Why isn't Saturday Night Live on tonight, March 16?

If you were hoping for a new episode of Saturday Night Live season 49 this week, we've got bad news: the iconic sketch-comedy show won't be live out of Studio 8H tonight, March 16, nor will it be back for several weeks.

Yes, despite the show title, SNL isn't actually live from New York every Saturday night. Since the season officially kicked off back in October 2023, the series has taken a break from filming every few weeks to give the cast and crew a much-welcome reprieve from the strenuous production schedule, including its annual holiday break in December and January.

And it looks like this month is no exception: during the most recent edition on Saturday, March 9—which was hosted by Dune: Part Two actor Josh Brolin, with pop star Ariana Grande as the musical guest—the usual title card announcing the next episode popped up between all the skits and silly set-ups, and it looks like SNL diehards  won't be getting a brand-new episode of the show until Saturday, March 30.

The March 30 episode will be hosted by comedian-slash-Poor Things star Ramy Youssef, with musical guest Travis Scott. Coming up on the hosting calendar is the return of Saturday Night Live alum Kristen Wiig—who stars in the upcoming period comedy miniseries Palm Royale, debuting on Apple TV+ on March 20—who will appear alongside musical guest Raye on Saturday, April 6. And Ryan Gosling, who leads the upcoming action comedy The Fall Guy, will follow on April 13, with a musical performance by country crooner Chris Stapleton. (Speaking of, who do you think has been the best SNL host so far?)

So that means there won't be a new episode tonight, March 16, nor next Saturday, March 23. In the meantime, SNL will be airing reruns of previous editions, with tonight's being the season 49 episode hosted by Madame Web star Dakota Johnson, with Justin Timberlake performing as musical guest.

Saturday Night Live airs on NBC, which means that anyone with a traditional cable subscription or TV antenna can tune in to their local NBC station to watch the show when it is live. If you're a cable-cutter, a number of live TV streaming services also carry NBC, including Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV. Or if you're a Peacock Premium Plus subscriber, you can stream SNL live on the service during the episode or catch-up next day with a regular Peacock subscription.