Last week’s episode of “Saturday Night Live” hosted by Druski was the most-watched episode the series has aired in two years, NBC revealed on Wednesday. The Nov. 7 episode was also the most-watched episode of “SNL” ever on Peacock.
The episode, which featured The Strokes as the musical guest, was watched by 5.6 million viewers and beat the Inde Navarrette-hosted episode, which aired the previous week. That Oct. 31 installment scored 5.2 million viewers and was the most-watched episode of Season 52.
Among viewers 18 to 49 years old — the key demographic when it comes to TV viewership — the Druski-hosted episode was the most-watched episode “SNL” has aired in two years. But when it came to viewers aged 18 to 34 years old, the Nov. 7 episode was the most-watched episode in over four years.
That previous record holder was a 2021 episode that featured Elon Musk as the host with Miley Cyrus as the musical guest — a somewhat ironic fact considering that featured player Jeremy Culhane debuted his widely discussed Musk impression last weekend.
On social media, the episode generated 424 million views across YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok as of Tuesday morning. It was the highest “SNL” episode by social metrics since last December’s Ariana Grande-hosted episode, which marked the final episode of beloved cast member Bowen Yang.
While Druski’s immense online popularity probably contributed to the success of the Nov. 7 episode, that remarkable viewership is likely due to a variety of factors. “SNL” always gets a boost around election season, a fact that the comedy show made good use of by featuring Senator-elect James Talarico in its cold open. The episode also delivered several strong moments including the aforementioned cold open, the “You Can See Everything” parody “Dru Can See Everything” and Druski and Marcello Hernandez’s “Bubu Mobile” sketch.
Basically, it was the perfect storm for a big “SNL” episode.
“Saturday Night Live” Season 52 will continue this week with a new episode hosted by John Mulaney with Phoebe Bridgers as the musical guest. In addition to the 11:30 p.m. ET broadcast on NBC, “SNL” streams live on Peacock. The variety series is produced in association with Broadway Video and is created and executive produced by Lorne Michaels.
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