Thursday, July 2, 2026

Adam Driver & “Star Wars” Power “SNL” to Huge Ratings– Bigger than Trump Show

Share

★ Make Showbiz411 your Preferred Source on Google

“Saturday Night Live” aired an hour late last night because of the insane Cardinals-Packers game (congrats to Larry Fitzgerald).

But it didn’t matter. Because Adam Driver, aka Kylo Ren of “Star Wars”–hosted, and lampooned the biggest movie ever, the ratings soared. Last night’s show had the biggest draw (3.0) in the key demo 18-49 in over two years–since a Jimmy Fallon-Justin Timberlake episode in December 2013 according to tvbythenumbers.com.

It didn’t hurt that country superstar Chris Stapleton was the musical act.

Last night’s ratings beat Donald Trump’s hosting effort as well.

Driver was in a lot of the sketches, and was excellent throughout. But his best sketch was a dark short film about the Golden Globes.

Donate to Showbiz411.com

Showbiz411 is now in its 13th year of providing breaking and exclusive entertainment news. This is an independent site, unlike the many Hollywood trades that are owned by one company. To continue providing news that takes a fresh look at what's going on in movies, music, theater, etc, advertising is our basis. Reader donations would be greatly appreciated, too. They are just another facet of keeping fact based journalism alive.
Thank you


Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

Read more

In Other News