Saturday Night Live Season 48: Schedule, Hosts, and Everything to Know

Long-running comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live is in the middle of its 48th season, and has seen some pretty high profile guest hosts so far, including Megan Thee Stallion, Dave Chapelle, and Amy Schumer to name a few. Austin Butler, who's enjoying an ascent to stardom thanks to his Elvis role, hosted the last show of 2022 — which was also Cecily Strong's last episode as a cast member. SNL is on a midseason break but will return later in January.

Here is everything you need to know about SNL Season 48, including the schedule, the hosts, and who's in the cast.

Is SNL new this week?

No, it's not. The show had its last episode of 2022 on Dec. 17 and is taking a break over the holidays and into January. The show will return Jan. 21 hosted by Aubrey Plaza, fresh off the success of The White Lotus, with musical guest Sam Smith. Michael B. Jordan will host the following weekend on Jan. 28, with Lil Baby as the musical guest.

Saturday Night Live hosts and musical guests

Oct. 1: Miles Teller, Kendrick Lamar
Oct. 8: Brendan Gleeson, Willow 
Oct. 15: Megan Thee Stallion (host and musical guest)
Oct. 29: Jack Harlow (host and musical guest)
Nov. 5: Amy Schumer, Steve Lacy
Nov. 12: Dave Chappelle, Black Star
Dec. 3: Keke Palmer, SZA
Dec. 10: Steve Martin & Martin Short, Brandi Carlile 
Dec. 17: Austin Butler, Lizzo
Jan. 21: Aubrey Plaza, Sam Smith
Jan. 28: Michael B. Jordan, Lil Baby

Saturday Night Live Season 48 cast

After a swelling to a historically large cast of 21 performers in Season 47, SNL got back down to a more manageable size for Season 48. At the end of last season, we said goodbye to Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, and Kyle Mooney. And in the offseason, longtime main cast members Melissa Villaseñor and Alex Moffat and featured player Aristotle Athari departed the show, according to TVLine. Villaseñor and Moffat had been on the show since 2016, and Athari debuted last season. And Chris Redd announced his departure shortly before the season started. 

Long-term cast member Cecily Strong departed after the Dec. 17 episode. She joined the show in 2012, and was on for 11 seasons, becoming SNL's longest-tenured female cast member. She co-hosted Weekend Update for one season and earned Emmy nominations in 2020 and 2021. 

And as cast members leave, new ones get added. Comedians Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker have joined the cast as featured players.

Additionally, Andrew Dismukes and Punkie Johnson were promoted to the main cast. 

Main Cast Members:

• Michael Che
• Mikey Day 
• Andrew Dismukes
• Chloe Fineman
• Heidi Gardner
• Punkie Johnson
• Colin Jost
• Ego Nwodim
• Kenan Thompson
• Bowen Yang 

Featured Cast Members:

• James Austin Johnson
• Sarah Sherman 
• Marcello Hernandez (NEW)
• Molly Kearney (NEW)
• Michael Longfellow (NEW)
• Devon Walker (NEW)

How to watch Saturday Night Live

SNL airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.

Saturday Night Live is no longer available to stream on-demand on Hulu, as NBC's deal with the streaming service has expired, though new episodes are available to watch at air via Hulu with Live TV. Season 48 on-demand episodes have moved to Peacock, NBCUniversal's streaming service. Full episodes and individual clips are available to watch there. Clips are also available on YouTube. Typically, the show does not stream live on Peacock on Saturday nights, though there are occasional exceptions. We will note them when they happen.  

Every past season of SNL is currently available to stream on Peacock.