Noah Kahan will return to Saturday Night Live as musical guest on May 9, joining Matt Damon for the nineteenth episode of season 51. It will be Kahan’s second time handling music duties on the show, a repeat booking that keeps him in NBC’s late-night rotation as the season moves toward its finale.
The episode airs at 11:30 p.m. EST and 8:30 p.m. PST on NBC, with new episodes also streaming live on Peacock on Saturdays. For viewers tracking the season week by week, the May 9 slot comes one week after Olivia Rodrigo served as both host and musical guest on May 2.
Matt Damon Takes Episode 19
Matt Damon is set to host the episode, giving the May 9 broadcast a split bill built around a film actor in the lead slot and Kahan in the performance slot. That pairing matters because SNL is using the late-season run to keep the show moving after the cast shakeup that followed its milestone 50th season.
Kahan’s second appearance also puts a number on how the show is using him: this is not a one-off booking tied to a debut push. A second music slot on SNL usually signals a performer has already crossed into the kind of mainstream visibility the show likes to recycle during a crowded spring calendar.
May 2 to May 16 Run
Olivia Rodrigo’s May 2 episode set the pace for the final stretch, with the singer appearing as both host and musical guest and performing “Drop Dead” and a new song called “Begged.” That creates a short runway between guest spots, and it leaves Kahan’s May 9 turn as the bridge before the season 51 finale.
Will Ferrell is scheduled to host the May 16 finale, with Paul McCartney as musical guest. The sequence gives the show three high-recognition bookings in three consecutive weeks, a cleaner endgame than a scattered schedule and a reminder that SNL is still using marquee names to carry its last episodes.
NBC Time Slot Remains Fixed
The May 9 episode lands in the show’s standard live window, 11:30 p.m. EST and 8:30 p.m. PST on NBC. That fixed slot is part of the value here: the broadcast gives Kahan another network-stage performance at the exact point in the season when the audience is already primed by the previous week and the finale announcement.
For anyone planning to watch live, the immediate action is simple: tune in Saturday night or stream it on Peacock. Kahan’s second SNL musical guest booking makes the May 9 episode the season’s clearest late-night checkpoint before Ferrell and McCartney close out season 51 on May 16.
