Saturday Night Live airs live on Saturday nights at 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time on NBC in the U.S., though it can start a few minutes late if earlier programming (like sports) runs over.

Quick Scoop: When Is Saturday Night Live On?

For the current era of the show (around its 50th and 51st seasons), the standard broadcast slot is:

  • Saturdays, late night
  • Start time: 11:30 p.m. ET (8:30 p.m. PT, with live coast‑to‑coast broadcasts in recent seasons)
  • Network: NBC in the United States

Because NBC often has live sports (especially football and special events), SNL can occasionally begin a few minutes late, but it is scheduled in that 11:30 p.m. ET window.

Seasonal and Special Airings

Regular new episodes:

  • Air during fall, winter, and spring in blocks of new episodes with some off-weeks.
  • Each new episode runs about 90 minutes including commercials, from roughly 11:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. ET.

Holiday and clip-show specials:

  • NBC also re-airs themed specials like “A Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving” and “A Saturday Night Live Christmas,” usually in prime time (for example, around 9:00 p.m. ET on weeknights in November or December).

If You’re Watching Today

To know if SNL is actually new this week:

  • Check your local NBC listings for Saturday at 11:30 p.m.
  • Look at a current season-episode schedule on a TV listings or entertainment site, which will show if tonight’s episode is new or a rerun.

Quick rule of thumb: if it’s Saturday night and NBC’s late-night schedule looks normal, SNL is in that familiar 11:30 p.m. ET slot.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.