Ariana Grande Stars in Three of SNL Season 50's Most-Watched Sketches
The Wicked: For Good actress and all-around friend of the show clearly charmed audiences with her October 2024 episode.
Never has cheating (and off-key singing) been quite so watchable.
When Ariana Grande hosted Saturday Night Live on October 12, 2024, she showed off her ability to sing really, really badly on cue, and helped launch Season 50's breakout character into the stratosphere. So it's no surprise that the ultra-viral "Bridesmaid Speech" is the most-viewed SNL sketch of 2024-2025.
Grande starred as a singing bridesmaid in the Domingo arc's first installment, in which she and fellow bridesmaids Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim and Sarah Sherman reworked the lyrics to "Espresso" to be about the bride Kelsey (Chloe Fineman) and a mysterious man she met during her bachelorette party. That mystery man was named Domingo (Marcello Hernández), and he immediately became everybody's dream vacation hookup.
At more than 19 million views on YouTube alone, the first installment of the Domingo trilogy tops the list of Season 50's most-watched live sketches, across all digital platforms. One of the other two Domingo sketches also made the list, along with a couple of surprises and two other Ariana Grande bangers.
Watch SNL's recap of the most-viewed above, and get the scoop on these popular sketches below!
RELATED: How SNL's Viral Domingo Sketches Changed Up 2 of 2024's Hottest Songs
5. Mid-Day News 2 (March 1, 2025)
Shane Gillis plays a news anchor alongside Heidi Gardner, Kenan Thompson, and Ego Nwodim, and their reports about crime in the area becomes a competition over whether the criminals are Black or white.
The sequel to a Season 45 sketch starring Host Phoebe Waller-Bridge, "Mid-Day News 2" was written by Nwodim, and the Maryland native shared in a June 5 Instagram story that it's riddled with Baltimore easter eggs."
4. Maybelline (October 12, 2024)
Ariana Grande, Chloe Fineman, and Dana Carvey played Jennifer Coolidge vs. Jennifer Coolidge in a parody ad for Maybelline's Super Stay Longwear liquid lip color. Try saying that 5 times fast!
RELATED: Everything to Know About Wicked: For Good - Sequel Release Date, Trailer, Details
3. Castrati (October 12, 2024)
When the prince (Dismukes) is looking for something to liven up royal music performances, parents (Andy Samberg and Maya Rudolph) arrive to pitch their son, Antonio, played by the chameleonic Grande. He's a young boy who's been castrated to preserve his high singing voice, and he's been through a lot. Please help him.
RELATED: Ariana Grande Sports a Bowl Cut in SNL's "Castrati" with Maya Rudolph & Andy Samberg
2. Domingo: Babymoon (November 16, 2024)
Charli xcx joined the Kelsquad at a baby shower for Kelsey (Fineman) and Matt (Dismukes) and performed a parody of Chappell Roan's "Hot to Go" about how Kelsey reunited with Domingo on their friend babymoon to Miami. Is the baby Domingo's? Maybe!
1. Domingo: Bridesmaid Speech (October 12, 2024)
The one that started it all.
Writers Jimmy Fowlie and Ceara O'Sullivan wanted to write a sketch where Grande sang badly, and took inspiration from a video of a girl giving a speech at her sister's wedding in the form of a Hamilton rap. Once they chose the "song of the summer" to parody, Sullivan's brain turned the word "Espresso" into "Domingo" and boom: a legend was born.
Catch the most-watched sketches from Season 50 above, and watch stream any episode of SNL at any time on Peacock.
