Saturday Night Live has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Series. This adds to the record held by the long-running show for most nominations in that category, at nearly 100.
The Emmy nominations lists was revealed on Wednesday, and NBC’s late night juggernaut added to its impressive history of award considerations.
Lorne Michaels received his 113th Emmy Award nomination, a record a producer, or anyone for that matter. He’s won 24 times. The show first aired in 1975, and Michaels won that season (the 1975/76 TV season) for writing and producing.
SNL received nominations for the 2025/26 season in a multitude of categories: lighting, hairstyling, makeup, production design, technical direction, music direction. The show hauled in 11 nominations, bringing its grand total in 51 seasons to 359. Saturday Night Live and its special have won 98 Emmy awards, a record unmatched in television history.
Several Season 51 episodes were submitted and received nominations:
- Bad Bunny: Emmy nomination for makeup for this episode
- Ariana Grande: Emmy nomination for lighting for this episode
- Olivia Rodrigo: Emmy nomination for directing and technical direction/camerawork in this episode
- Jack Black: Emmy Nomination for production design and music direction for this episode
- Connor Storrie: Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Connor Storrie hosted Episode 13 of the 15th Season of SNL, and turned in a fantastic performance. SNL Rankings graded the episode as an A-, making it the best episode of the season.
In a bit of a surprise, no cast members were nominated for an Emmy Award for the just completed 51st season of the iconic NBC late night show. This despite a breakout season by Ashley Padilla, who brings comedic acting skills the show has not seen in many years. Padilla was recently named MVP of the 51st season and received the Phil Hartman Award from SNL Rankings.
The SNL writing staff also did not receive a nomination in what was a rather uneven season for material. Two filmed pretape segments were nominated however for picture editing: “MAHAspital (The New Pitt),” which appeared during the March 14, 2026 SNL episode hosted by Harry Styles; and “Home Alone,” which was aired December 20, 2025, when Ariana Grande hosted.
NBA and Peacock will air the 78th Emmy Awards on September 14, just about a month before SNL’s 52nd season debut.
