Pop Culture

Elon Musk Boosts ‘Saturday Night Live’ Ratings

Elon Musk's first-time gig as host of 'Saturday Night Live' proved to be a windfall for the show, giving it its third-highest ratings of the season.

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Image via Getty/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI
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Elon Musk’s gig as host of Saturday Night Live this weekend was a boon for the sketch comedy show.

The May 8 episode gave the show the third-highest ratings of its 46th season. According to Variety, Nielsen shows that Musk’s outing saw an average of a 4.8 household rating and a 2.7 score in adults ages 18 to 49. That’s just behind this season’s episodes hosted by Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle, with Musk’s ratings tying with an episode hosted by Adele and featuring H.E.R. as musical guest. Musk’s edition also marks the first time SNL has ever been live-streamed in over 100 countries on YouTube.

Musk’s appearance was led by a public revelation during his monologue about having Asperger’s syndrome, followed by sketches about him discussing cryptocurrency on “Weekend Update”—leading to Dogecoin’s price dropping almost 40 percent—and another where he plays Wario who’s on trial for murdering Mario—and where Grimes makes a cameo as Mario’s wife Princess Peach.

Miley Cyrus was this weekend’s musical guest, where she sang a Mother’s Day tribute during the cold open, and later performed the song “Without You” with Kid Laroi, among other songs.

SNL plans to close out this season with two new episodes. The first, on May 15, boasts Keegan-Michael Key as host and Olivia Rodrigo in the music slot, and on May 22, Anna Taylor-Joy is set to lead with Lil Nas X as musical guest.

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