Inde Navarrette’s debut as “Saturday Night Live” host drew 5.2 million viewers on NBC, the largest audience of the 52nd season, according to live-plus-same-day figures released this week. The Oct. 31 Halloween episode, with Gracie Abrams as musical guest, also set the season high on Peacock. It delivered the show’s best streaming turnout since Harry Styles hosted and performed on March 14. Among adults 18-49, it posted the strongest result since John Mulaney hosted on Nov. 2, 2024. Clips from the broadcast collected 325 million views across YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok by Tuesday morning, another season best.
Navarrette arrived with momentum. Her role in the horror film “Obsession” made her one of the year’s breakout stars, and she is set to play Rogue in Marvel’s upcoming X-Men film. The Halloween slot suited her. Her monologue drew the most conversation. Three weeks earlier, Shane Gillis, hosting for the third time, had opened his show with a joke that used a slur to describe how women dress at the gym. The crowd reacted coolly, and Gillis closed the night with a quick “sorry about earlier.” Dan Levy, Ego Nwodim and Cecily Strong criticized the joke, and Levy called men who use that word “misogynists.”
Navarrette turned it around, tying it to her Marvel training. “Every morning, I put on my little whore outfit and I hit the gym,” she said. The line landed with applause in the studio. Online reaction split, with some viewers cheering the payback and others finding the reworked joke no better than the original.
Sketches carried the rest of the night. Tom Hanks returned as David S. Pumpkins, and “Weekend Update” brought back Drunk Uncle. Abrams performed both numbers in “Romeo + Juliet” costumes, as Claire Danes in the first and Leonardo DiCaprio in the second. Reviewers praised the writing and called it the strongest outing of a season that had started unevenly.
The show now turns to a pair of high-profile bookings. Druski, who will become the first digital creator to host, appears Nov. 7 with The Strokes. Mulaney returns Nov. 14 for his seventh turn as host, with a chance to reclaim the demographic record.
