‘SNL’: Paul Rudd Joins ‘Five-Timers Club’ With Help From Tom Hanks and Other Legends

Paul Rudd returned to Saturday Night Live stage last night but it did not go as planned. Fans expected holiday sketches and some musical performances from Charli XCX, but that was all derailed due to COVID-19. Most of the cast and crew were sent home, leaving only a handful of people to pull off the show. Luckily for Rudd, two of those people were members of SNL’s Fiver-Timers Club.

Tom Hanks and Tina Fey were on hand to induct Rudd into the sketch comedy show’s fictional VIP club for celebrities who’ve hosted five times or more. While Rudd noted he was “extremely disappointed” for not having a crowd and most sketches being scrapped, he was soon popped up as they bestowed a club jacket to him.

Furthermore, they also had another special guest send in a video message. Steve Martin, who appears in most versions of the Five-Timers Club sketches, sent in a hilarious video message, in which he congratulates Hanks on joining the club, only to have Rudd’s name crudely dubbed into it. Martin Short also pops into the clip, although Martin demeans him for hosting a mere three times. From there, Rudd introduced a series of digital sketches that were recorded earlier in the week, in addition to a few classics from the SNL vault. Fey and Michael Che also teamed up for a small-scale “Weekend Update” segment from the main stage.

The show, which streams on Peacock and Hulu, has comedically made a big deal out of five-time hosts ever since Dec. 8, 1990, Hanks’ fifth time hosting SNL. To mark the occasion, the shows’ writers concocted a fictional backstage VIP club where all five-time hosts hang out. In the initial sketch, Hanks is inducted into the club and meets Martin, Elliott Gould and musical guest mainstay Paul Simon. Inside, SNL cast members and writers served as staff for the hosts, including Jon Lovitz and Conan O’Brien.

Since then, the Fiver-Timers Club concept has appeared several times over the years, including when Jonah Hill and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson joined in recent years. There’s even a “Platinum Lounge” for 12-time hosts, such as Martin and Alec Baldwin.

As compiled by Fandom, here is the full list of stars that are Five-Timers Club: Baldwin (17), Martin (15), John Goodman (13), Hanks (10), Buck Henry (10), Chevy Chase (8), Christopher Walken (7), Danny DeVito (6), Drew Barrymore (6), Gould (6), Tina Fey (6), Justin Timberlake (5), Sting (6), Melissa McCarthy (5), Bill Murray (5), Ben Affleck (5), Will Ferrell (5), Candice Bergen (5), Scarlett Johansson (6), Hill (5), Johnson (5) and Rudd (5). (Simon is considered a member because he’s hosted four times and served as musical guest eight times.)

Saturday Night Live airs weekly on NBC at 11:30 ET. If you missed the show live, you can watch it on Peacock and Hulu. Individual sketches are also available on YouTube after the show.