Martin Short enters Five-Timers Club in cameo-packed SNL

Even after 50 years, it’s still an honor to host Saturday Night Live. And it’s even more so to become a member of the Five-Timers Club, that group of hosts who have stepped onto the stage at Studio 8H enough times to warrant a special jacket. And live from New York, as he helped bring 2024 to a close, Martin Short became the last member.

This week’s episode of Saturday Night Live opened with Tom Hanks, who hosted SNL for the fifth time in 1990 and as such took credit for creating the Five-Timers Club…Notably, while several people beat Hanks to the punch, the idea of the First-Timers Club was introduced during that 1990 episode. Enter Paul Rudd, who joined the Five-Timers Club in 2021. Soon enough it was time for host and inductee Martin Short, flying solo without his pal Steve Martin, actually the second person ever to host SNL five times following Buck Henry…just in case that comes up at trivia night.

From there, it was a steady stream of famous faces: Tina Fey – who could be in position to take over SNL when Lorne Michaels steps down – 17-time host Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson, former cast member Kristen Wiig (who, before Short, was the most recent addition to the Five-Timers Club), Melissa McCarthy, Emma Stone, and John Mulaney. The final celeb to cameo was Jimmy Fallon, who has hosted twice since leaving SNL after the 29th season but was given the honor of putting the Five-Timers Club jacket on Martin Short. Short expressed his gratitude in typical fashion, saying, “This is such a special night. And from the bottom of my heart, I just want to say I love most of you so much.”

The Five-Timers Club cold open was a lot of fun not only because of all of the star power on the stage but because the whole group looked to be having a blast. Some even took swipes at themselves, with Rudd mocking the fact that Ant-Man’s superpowers are incredibly lame and Alec Baldwin joking that he simply has too many kids (eight, as of publication…).

To date, 27 people have been inducted into the Five-Timers Club. That leaves the question, Who will be the next? Several people have hosted four times, but some have the edge over others (with due respect to Charles Barkley), namely former SNL cast member Dana Carvey, who has a newfound popularity due to his Fly on the Wall podcast; Cameron Diaz, who is back in the spotlight with her return to movies; and Lindsay Lohan, who herself is having a much-deserved resurgence.

What did you think of this week’s episode of Saturday Night Live?