The Jimmy Fallon-Justin Timberlake tandem is good for more than just laughs. The duo also proved itself a monster ratings draw Saturday night.
Saturday’s episode of “Saturday Night Live,” which featured Fallon as host and Timberlake as musical guest, drew a season high 3.9 adults 18-49 rating. Up dramatically from last week’s 2.1, that rating is the NBC variety show’s highest since the January 7, 2012 edition.
That edition, which drew a 4.1 rating, featured Charles Barkley as host and Kelly Clarkson as musical guest. It also aired on the same night as an NFL Playoffs game and thus enjoyed an inflated lead-in.
If one excludes episodes that aired with NFL support, this weekend’s show delivered the best number since the season finale episode on May 21, 2011. Hosted by–you guessed it–Justin Timberlake, and featuring Lady Gaga as musical guest, that episode drew a 4.5 rating.
This Saturday’s episode posted a 6.3 overnight household rating, which is also a season high.
As far as Christmas editions go, the Fallon-Timberlake “SNL” was the best-rated in households since the 2004 edition (hosted by Robert DeNiro with Destiny’s Child as musical guest) and the best-rated in adults 18-49 since NBC started tracking “Local People Meter” data for “SNL” six years ago.