Every Saturday Night Live season 50 host ranked, from worst to best

Saturday Night Live is in a tough spot. It's become commonplace to rag on the show for being less funny than it was a decade, two decades ago. It's also attempted to keep pace with a world that sees topics memed to death before they ever get a chance to be satirized by cast members.

A lot of the show's success, however, hinges on the host. The popularity of cast members help, but an episode hosted by the right celebrity will guarantee that people tune in. SNL season 50 has had a pretty fascinating mix of hosts, so we thought it'd be fun to go through and rank them as the season progresses.

Let's start at the bottom and work our way up.

4. Michael Keaton (October 19)

Look, Michael Keaton is a comedy pro. He's been funny for longer than some of the current SNL cast members have been alive, and he proved that he can still be funny with his turn in the recent success Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (aka the reason he was asked to host).

Keaton's placement at the bottom of the list has less to do with his talents, and more to do with the show's inexplicable decision to sideline him for most of the episode. The Oscar nominee didn't get a chance to do much, and worse, it felt like he was drowned out by subpar material. What a waste.

3. Jean Smart (September 28)

Jean Smart is another comedic marvel. Her deadpan delivery seemed like it would mesh extremely well with the more outlandish antics of the SNL cast, but like with Keaton, the actress was let down by weak material. She had more to do, but the results were similar. The sketches ranged from terrible to forgettable.

"$100,000 Pyramid" and "Real Housewives of Santa Fe" were terrible, while "Textbook Writer" was forgettable. It felt like most of the focus of the season 50 premiere was on the unveiling of who would play which politicians, which resulted in Smart being an afterthought.

2. Nate Bargatze (October 5)

Nate Bargatze hosted for the second time in two seasons, and he was excellent yet again. The comedian doesn't have the legacy of a Keaton or a Smart, but his affable comedic style and his understated delivery actually benefited him.

Bargatze wasn't the focus of every SNL sketch, but the fact that he could shift from foreground to background player with ease made him feel like a glorified cast member at times (in the best way). Honestly, we say bring him back, the SNL writers know how to use him.

1. Ariana Grande (October 12)

Ariana Grande hosted once before, in 2016, but she managed to outdo herself on October 12. She had a few dud sketches thrown her way, but she was the rare megastar who was able to elevate the material and keep pace with the SNL cast members.

In some instances, she outpaced them. Her Celine Dion impression was dead on, as was her Jennifer Coolidge opposite Chloe Fineman and Dana Carvey. She's the real deal, and the fact that her episode has drawn the highest ratings of the season thus far says it all.