Saturday Night Live (season 27)
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| Saturday Night Live Season 27 | |
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 The Saturday Night Live title card as seen in the opening credits of the 27th season. |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 29, 2001 – May 18, 2002 |
| Season chronology | |
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Saturday Night Live aired its twenty-seventh season during the 2001-2002 television season on NBC. The season started on September 29, 2001 and ended on May 18, 2002, 20 episodes were produced.
Eighteen days before the season started, the September 11, 2001 attacks took place in New York. The season premiere (hosted by Reese Witherspoon) went on as scheduled, with a special cold opening featuring Rudy Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City at the time, along with the firefighters and police officers of New York, declaring that despite the terrorist attack, New York City will run as normal and Saturday Night Live will go on as planned (with Lorne Michaels asking Giuliani, "Can we be funny?" and Giuliani replying, "Why start now?").
Three weeks into the season the show faced another scare when anthrax was found in the GE Building (from where the show is broadcast). The scare caused most of the cast and crew, as well as that week's guest host Drew Barrymore, to evacuate the building.
Before the start of the season, Jerry Minor and Chris Parnell were both let go from the show. However, luck was on Parnell's side as he was hired back to the show mid-season in the episode hosted by Jonny Moseley, becoming the second cast member to be hired back to the show after being fired, the first person being Jim Belushi in 1983.
Hired to fill two absences were stand-up comic Dean Edwards; Chicago improv comedian Seth Meyers; Amy Poehler of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe (she previously starred in the troupes sketch show on Comedy Central for three seasons), who was promoted to repertory status mid-season; and stand-up comic/impressionist Jeff Richards, who was previously a cast member on the rival sketch show MADtv. Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph were all upgraded to repertory status.
Will Ferrell was absent from a number of episodes because he was off filming the movie Old School. This would also be the final season for both Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer.
Contents |
Cast [edit]
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bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
Writers [edit]
Episodes [edit]
| No. | # | Host(s) | Musical guest(s) | Original airdate |
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| 506 | 1 | Reese Witherspoon | Paul Simon Alicia Keys |
September 29, 2001 |
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The episode premiered less than three weeks following the terrorist attacks of September 11. New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, along with members of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) appear in the cold opening to encourage New York and Saturday Night Live to carry on in the face of adversity. When asked by Lorne Michaels "Can we be funny?", Giuliani replied "Why start now?"[1] In addition to appearances by Giuliani and the FDNY, Paul Simon played "The Boxer" during the cold opening. Amy Poehler, Dean Edwards, Jeff Richards and Seth Meyer's first episode as cast members. Alicia Keys performed "Fallin'" and "A Woman's Worth." |
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| 507 | 2 | Seann William Scott | Sum 41 | October 6, 2001 |
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Former cast member Chevy Chase makes a cameo on the Weekend Update sketch as the Land Shark, who eats Tina Fey, and says "Goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow," the sign-off used by both Chase and Fey during their tenures on Weekend Update. Sum41 performed "Fat Lip" and "In Too Deep." |
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| 508 | 3 | Drew Barrymore | Macy Gray | October 13, 2001 |
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Former cast member Colin Quinn, introduced by Tina Fey as the "New Yorkiest New Yorker I know," appears on Weekend Update to give his NYC-centric take on current events. Macy Gray performed "Sexual Revolution" and "Sweet Baby." |
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| 509 | 4 | John Goodman | Ja Rule | November 3, 2001 |
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Former cast member Dan Aykroyd reprises his recurring character, Leonard Pinth-Garnell, for the sketch "Bad Conceptual Theater." Ja Rule & Ashanti performed "Always on Time" for the first performance. Ja Rule & Case performed "Livin' It Up" for the second performance. |
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| 510 | 5 | Gwyneth Paltrow | Ryan Adams | November 10, 2001 |
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Ryan Adams performed "New York, New York." Matt Damon makes a cameo appearance as himself in the Mango sketch. |
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| 511 | 6 | Billy Bob Thornton | Creed | November 17, 2001 |
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Creed performed "My Sacrifice" and "Bullets." Ashton Kutcher makes a cameo appearance during the monologue. |
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| 512 | 7 | Derek Jeter | Shakira Bubba Sparxxx |
December 1, 2001 |
| Shakira performed "Whenever, Wherever" for the first performance. Bubba Sparxxx performed "Ugly" and "Lovely" for the second performance. | ||||
| 513 | 8 | Hugh Jackman | Mick Jagger | December 8, 2001 |
| Mick Jagger performed "God Gave Me Everything" and "Visions of Paradise." | ||||
| 514 | 9 | Ellen DeGeneres | No Doubt | December 15, 2001 |
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No Doubt performed "Hey Baby" and "Hella Good." Chris Parnell makes a vocal cameo appearance as Tom Brokaw during the "Narrator Who Ruined Christmas" cartoon. |
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| 515 | 10 | Josh Hartnett | Pink | January 12, 2002 |
| Pink performed "Get The Party Started" and "Don't Let Me Get Me." | ||||
| 516 | 11 | Jack Black | The Strokes | January 19, 2002 |
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The Strokes performed "Last Nite" and "Hard to Explain." During his monologue Jack Black plays a song with his Tenacious D bandmate, Kyle Gass. |
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| 517 | 12 | Britney Spears | Britney Spears | February 2, 2002 |
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Britney Spears performed "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" and "Boys." Former cast member Dan Aykroyd cameos in the Mormon skiers cold opening sketch and Jimmy Fallon's Leather Man sketch. Justin Timberlake makes a cameo appearance during Spears' monologue. |
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| 518 | 13 | Jonny Moseley | Outkast | March 2, 2002 |
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OutKast performed "Whole World" and "Ms. Jackson." Chris Parnell rejoins the cast after being fired at the end of last season for budgetary reasons. |
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| 519 | 14 | Jon Stewart | India.Arie | March 9, 2002 |
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India.Arie performed "Video" and "Ready For Love." Mike Judge appears in the TV Funhouse "Fun With Real Audio" cartoon, providing the voices for Beavis and Butt-head. |
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| 520 | 15 | Ian McKellen | Kylie Minogue | March 16, 2002 |
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Kylie Minogue performed "Can't Get You Out of My Head" and "In Your Eyes." This episode won an Emmy for writing, the show's first since 1989. |
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| 521 | 16 | Cameron Diaz | Jimmy Eat World | April 6, 2002 |
| Jimmy Eat World performed "The Middle" and "Sweetness." | ||||
| 522 | 17 | Dwayne Johnson | Andrew W.K. | April 13, 2002 |
| Andrew W.K. performed "Party Hard" and "I Get Wet." | ||||
| 523 | 18 | Alec Baldwin | P.O.D. | April 20, 2002 |
| P.O.D. performed "Youth of the Nation" and "Alive." | ||||
| 524 | 19 | Kirsten Dunst | Eminem | May 11, 2002 |
| Eminem performed "Without Me." | ||||
| 525 | 20 | Winona Ryder | Moby | May 18, 2002 |
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Moby performed "We Are All Made of Stars" and "South Side," and appeared in a Mango sketch parodying Winona Ryder's shoplifting incident. Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer's final episode as cast members. Alex Trebek appears in the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch, alongside Ferrell's portrayal of him. During Weekend Update, Neil Diamond appears alongside Ferrell's portrayal of him. |
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Specials [edit]
| # | Special | Original airdate |
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| 1 | "SNL Remembers John Belushi" | March 11, 2002 |
| To commemorate the 20th anniversary of John's death, Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey host this retrospective of some of his greatest sketches on SNL. Dan Aykroyd makes a cameo appearance in this special. | ||
