The Five-Timers Club is a grouping of celebrities who have guest hosted sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (SNL) at least five times throughout its long run.
While it isn’t an actual physical club, per se, it has been presented as such in sketches. When Justin Timberlake hosted for his fifth time, for example, a sketch showed him entering a lavish room that is presumably only available to members. There, other celebrity hosts indulged in cigars and expensive drinks while donning special luxury Five-Timers Club robes.
At last count, the Five-Timers Club has 21 members, including actors, singers, and other celebrities who have hosted at least five times. Some, in fact, have doubled or even tripled that, and many have made multiple special guest appearances as well. Who are the best among them? While these aren’t necessarily those who have hosted the most, they are arguably the best within the club.
Tom Hanks
Hosting nine times and appearing seven times as a special guest, Hanks brings his signature comedic styling to the series every time. During his latest appearance, he devised one of the most memorable characters in David S. Pumpkins, an odd man with a creepy ear-to-ear grin, bright orange suit, and two dancing mime/skeleton friends who frightens guests when he is magically at every stop on an elevator.
His first hosting gig was way back in 1985 and his latest in 2016, which was his first in a decade.
Will Ferrell
A cast member from 1995-2002, after he left the series and became a bona fide movie star, Ferrell went back to his roots and hosted five times, just inching himself into the club. In addition to that, he has also appeared another five times as a special guest.
Some of his most memorable characters include the cheerleader Craig Buchanan and nightclubber Steve Butabi. But he also did great impersonations of everyone from George W. Bush to Jesse Ventura. But how can we forget one of SNL’s best skits of all time, Celebrity Jeopardy, where he played an exaggerated version of Alex Trebek who was constantly annoyed and insulted by contestant Sean Connery.
Scarlett Johansson
Making the club by hosting a total of six times to date, Johansson is now an official member of the SNL family as fiancé of Weekend Update co-host and SNL writer Colin Jost.
She’s most notable for her impersonations of Ivanka Trump and Miley Cyrus, and her character Lexi, the daughter of Mike (Fred Armisen) who together create gaudy commercials for their boutique store that sells ridiculous items, like “chan-da-lee-ahs.” Hosting most recently last December, she remains one of only five women in the club.
Melissa McCarthy
Who can forget McCarthy’s hilarious portrayal of former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer? But she has done far more than that on the show, hosting a total of five times and coming back three more as a guest.
She has done such a great job hosting, in fact, that she has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series every year she has hosted, and won in 2017. Her notable characters include Sheila Kelly, an abusive women’s basketball coach and Gaye Fontaine, an old Hollywood star who has some interesting past experiences as a female actor from back in the day.
Tina Fey
One of the best cast members from the late ’90s and early ’00s as well as a long-time writer of the series, Fey, who went on to have a massive career in movies and on television, both in acting and writing, returned to host six times and appeared twice more as a special guest.
She first became known on the show as co-anchor of the parody news show Weekend Update. But her uncanny resemblance to Sarah Palin along with her spot-on impression of the once vice presidential candidate is what people remember most from her time on the show.
Justin Timberlake
While he hasn’t hosted the most, having only come on five times, Timberlake has also been musical guest and special guest eight more times.
Responsible for some of the most viral sketches, he has often collaborated with Jimmy Fallon to create funny skits like The Andy Gibb Show and Wrappinville. But it’s the D*** In A Box and other musical parody videos with former cast member Andy Samberg that are most memorable and played over and over again online.
Christopher Walken
“More cowbell!” While Walken isn’t one of the most talked-about guest hosts of the series, he has had some of the most memorable sketches. For one, there’s that “more cowbell” musical sketch where he played Bruce Dickinson, a man trying to get his band to perform a song beautifully but kept insisting that the beat needed “more cowbell.”
He has hosted seven times, though not since 2008. One of the most memorable sketches from his last time hosting was when almost everyone on the cast appeared as part of a Walken family reunion, all doing impressions of him as his “relatives.”
John Goodman
Ranking as the third most frequent guest host, Goodman has appeared an amazing 13 times to lead an episode and has come back nine times as a special guest. His last time hosting, however, was way back in 2013, and that was after an already 12-year absence.
His most notable performance, ironically during his guest cameos, was playing Linda Tripp, who uncovered the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal of the ’90s. Interestingly, he had auditioned to be on the show in its early years but was never chosen.
Steve Martin
Martin is one of the most successful guest hosts of the series ever, having hosted 15 times, qualifying for Five-Timers Club status more than three times over.
In addition to his times hosting, he has also appeared 11 times as a special guest. Some of his most iconic characters and sketches include the Festrunk Brothers, who were two “wild and crazy guys,” King Tut, and A Holiday Wish. He is also credited with popularizing air quotes from his sketches on the show.
Alec Baldwin
Arguably the best non-cast-member SNL has ever seen, Baldwin has appeared as a special guest 26 times, most notably in recent seasons where he impersonates President Donald Trump, and he has hosted a remarkable 17 times.
Known for some of SNL’s most iconic sketches, like Schweddy Balls from the ’90s Christmas episode, Canteen Boy with Adam Sandler, and the Winter’s Breath Glengarry Glen Ross parody, he goes down as probably the best SNL guest host ever. He always delivers the goods every time he’s on.
