‘Saturday Night Live’ ratings: Vince Vaughn show defeats Melissa McCarthy

In what is proof that you never quite know what the “Saturday Night Live” audience is going to be, a relatively weak outing last night from Vince Vaughn managed to not only beat Melissa McCarthy’s show the week before, but also bring in the show’s second-best numbers in the past five months.

Overall, this weekend’s edition was easily the top-rated non-sports program on the night with a 2.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which also equals the ratings for the same “SNL” last year. (Considering that show had Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg, this has to be considered a win.) Vaughn may have received a boost of the strength of the McCarthy show, or there may have just been an enormous audience of “Swingers” and “Wedding Crashers” fans that decided to check the show out.

Of course, hearing this ratings news has to make Lorne Michaels and the rest of the “SNL” crew smile a pretty big smile regardless of the quality of the show. This has steadily been NBC’s most-prized comedy treasure, as it draws consistent headlines while avoiding much of the job security turmoil that has plagued the rest of the network. NBC has to also be pretty thrilled over the fact that they have a show that is not taking pot-shots at them quite like “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Sadly, “SNL” is going to be on break until May 4, where Zach Galifianakis stops by for his third hosting gig alongside Of Monsters and Men. (Let’s hope that there is a “Star Wars” joke thrown in there; if you don’t get up the joke, Google the date.)

Are you surprised on some level by the ratings? If you want to read our full review of the Vince Vaughn-hosted show, be sure to check out the story over at the link here.

Photo: NBC