SNL Season 52 Premiere Recap: Jalen Brunson, the Knicks, KATSEYE, the New Cast and Every Upcoming Host

What happened on the SNL season 52 premiere?

Season 52 began on September 26, 2026 on NBC and Peacock, with the broadcast starting at 11:30 p.m. Eastern (8:30 p.m. Pacific), according to NBCUniversal's announcement. The host was Jalen Brunson, making his hosting debut, and the musical guest was KATSEYE, described in the same announcement as a Grammy-nominated girl group making their SNL debut.

The episode had the shape of a victory lap. Brunson had led the Knicks to the 2026 NBA championship, their first title in 53 years, and the premiere was built around him as a New York folk hero. The AV Club's recap described it as a "belated victory lap" and suggested the material felt as though it had been conceived in early summer and produced months later. Consequence's review made a related point, saying the writers leaned heavily on sports-themed premises that were not all equal to the moment. I will come back to that in my own assessment, but the fair summary is that the episode had a strong host, a couple of standout sketches and a somewhat repetitive middle.

Brunson's place in SNL history is worth stating carefully because the coverage varies. Sports Illustrated and Wikipedia both describe him as the fifth NBA player to host the show, following Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and LeBron James, with James (in 2007) the last active player before him. Wikipedia's wording is slightly different, calling him the fifth NBA-connected athlete and fourth active NBA player, so the safest version is that he is the first active NBA player to host in nearly two decades.

How was Jalen Brunson's monologue, and which Knicks teammates appeared?

The monologue is the part everyone will remember, and it worked because it did not try to make Brunson into a comedian. Instead it let him be himself and let his teammates do the heavy lifting. He opened by setting expectations the way an athlete would. As reported, he told the audience, "the first three quarters of the show are going to be god awful. The last sketch is going to be amazing." It was a joke about the way the Knicks' championship series played out, and it also happened to be an honest hedge for a first-time host.

Then the teammates arrived. According to the coverage, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart appeared as audience members asking Brunson questions before joining him on stage. The individual bits: - Towns asked whether you can foul out of SNL, then realised he could stay for the entire show. - Bridges showed off his wingspan and lamented that "even with it, he'll never fly." - Anunoby teased Brunson about a missed shot in Game Four, a shot Anunoby himself tipped in for the winning basket. - Hart asked about the roughly $113 million Brunson reportedly left on the table to stay with New York, and whether it was still available.

Hart and Bridges also played with Brunson at Villanova, which the Philadelphia Inquirer noted. Reporters said the teammates struggled to keep straight faces, which is exactly the right energy for a monologue like this: a group of friends who know each other's foibles, with the host as the butt of most of the jokes. Sports Illustrated's ranking of the night's funniest moments put the teammate cameos at number one. Kenan Thompson also turned up in the monologue with his Stephen A. Smith impression, according to the Sunday Guardian's recap.

For readers who did not follow the NBA season, the context is that Brunson led the Knicks past the San Antonio Spurs 4 to 1 in the Finals and was named Finals MVP after averaging 32.6 points across the series, including 45 in the clinching Game 5, per Wikipedia. That is why the room treated him like the hometown hero he is. The Inquirer noted that the Knicks begin their title defence against the Philadelphia 76ers on October 20, so the timing of the booking was neat: he hosted in the small window between the title and the new season.

Who is Jalen Brunson, and why did SNL book him?

For readers who know him only as a name in a headline, Brunson is the New York Knicks point guard who won the 2026 NBA Finals MVP award. According to his Wikipedia profile, the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs four games to one for their first championship in 53 years, and Brunson scored 45 points in the clinching Game 5, a franchise record for an NBA Finals game. Before the NBA he was a star at Villanova, where he won two NCAA championships (2016 and 2018), earned national player of the year honours as a junior and had his jersey retired. Wikipedia points out that this combination puts him in a group of only five players in basketball history who have won an NCAA title, the Naismith College Player of the Year award, an NBA championship and NBA Finals MVP, alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Bill Walton.

From a booking perspective the logic is simple. SNL is a New York show, the Knicks are the New York team, and the championship gave the city a reason to celebrate that had nothing to do with the usual news cycle. In my reading, the premiere leaned on the contrast between a composed competitor and ridiculous premises from the first minute, which was the right instinct even where the sketches that followed were uneven.

There is a longer tradition behind it as well. The show has a habit of inviting sports stars who are at the height of their fame, and the list of NBA players who have hosted, as Sports Illustrated set it out, runs from Bill Russell to Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and LeBron James. Brunson's episode fits the pattern of a host who arrives at the peak of his fame, and the best moments were the ones in which the cast and host were simply trying to make each other laugh.

What were the sketches, one by one?

Recaps agree on the main sketches, though they disagree on which were best. Here is how the night's material breaks down, based on the recaps I read.

North High. A High School Musical parody in which Jeremy Culhane plays a basketball team captain who meets a new student, played by Brunson, with superior skills. Brunson wore a Corbin Bleu-style wig, blocked shots and, in the sketch's logic, stole the lead's romantic interest. A Daily Campus review called it the standout sketch and singled out the back-and-forth between Brunson and Culhane as "incredibly entertaining." The AV Club also liked the parody, giving Culhane particular praise.

Dream Academy: Season 2. A parody of the competition show through which KATSEYE was formed. It gave newcomer Grace Reiter her first big showcase, and reviewers across several outlets pointed to her debut as a highlight. The AV Club described a related pre-taped segment about forming a girl group in which Jane Wickline and Reiter played crash witnesses interrupting music industry professionals.

Office MVP. Brunson plays an employee who cannot stop trying to get a wrapper into a wastebasket. It is a sketch built entirely on the host's real skill, and exactly the sort of premise a basketball star should get.

Men's Support Group. A support group for people whose partners were pulled on stage at concerts. Consequence listed it among the standouts, though the AV Club counted it among the weaker moments.

Airport Massage Chairs. The bit in which Mikey Day repeats a name with escalating emphasis. The AV Club's recap said the bit dominated its running time, and Consequence said it nearly broke Brunson's composure. It is a good example of how the same sketch can read as a triumph or a stretch depending on how much you enjoy a single gag being pushed to its limit.

Shark Tank. A parody in which Brunson appears as an investor in a giant top hat, eventually offering $50 million for a fictional product called "Respectables," according to Sports Illustrated. The AV Club named Culhane its MVP for his work across the night, singling out a Shark Tank sketch.

Weekend Update. Michael Che and Colin Jost remain the longest-running co-anchors in the show's history, per Wikipedia. I will not recount the jokes here.

KATSEYE's two performances. The group performed "Animal" and "Hootie Frutti," according to the Sunday Guardian, with retro and Brazilian funk-inspired styling. Reviews of the musical spots were mixed, and I would rather send you to the clips than characterise them.

How did critics rate the premiere overall?

Not warmly, but not harshly either. The AV Club gave the episode a C+ and said it "tread water." Consequence called it largely underwhelming and said the sports-themed sketches rarely landed and quickly became repetitive, while still saying Brunson "seemed game for whatever the show threw at him." Boston.com's recap said Brunson acknowledged his delivery felt wooden in the monologue and that the show leaned into sports premises, with the usual limits of an athlete host. Daily Campus was warmer and said the North High sketch delivered.

The consistent points across these reviews are that Brunson was a willing and likeable host, that the newcomers made a strong first impression, and that the writing was more comfortable than inspired. Two cast members earned MVP mentions: Jeremy Culhane from the AV Club, and Ashley Padilla from Consequence, which praised her new impression. That is a healthy sign for a cast in transition, because a show in flux needs its supporting players to step forward.

One caveat on ratings: I could not find viewership figures for the premiere in the coverage available to me, and Wikipedia's season table listed viewership as to be determined. I would rather leave the number out than guess. For context, season 51's highest-rated episode was the Ariana Grande and Cher Christmas show at 5.40 million viewers, and its Will Ferrell and Paul McCartney finale drew 5.30 million, according to Wikipedia, so that is the benchmark to compare against when the premiere numbers arrive.

Who is in the SNL season 52 cast?

HollywoodLife counted 17 cast members for season 52, and the Wikipedia list of cast members matches that shape. The tier labels (repertory or featured) are reported inconsistently across outlets, particularly for the newest players, so I have grouped the cast by experience rather than by title.

The veterans - Michael Che, co-anchor of Weekend Update (with the show since 2014) - Colin Jost, co-anchor of Weekend Update (with the show since 2014) - Kenan Thompson, who joined in 2003 and holds the record as the show's longest-serving cast member - Mikey Day (2016) - Andrew Dismukes (2020) - James Austin Johnson (2021) - Sarah Sherman (2021) - Marcello Hernandez (2022)

The middle group - Ashley Padilla (2024), promoted this season - Jane Wickline (2024), promoted this season

The class of 2025 - Tommy Brennan - Jeremy Culhane - Ben Marshall, of the comedy trio Please Don't Destroy - Kam Patterson - Veronika Slowikowska

The newest players - Saidah Belo-Osagie - Grace Reiter

On promotions, the Wikipedia season page says Padilla and Wickline advanced to repertory status this season, while other summaries describe them as full cast members, and a cast-history list I read still shows them with featured status. I would treat "promoted" as the reliable part of that and the exact label as unsettled.

Who are the new cast members, and who left?

Grace Reiter is best known for viral comedy content on social media and for her work on American High, according to Parade's announcement coverage. Wikipedia notes that she is the first cast member born in the 2000s, having been born in 2001. Her first outing, in "Dream Academy: Season 2," drew praise from several reviewers.

Saidah Belo-Osagie is a Nigerian-American filmmaker and comedian from New York City who created the event series Afrobeats Futura and the solo show Saidah Gets Closure, per the same coverage.

Departures. Chloe Fineman left after seven seasons. She wrote on Instagram that "working at SNL has been the greatest privilege of [my] life," according to Parade. Season 51 itself had heavy turnover. Wikipedia lists Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow leaving over that season, along with Heidi Gardner after eight seasons and Ego Nwodim after seven, and it says Bowen Yang, with the show since 2019, departed midseason after the December 20 Christmas episode. That is a lot of experience to lose in a year, which is why the newcomers' first impressions matter more than usual.

Behind the scenes. Writer Martin Herlihy, of Please Don't Destroy, left after five seasons. Two writers joined, Bam Alston (from the Upright Citizens Brigade) and Chase Rosenberg (a Groundlings alumnus), and Jake Nordwind was promoted to writing supervisor. Season 51 had already seen Erik Kenward promoted to head writer and Erin Doyle receive a top producer promotion.

Who is KATSEYE, the season 52 premiere's musical guest?

KATSEYE is a six-member global girl group formed through the 2023 reality series Dream Academy, a collaboration between Hybe and Geffen Records. The members are Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Manon Bannerman, Megan Skiendiel, Sophia Laforteza (the leader) and Yoonchae Jeung, and they come from the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States. That backstory is why the "Dream Academy" sketch on the premiere was such a natural fit: the show was parodying the very competition that produced its musical guest.

Their recent run has been strong. Wikipedia lists the singles "Internet Girl" (January 2026) and "Pinky Up" (April 2026), and says their third EP, Wild, which includes "Animal," debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. In June 2026 they collaborated with labelmates Le Sserafim and Illit on "Iconic by Mistake." In December 2025 they ranked second in Google's U.S. "Trending Musicians" list and received TikTok's Global Artist of the Year award, with more than 30 billion views on the platform. Slashfilm's preview also noted that some members had taken breaks for their wellbeing, which is worth knowing when you see the group's tour news.

How do the season 51 numbers compare, and what does that say about season 52?

The show enters season 52 in a strong position on paper. NBCUniversal describes it as the number one broadcast comedy series among adults 18 to 49 and the most Emmy-nominated series in television history, with 11 nominations for season 51. Wikipedia counts over 305 Primetime Emmy nominations across the show's history and 84 wins.

Season 51 ran from October 4, 2025 to May 16, 2026, across 20 episodes, and it included a landmark: the 1,000th episode, on January 31, 2026, hosted by Alexander Skarsgard with Cardi B as musical guest. Its best-rated episode was the Ariana Grande and Cher Christmas show at 5.40 million viewers, and the Will Ferrell and Paul McCartney finale drew 5.30 million. Its lowest ratings came during the Miles Teller episode, which aired opposite the World Series, so if you are wondering why a show's audience dips, sometimes the schedule explains it.

The show also has the long view. SNL debuted on October 11, 1975 with George Carlin as host, and it airs live from Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Alec Baldwin leads all hosts with 17 appearances, ahead of Steve Martin's 15. A three-hour 50th anniversary special aired on February 16, 2025. So season 52 is not just another season; it is the beginning of the show's second half-century, and the cast turnover I described above is the sort of rebuild that a long-running show has to do to stay alive.

Who is hosting SNL next? The announced season 52 schedule

Four episodes are confirmed so far. NBC's schedule and Wikipedia's episode table agree on the dates and lineups.

| Date | Host | Musical guest | |---|---|---| | September 26 | Jalen Brunson | KATSEYE | | October 3 | Dakota Johnson | Turnstile | | October 10 | Shane Gillis | Rosalía | | October 31 | Inde Navarrette | Gracie Abrams |

Wikipedia lists five further episodes between November 7 and December 19, with hosts and guests to be announced. It shows no episodes between October 10 and October 31.

October 3: Dakota Johnson with Turnstile. Johnson has hosted twice before, in February 2015 and October 2024 (the latter with Justin Timberlake as musical guest), per Wikipedia, so this is her third time. Her recent film credits include Materialists (2025) and Splitsville (2025), with Verity due in 2026. Turnstile are a Baltimore hardcore band who, according to Wikipedia, won Best Rock Album for Never Enough and Best Metal Performance for "Birds" at the 2026 Grammy Awards. It is an unusual musical guest for network television and a fun one.

October 10: Shane Gillis with Rosalía. Gillis hosted in February 2024 and co-created the Netflix comedy series Tires, which was renewed for a third season, and he hosted The Roast of Kevin Hart for Netflix in May 2026. Rosalía is the Spanish singer-songwriter behind Motomami (2022) and Lux (2025); Wikipedia says Lux debuted in the top ten of both the Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart, her first time doing so. She launched the Lux Tour in March 2026 and appeared in the third season of Euphoria.

October 31: Inde Navarrette with Gracie Abrams. Navarrette is making her hosting debut on Halloween night. She broke through with the 2025 horror film Obsession, which earned her a Critics' Choice Super Award for Best Actress in a Horror Movie, and Wikipedia says she has been cast as Rogue in Marvel's X-Men reboot. Gracie Abrams, the Los Angeles singer-songwriter behind Good Riddance and The Secret of Us, had a new album, Daughter from Hell, scheduled for release on July 17, 2026, and a new tour set to begin in December. A horror star on Halloween is a good bit of booking.

What does the rest of October look like for SNL fans?

If you plan your weekends around the show, the announced schedule gives you a clear picture. October 3 brings Dakota Johnson and Turnstile, a film star returning for a third time alongside a Baltimore hardcore band. October 10 brings Shane Gillis and Rosalía, which pairs a stand-up comedian with a Spanish avant-pop artist in the middle of a world tour. Then there is a gap, and October 31 brings the Halloween episode with Inde Navarrette and Gracie Abrams.

Two other dates are worth marking. The Knicks open their title defence against the Philadelphia 76ers on October 20, per the Inquirer, so any sketch that leans on the championship has a natural expiry date. And Wikipedia lists five more episodes running from November 7 to December 19, with hosts and guests still to be announced. The schedule above is the reliable part, and everything beyond it should be treated as unknown until NBC announces it.

The production itself continues under the same structure it has had for decades. NBCUniversal's announcement says the show is produced in association with Broadway Video with Lorne Michaels as executive producer. That continuity is part of what makes the cast turnover manageable: the format is stable, and the people who are new are stepping into a well-worn frame.

Season 52 by the numbers

A few figures put the premiere in context, all drawn from the sources above.

• 17 cast members in season 52, according to HollywoodLife, with two newcomers and two promotions.
• 7 seasons for Chloe Fineman, the departing cast member, and 5 for writer Martin Herlihy.
• 2001 is the birth year of Grace Reiter, the first SNL cast member born in the 21st century.
• 53 years since the Knicks last won an NBA title before this year's championship.
• 5.40 million viewers for season 51's best-rated episode, the Ariana Grande and Cher Christmas show.
• 1,000 episodes reached on January 31, 2026, in season 51.
• 11 Emmy nominations for season 51, per NBCUniversal.
• 11:30 p.m. ET live start time on NBC and Peacock.

What the numbers suggest is a show that is simultaneously very old and very young. It is 51 seasons deep and has passed a thousand episodes, yet its newest cast member was born in this century. That tension, between tradition and turnover, is the real story of the season 52 premiere, and it is why I keep coming back to the cast rather than the host when I try to judge how the year will go.

How can you watch SNL season 52?

SNL airs live on NBC at 11:30 p.m. Eastern and 8:30 p.m. Pacific, and it streams simultaneously on Peacock, per NBCUniversal's announcement. Slashfilm's preview added that full episodes are available on Peacock the next day and that individual sketches are posted to the SNL YouTube channel shortly after airing. I could not verify whether any episodes are free to stream without a subscription, so check Peacock and NBC directly.

What should you watch first? A mood-based guide to the premiere

If you missed the episode and only have a little time, the right sketch depends on what you are in the mood for. These picks come from the recaps above, not from my own viewing, so treat them as a shortlist assembled from other people's reactions.

If you want pure crowd-pleasing warmth, watch the monologue. The teammate cameos topped Sports Illustrated's ranking, and it is the part of the episode most likely to make a person who does not follow basketball smile. It is a group of friends teasing each other, and that is a universal format.

If you want proper sketch comedy, go to "North High." Two separate reviewers singled it out, and it has the classic SNL structure: a recognisable genre, a committed cast and a host who is good at the one thing the sketch needs him to be good at.

If you want to see the new cast, watch "Dream Academy: Season 2." It is where Grace Reiter's debut drew the most praise, and it doubles as a way to understand who KATSEYE are before their performances.

If you want something silly and low stakes, try "Office MVP" and the airport massage chairs. The first uses the host's real talent for a very small joke, and the second is a single gag pushed as far as it will go, which some reviewers loved and others found too long.

If you want a musical palate cleanser, the KATSEYE performances of "Animal" and "Hootie Frutti" are the ones to sample, and since Slashfilm notes that individual sketches and clips go up on the SNL YouTube channel, you can judge for yourself. Reviews were mixed.

If you liked this, what should you try next?

Because this is a site about matching mood to entertainment, here is a set of follow-ups built from the hosts and guests already announced. Everything below comes from their published credits.

• If you enjoyed the basketball-and-comedy mix, watch Jalen Brunson's Finals run itself, or read about the Knicks' 4 to 1 win over the Spurs. The championship is the reason this episode exists, and the story is better than any sketch.
• If the new cast caught your eye, go back to season 51, which introduced Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, Veronika Slowikowska and Ben Marshall. Culhane in particular was named MVP of the premiere by one reviewer, and his season 51 work is the easiest way to see why. The season's 1,000th episode with Alexander Skarsgard and Cardi B, on January 31, 2026, is a good landmark to start from.
• If you want more girl-group energy, KATSEYE's Wild EP, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, is the place to start, and the Dream Academy series is the origin story the sketch was parodying.
• If next week is your kind of night, Dakota Johnson's film Materialists and Turnstile's album Never Enough are the two best warm-ups for the October 3 episode. One is a film in which she stars alongside Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal, and the other is an album that earned five Grammy nominations and two wins.
• If you are excited for October 10, Rosalía's Lux is the record to hear beforehand, and Shane Gillis's Netflix series Tires is the way into his sense of humour.
• If you are planning a Halloween watch, Inde Navarrette's Obsession and Gracie Abrams's The Secret of Us make a mood-matched double bill for the night of October 31.

My honest take on the SNL season 52 premiere

First, the disclosure. I did not watch this episode live in the studio, and I am not claiming to have seen anything the coverage did not show. What follows is my read of a broad set of recaps and reviews, layered on top of a lot of time spent watching how this show works, and I will flag which parts are opinion.

My view is that the premiere was a decent episode built on an excellent monologue and an obvious limit. The monologue worked because it understood its host. Brunson is famously undemonstrative on court, and the writers gave him a format where that quality was the joke rather than the problem: he could deliver a dry line about the first three quarters being god awful, then step back while Towns, Bridges, Anunoby and Hart took the spotlight. That is smart writing. It did not ask an athlete to act like an actor. It asked him to be a teammate, which he is, and it let the audience enjoy a group of people who clearly like each other.

But I think the critics who said the episode felt late have a point, and it goes beyond any one sketch. When a show is built around a championship that happened in June, and the premiere airs in late September, the material is bound to feel like a reheated victory lap unless the writers find a fresh angle. A few sketches did: "North High" took a genre and put a real player in the middle of it, and "Office MVP" used a real skill for a small joke. Others leaned on the fact of the championship rather than something funny about it. The AV Club's line about the episode feeling conceived in early July and produced months later is harsh, but I understand what prompted it.

Second, the cast. I am cautiously excited. It is easy to see a cast losing Chloe Fineman, Bowen Yang, Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim in roughly a year and assume the show is thinner. But the premiere suggests the class of 2025 is doing what a good class should: taking on real airtime and being named MVP by different reviewers. Culhane and Padilla both earned that label, from different outlets, in the same episode, and Reiter's debut drew praise in more than one review. That is the sign of a cast finding its next generation. The danger is not talent; it is that a show with this much turnover has to rebuild its recurring characters, and audiences take time to fall for new ones.

Third, the schedule. What I find most interesting about the announced lineup is its range. A hardcore band, a Spanish avant-pop star and a Los Angeles singer-songwriter as musical guests, with a film star, a stand-up comedian and a horror breakout as hosts, is a deliberately mixed slate. It suggests the show is trying to be a place where different audiences overlap. I would be curious to see how the ratings respond, and I would not be surprised if the Halloween episode outperforms expectations.

Fourth, and this is a mild complaint, the hosting model. The show's habit of booking a giant of another field and building the episode around their world is a proven formula, and this episode is a good example of its strengths and its weakness. Strength: an authentic host with a real fan base brings an audience and real chemistry with cameo guests. Weakness: it can crowd out other kinds of comedy. When reviewers say the sports-themed sketches became repetitive, they are describing the cost of leaning on the host's identity for too long. The fix is not to avoid athletes but to spread the episode across more premises, and the best sketches of the night did exactly that.

Finally, a point on tone. Everything I read about the night treated Brunson with affection, and I think that is right. He was visibly game, his teammates were visibly enjoying themselves and the show got a genuinely warm moment out of a real sporting triumph. That is worth something in a season opener. If I have a wish for the coming weeks, it is that the show finds the same warmth in less obvious places, and that the new players get more room than the first episode gave them. I will be watching Dakota Johnson's episode on October 3 with that hope.

Frequently asked questions

Who hosted the SNL season 52 premiere? Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks hosted, making his SNL hosting debut on September 26, 2026.

Who was the musical guest on the season 52 premiere? KATSEYE, the global girl group formed through the 2023 series Dream Academy, performed "Animal" and "Hootie Frutti".

Which Knicks players appeared in Jalen Brunson's monologue? Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart.

Who are the new SNL cast members in season 52? Grace Reiter and Saidah Belo-Osagie joined the cast. Reiter is the first cast member born in the 2000s.

Who left SNL before season 52? Chloe Fineman left after seven seasons, and writer Martin Herlihy left after five. Bowen Yang departed midway through season 51.

Who are the next SNL hosts? Dakota Johnson with Turnstile on October 3, Shane Gillis with Rosalía on October 10, and Inde Navarrette with Gracie Abrams on October 31.

Is there an SNL episode every week in October? No. The announced schedule has episodes on October 3, 10 and 31, with none listed between October 10 and October 31.

What time does SNL air and where can I stream it? It airs live at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC and streams simultaneously on Peacock, with full episodes on Peacock the next day.

How were the reviews of the premiere? Mixed. The AV Club gave it a C+ and Consequence found it underwhelming, while reviewers praised Brunson's willingness, the Knicks cameos, "North High" and the newcomers.

Was Jalen Brunson the first NBA player to host SNL? No. Sports Illustrated lists him as the fifth NBA player to host, after Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and LeBron James.

How many viewers watched the premiere? I could not find premiere viewership figures in the coverage available to me. Season 51's best-rated episode drew 5.40 million viewers.

How well do you know Saturday Night Live's casts, hosts and history? Take the series quiz and find out.