The sketch-comedy show “Saturday Night Live” has been a television institution on late Saturday night since 1975, making it one of the longest-running shows in American television history.
One of the features of the program has been the guest host. SNL has had a different guest host every week. Over the course of 46 years, SNL has had many guest hosts with varying degrees of success. Some have hit the mark and been brought back. Others were not as successful, and some were even so difficult to work with that they were banned from the show.
To determine the worst SNL hosts of all time, 24/7 Tempo reviewed audience ratings and other data for all “Saturday Night Live” episodes from the Internet Movie Database. SNL hosts were ranked based on an index composed of two elements: the average IMDb user rating for all episodes hosted by a guest and the total number of episodes hosted by that guest.
Guest hosts have been comedians, singers, politicians, future presidents, sports figures, actors and reality-show stars. When a guest host clicks, it’s usually because he or she is able to poke fun at themselves, is on the same page with the comedy troupe, and enjoys the process of doing sketch comedy. (SNL is also among the most popular shows at the 2021 Emmy Awards.)
Sometimes a guest host doesn’t have the best comedy material to work with, and if they aren’t primarily a comedy performer, they don’t have the ability to save a sketch. But there have been cringeworthy guest hosts who have been their own worst enemy. (Speaking of poor performances, these are the worst TV series finales of all time.)
One failure occurred in July 1976, when Emmy-nominated actor Louise Lasser tried pushing the artistic boundaries of television with an experimental performance that fell flat.
Reality-television star Paris Hilton failed at every sketch she was in. The entitled-heiress also antagonized the show’s cast.
Business and future president Donald J. Trump appeared twice on “Saturday Night Live” and balked at sketches that poked fun at him.
Since its beginning, “Saturday Night Live” has taken chances with its programming, and picking the guest host has always been a part of what keeps the show relevant.
Click here to see the worst SNL hosts of all time
To determine the worst SNL hosts of all time, 24/7 Tempo reviewed audience ratings and other data for all Saturday Night Live episodes from the Internet Movie Database. SNL hosts were ranked based on an index composed of two elements: the average IMDb user rating for all episodes hosted by a guest and the total number of episodes hosted by that guest. Average user ratings were calculated using the number of user votes as a weight. While the average user rating for each host was given full weight in the index, the number of episodes hosted by each guest was given a half-weighting. IMDb ratings data was collected on Dec. 29, 2021.
25. Louise Lasser
> Avg. episode rating: 5.2/10 (128 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Jul 24, 1976)
> Lowest-rated episode: S1, Ep23 (Musical guest: Preservation Hall Jazz Band)
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24. Queen Latifah
> Avg. episode rating: 4.9/10 (164 votes)
> Appearances as host: 2 (Mar. 8, 2003 to Oct. 9, 2004)
> Lowest-rated episode: S28, Ep14 (Musical guest: Ms. Dynamite)
23. Awkwafina
> Avg. episode rating: 5.1/10 (361 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Oct. 6, 2018)
> Lowest-rated episode: S44, Ep2 (Musical guest: Travis Scott)
22. Andy Roddick
> Avg. episode rating: 5.1/10 (60 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Nov. 8, 2003)
> Lowest-rated episode: S29, Ep5 (Musical guest: Dave Matthews)
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21. Tom Green
> Avg. episode rating: 5.1/10 (95 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Nov. 18, 2000)
> Lowest-rated episode: S26, Ep6 (Musical guest: David Gray)
20. Kelly Ripa
> Avg. episode rating: 5.0/10 (59 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Nov. 1, 2003)
> Lowest-rated episode: S29, Ep4 (Musical guest: Outkast)
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19. Billy Bob Thornton
> Avg. episode rating: 5.0/10 (77 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Nov. 17, 2001)
> Lowest-rated episode: S27, Ep6 (Musical guest: Creed)
18. Scott Wolf
> Avg. episode rating: 5.0/10 (59 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Mar. 7, 1998)
> Lowest-rated episode: S23, Ep15 (Musical guest: Natalie Imbruglia)
17. Nancy Kerrigan
> Avg. episode rating: 5.0/10 (64 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Mar. 12, 1994)
> Lowest-rated episode: S19, Ep15 (Musical guest: Aretha Franklin)
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16. Hammer
> Avg. episode rating: 5.0/10 (64 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Dec. 7, 1991)
> Lowest-rated episode: S17, Ep8 (Musical guest: Hammer)
15. January Jones
> Avg. episode rating: 4.9/10 (142 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Nov. 14, 2009)
> Lowest-rated episode: S35, Ep6 (Musical guest: Black Eyed Peas)
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14. Hilary Swank
> Avg. episode rating: 4.9/10 (81 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Feb. 19, 2005)
> Lowest-rated episode: S30, Ep13 (Musical guest: 50 Cent)
13. Eric McCormack
> Avg. episode rating: 4.9/10 (61 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Nov. 2, 2002)
> Lowest-rated episode: S28, Ep4 (Musical guest: Jay-Z)
12. Elon Musk
> Avg. episode rating: 4.8/10 (746 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (May 8, 2021)
> Lowest-rated episode: S46, Ep18 (Musical guest: Miley Cyrus)
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11. Bernie Mac
> Avg. episode rating: 4.8/10 (61 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Apr. 5, 2003)
> Lowest-rated episode: S28, Ep16 (Musical guest: Good Charlotte)
10. Jonny Moseley
> Avg. episode rating: 4.8/10 (62 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Mar. 2, 2002)
> Lowest-rated episode: S27, Ep13 (Musical guest: Outkast)
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9. Nia Vardalos
> Avg. episode rating: 4.6/10 (59 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Nov. 9, 2002)
> Lowest-rated episode: S28, Ep5 (Musical guest: Eve)
8. Calista Flockhart
> Avg. episode rating: 4.6/10 (76 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Nov. 11, 2000)
> Lowest-rated episode: S26, Ep5 (Musical guest: Ricky Martin)
7. Rosie O’Donnell
> Avg. episode rating: 4.3/10 (154 votes)
> Appearances as host: 2 (Nov. 13, 1993 to Dec. 14, 1996)
> Lowest-rated episode: S22, Ep9 (Musical guest: Whitney Houston)
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6. Justin Bieber
> Avg. episode rating: 4.3/10 (245 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Feb. 9, 2013)
> Lowest-rated episode: S38, Ep13 (Musical guest: Justin Bieber)
5. Cuba Gooding, Jr.
> Avg. episode rating: 4.1/10 (86 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (May 8, 1999)
> Lowest-rated episode: S24, Ep18 (Musical guest: Ricky Martin)
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4. Pamela Lee
> Avg. episode rating: 4.1/10 (82 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Apr. 19, 1997)
> Lowest-rated episode: S22, Ep18 (Musical guest: Rollins Band)
3. Al Sharpton
> Avg. episode rating: 4.0/10 (86 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Dec. 6, 2003)
> Lowest-rated episode: S29, Ep7 (Musical guest: Pink)
2. Paris Hilton
> Avg. episode rating: 3.6/10 (139 votes)
> Appearances as host: 1 (Feb. 5, 2005)
> Lowest-rated episode: S30, Ep11 (Musical guest: Keane)
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1. Donald Trump
> Avg. episode rating: 3.4/10 (856 votes)
> Appearances as host: 2 (Apr. 3, 2004 to Nov. 7, 2015)
> Lowest-rated episode: S41, Ep4 (Musical guest: Sia)
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