Donald Trump ‘Saturday Night Live’ Hosting Gig Boosts SNL Ratings To Highest Level Since 2012

Donald Trump’s recent “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) hosting gig has bumped the show’s ratings to record high levels since 2012.

According to NBC, the presidential candidate’s latest SNL show garnered a household rating of 6.6, Entertainment Weekly reported. Trump’s recent SNL hosting gig also beat the 41st season premiere overnight ratings, which featured Miley Cyrus and Hilary Clinton, by 47 percent. It also surpassed previous “Saturday Night Live” high ratings held by a 2012 episode which was hosted by Charles Barkley and included Kelly Clarkson as a musical guest.

This is not the first time that Trump hosted the NBC show. The business magnate previously hosted an SNL show in 2004. According to the network’s estimates, Trump’s latest SNL appearance is set to break the season premiere viewer count of 6.3 million to 10 million. The actual viewership data for SNL will be available towards the latter part of the week.

On the other hand, Trump is also very confident that he’ll be able to bring up SNL’s ratings with his appearance. In an interview with the New York Post in late October, Trump was asked why he decided to host “Saturday Night Live” especially after NBC’s cancellation of the Miss Universe pageant. He replied, “It’s called ratings.”

“I go on Jimmy Fallon, he got his best ratings,” he explained. “One of the best nights he’s had in years. Then I did Colbert’s show. That got fantastic ratings. He beat Fallon by a lot. Since then, NBC and I get along great.”

The Republican presidential hopeful also told the New York Post on how he maintained a good working relationship with Steve Burke, CEO of Comcast, who is the parent company NBC, even after the Miss Universe debacle. So when he got the call from the network to do an SNL show, Trump agreed.

He recounted, “I got a call, asking me to participate in a skit like Hillary did. I said ‘That would be fine.’”

However, SNL showrunner Lorne Michael wanted Trump to host the whole show, instead of participating in a skit. “They brought the idea to Lorne,” Trump shared, “And he said, ‘I want him to do the whole show.’”