday, Feb. 25.
In the aftermath of the episode, there has been plenty of fanfare and commentary on what went down. Mostly, it was for Harrelson’s not-so-surprising outlandish views and rants on a few topics, but also for White’s raucous performance with songs from each of his albums that he released in 2022.
With all that in mind, who has had the honor of entering the five-timers club, looking both at hosts and musicians? There’s even an occasion of someone entering the club by appearing five total times between hosting and performing, as plenty of musicians have crossed over to play host (and even at times acting as host and musical guest all at once).
Five-timers club: Musicians
Paul Simon — 12
The leader by a hair, hall of famer Paul Simon has racked up not just tons of musical guest performances, but he was also the host of the show four times. Yet, it’s difficult to really know Simon’s full impact on the show, because in its very early stages, the show sometimes was more music jamboree than sketch comedy. It was an era when Simon would come on to host with other musicians appearing along with him. For instance, SNL’s 100th episode was one of several times Simon was a co-musical guest.
Dave Grohl — 11
As a member of several bands throughout his career, the sometimes drummer, guitarist, and lead singer has shown up as the SNL musical guest more times than anyone else. During those nine times, Grohl was the musical guest as part of Nirvana, the Foo Fighters, and Them Crooked Vultures, and he also played with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Grohl and Nirvana were on the program twice, and he was on with the Foo Fighters eight times.
Justin Timberlake — 10
The boy band heartthrob who broke out as a solo musician — and even a respectable actor — landed the hosting gig five times. Timberlake also performed as a musical guest as a solo artist four times with one more musical performance as part of ’N Sync. Even in all he’s done and accomplished, could it be that his collaborations with Andy Samberg for “D*ck in a Box,” “Motherlover,” and “3-way,” (the latter of which also featured Lady Gaga) are his best work in an illustrious career?
Tom Petty — 8
The legendary singer-songwriter Tom Petty has performed on the show eight times in total, spanning the course of 31 years! Petty first popped up on SNL for the Nov. 10, 1979 episode and served as a musical guest more than once in the 1980s and 1990s, with his last performance on the program coming on May 15, 2010.
Miley Cyrus — 8
The one-time Disney star has double-dipped on SNL quite a bit. Miley Cyrus appeared as the musical guest five times and has also hosted the show three times, with multiple guest appearances as well. Cyrus came on as the show’s host and musical guest twice, in October of 2013 and again in 2015, while she was just the host once and just the musical guest five other times.
Chris Martin — 8
This kind of doubles as a Coldplay five-timers club as well, because lead man Chris Martin performed one time as a solo artist while the entire band Coldplay was on the show seven times. Coldplay will surely keep rising up this list considering their constant standing in worldwide popularity, and that they just performed in February 2023 along with first-time host Pedro Pascal.
Kanye West — 7
Somehow, Kanye West took the stage to perform as a musician seven different times before going totally bonkers and basically alienating himself far from getting the invite back to SNL again any time soon, if ever.
Eminem — 7
Eminem, aka Slim Shady, has been steadily appearing on the show since 1999 and last performed live on SNL at the tail end of 2017. Pete Davidson’s portrayals of Em are something to behold themselves (this one is really worth watching), which adds to the lore. Take some time to go back through some of Slim’s SNL performances throughout the years to remember just how powerful he is as a live performer, even without playing an instrument.
Beck — 6
The at-times one-man band Beck was racking up performances and even getting spots in skits in the late ‘90s, but he hasn’t been back on the show since 2014.
Adam Levine — 6
Adam Levine is a musician who appeared on SNL with his band Maroon 5, and even got the hosting gig once. That was before most folks actively wished he was just plain marooned somewhere out of sight.
James Taylor — 6
One of the first handful of musicians to get the spot as overall host, the legendary musician has been on the program as a musical guest five times between 1976 and 1993.
Randy Newman — 6
One of the most iconic voices of our time, Randy Newman showed up to wow the SNL audience six times as a musical guest in the 1970s and ‘80s.
Arcade Fire — 5
Before becoming a behemoth on the touring scene worldwide, Arcade Fire was a small underdog-style band working hard to gain prominence. That all changed with the Grammys, as well as an appearance on SNL. Now, they’ve been on the program as the musical guest five times. In their most recent appearance in May 2022, the band knocked it out of the park with four powerful songs. During that appearance, they also spoke out several times against the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade on their own and alongside host Benedict Cumberbatch.
Taylor Swift — 5
We feel like it’s Taylor Swift’s own discernment that doesn’t have her with a ton more performances and appearances considering her immense popularity. Swift was booked as a musical guest four times and landed hosting duties once. Of course, that hosting gig came as both the lead of SNL and as the musical guest back on Nov. 7, 2009. On top of that, she’s been the musical guest four separate times.
Harry Styles — 5
Even though Harry Styles’ popularity has been shorter-lived than T-Swift, he’s still landed a spot on SNL as host once in addition to three times with his former group One Direction. He also has one musical guest gig as a solo performer.
Rihanna — 5
As most know, Rihanna was essentially retired from performing until her Super Bowl gig this year, so perhaps another shot at SNL could be in the cards for the five-timer, who hasn’t been on the show since May 16, 2015.
Katy Perry — 5
There are quite a lot of big names that didn’t make the cut for the five-timers club, which shows that the ability to be a host as well helps the cause. Katy Perry came on to only host the show one time, surprisingly not performing, while she was the musical guest four times.
Dave Matthews — 5
The seemingly endlessly touring Dave Matthews came on SNL to play his unique style of singalongs as the Dave Matthews Band four times. He added another musical guest appearance as Dave Matthews with new bandmates (kind of a solo thing, we suppose).
Jack White — 5
As mentioned above, White is the newest member of the five-timers club. With his prolific ability to put out quality music, as well as the multiple times he’s teamed up with other musicians for supergroups, we could see White doubling this total at least and even challenging for the top spot if he decides to play into old age.
Justin Bieber — 5 (kind of)
The Canadian hosted once and was on the show as a musical guest four times, but one of those times was both as host and as a guest, so technically he was only on the program four times. This is a grey area, but we’ll give Bieber the nod here. He’s the only one on that cusp, though, as every other musician to rack up five times got on the show five separate times.
Five-timers club: Hosts
We touched on the hosts who have performed the most on SNL (not counting musicians) in this article, running down the list of the top 10 most appearances as SNL hosts. Here, we’ll touch on the names of the nine others who are in the five-timers club without getting into the nitty-gritty (for more on that prestigious top 10 of hosting appearances, check out our other article that dives deeper into the top SNL hosts).
Woody Harrelson, John Mulaney, Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Melissa McCarthy, Ben Affleck, Bill Murray, Candice Bergen (tie) — 5
A wide range of celebrities constitutes the members of the five-timers club who haven’t been able to break through and notch a sixth hosting gig just yet. Out of the big names above, we’d bet on Johnson, Hill, Affleck, Mulaney, or Ferrell taking the stage as host again to join the next group on this list. After his controversial appearance, it doesn’t look like Harrelson will be back soon, and Murray has his own controversies. Meanwhile, Bergen probably isn’t at the top of relevancy to get the gig again, and McCarthy hasn’t been in a big hit in a moment.
Scarlett Johansson, Tina Fey, Drew Barrymore, Danny DeVito, Elliot Gould (tie) — 6
There seem to be pretty good odds that Fey would take the stage to host again someday, while Johansson and Barrymore could be on the cusp of breaking into a seventh time, too. Fey has become synonymous with Saturday Night Live in modern times, thanks to her willingness to pop in and play a character without the need to be named host. With her background as a writer, and producer, along with her time shining as Weekend Update host and following that, running the hit sitcom 30 Rock, maybe it’s time to start considering if she’d take over Lorne Michaels’ role whenever he actually decides to retire.
Christoper Walken — 7
Would Walken host again, on the heels of his astoundingly gorgeous performance on Severance? Considering the amount of joy he seems to receive from being involved in sketch comedy and trying to push his own boundaries, we wouldn’t bet against it.
Chevy Chase — 8
Not gonna be hosting again. We’d bet on that. One of the most influential members of the early-years SNL cast, Chase was at the forefront of showing how cast members could transition into becoming a movie star after gaining success on SNL. He just couldn’t keep from destroying relationships along the way.
Tom Hanks, Buck Henry (tie) — 10
Everyone loves Tom Hanks, and he’s been able to strike up camaraderie with the SNL cast across four different decades now. Hanks brought levity with a level of grace to SNL when he did an at-home monologue in April 2020, just as COVID-19 lockdowns were hitting the world. Hanks seems like a lock to host again.
John Goodman — 13
John Goodman might not have the incredible range of Hanks, but he’s not too far off. Even within his comedic roles, Goodman has long shown an ability to morph into a totally endearing character. There’s a long shot that Goodman could be back, with his return to the Roseanne show before it became The Connors demonstrating he’s still got a foot in comedy and collaborative work.
Steve Martin — 16
As we mentioned in the top SNL hosts article, Martin could be considered the biggest success story to ever come out of Saturday Night Live. Sure, there might be some that rose to bigger stardom (and box-office success) such as Will Ferrell, or Eddie Murphy, but Martin’s ability to be approachable and ridiculous, sometimes at the same time, is unmatched. A shoo-in to host once, maybe even twice more to get to the very top of the leaderboard.
Alec Baldwin — 17
An SNL mainstay who has played so many iconic roles, Baldwin would seem like a sure bet to return, but it’s hard to know how the veteran actor’s career will unfold in light of his current situation.
