Draft:History of Saturday Night Live

American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) debuted on October 11, 1975 on NBC, and quickly developed a cult following.

Development: 1974–1975

Background and conception

Johnny Carson asked NBC for more time off, which led to the creation of SNL.

From 1965 until 1975, NBC affiliates broadcast The Best of Carson reruns of The Tonight Show, originally known as The Saturday/Sunday Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, on Saturday or Sunday nights. In 1974, Johnny Carson announced that he wanted the weekend shows pulled and saved so they could be aired during weeknights, allowing him to take time off.

In 1974, NBC president Herbert Schlosser approached his vice president of late-night programming, Dick Ebersol, and asked him to create a show to fill the Saturday night time slot. The network had a weak Saturday night lineup at the time that garnered poor ratings, and networks had little interest in late-night Saturday shows until the mid-1970s. At the suggestion of Paramount Pictures executive Barry Diller, Schlosser and Ebersol then approached Lorne Michaels. Over the next three weeks, Ebersol and Michaels developed the latter's idea for a variety show featuring high-concept comedy sketches, political satire, and music performances that would attract 18- to 34-year-old viewers. NBC decided to base the new show at their studios in 30 Rockefeller Center. Michaels was given Studio 8H, a converted radio studio that was home to NBC's election and Apollo moon landing coverage. It was revamped for the premiere at a cost of $250,000.

Assembling the cast

By 1975, Michaels had assembled a talented cast, including Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner, and George Coe. The original head writer was Michael O'Donoghue. The cast was nicknamed the "Not Ready For Prime-Time Players", a term coined by show writer Herb Sargent. Much of the talent pool involved in the inaugural season was recruited from The National Lampoon Radio Hour.

Radner was the first person hired after Michaels himself. Although Chase became a performer, he was hired on a one-year writer contract and refused to sign the performer contract that was repeatedly given to him, allowing him to leave the show after the first season in 1976. Newman was brought aboard after having a prior working relationship with Michaels. Morris was initially brought in as a writer, but attempts to have him fired by another writer led Michaels to have Morris audition for the cast, where he turned in a successful performance. Curtin and Belushi were the last two cast members hired. Belushi had a disdain for television and had repeatedly turned down offers to appear on other shows, but decided to work with the show because of the involvement of Radner and writers Anne Beatts and O'Donoghue. Michaels was still reluctant to hire Belushi, believing he would be a source of trouble for the show, but Beatts, O'Donoghue, and Ebersol successfully argued for his inclusion. NBC executives insisted the older Coe join the cast to balance out Michaels's younger selections, but he only appeared in eight episodes of the show.

The original theme music was written by Howard Shore, who was the original bandleader. The show was originally conceived with three rotating permanent hosts: Lily Tomlin, Richard Pryor, and George Carlin. According to Ebersol, consideration was given to Steve Martin and singer Linda Ronstadt also being included as a duo. When Pryor dropped out because his brand of comedy was not censor-friendly, the concept was dropped.

Debut and early years: 1975–1979

First weeks

Debuting on October 11, 1975, with an episode featuring Carlin as host, the show quickly gained a cult following. The show was originally called NBC's Saturday Night, because the Saturday Night Live title was in use by Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell on the rival network ABC. After the cancellation of Cosell's show in 1976, NBC purchased the rights to the name and officially changed the show's name to Saturday Night Live in 1977.

The cast was initially paid $750 per episode, and essentially lived at the offices, according to Michaels. Early episodes were more experimental with the show's format; segments from The Muppets were frequently featured in the first season, and the second episode featured eleven musical performances from host Paul Simon, with minimal appearances by the cast. The show was also initially billed as a variety show and did not emphasise the cast. The cast's improvisational backgrounds allowed them to experiment with different forms of comedy.

During the first season, some NBC executives were not satisfied with the show's Nielsen ratings and shares. Michaels pointed out that Nielsen's measurement of demographics indicated that baby boomers constituted a large majority of the viewers who did commit to watching the show, and many of them watched little else on television. In 1975 and 1976, they were the most desirable demographic for television advertisers, even though Generation X was the right age for commercials for toys and other children's products. Baby boomers far outnumbered Generation X in reality, but not in television viewership, with the exception of Michaels's new show and major league sports, and advertisers had long been concerned about baby boomers' distaste for the powerful medium. Executives eventually understood Michaels's explanation of the desirable demographics, and decided to keep the show on the air, despite angry letters and phone calls the network received from some offended viewers over certain sketches.

Pryor episode

Richard Pryor's 1975 episode was reportedly run on a tape delay.

The seventh episode hosted by Richard Pryor was an important one for Michaels, who had insisted on booking Pryor as host, feeling that he could aid in making the show more modern. However, he was ordered by NBC network officials to run the episode on a five-second tape delay. The show's previous six episodes had all aired live on the East Coast. NBC officials had expressed concerns about Pryor's content and the possibility of profanity prior to the broadcast. He was initially disallowed as host entirely, until Michaels threatened to walk off the show in protest. Officials then pushed for a ten-second delay, which Michaels negotiated down to five seconds. Pryor, as the first person of color to host the show, found the delay to be an insult (only finding out after the broadcast), and objected to being treated differently to other (White) comedians.

Dave Wilson, SNL's long-time director, later said that the show was in fact broadcast live, as his crew did not know how to work the delay. However, the first edition of The Book of Lists, describing the broadcast, indicated that two words were deleted from the broadcast during Pryor's opening monologue, although what was censored is not specified. NBC reportedly re-engineered their taping machines of the time to create the delay, so that the show would be taped on one machine, and then entirely transferred to another machine for the broadcast. A sketch from this episode featuring Pryor and cast member Chevy Chase, "Word Association", in which Chase uses the word "nigger", is considered one of the most famous SNL sketches of all time.

Rising success

SNL's humor soon began to be seen as refreshing and daring, in comparison to previous sketch and variety shows that would rarely deal with controversial topics and issues. Iconic characters during this period of the show included Belushi's samurai, the Coneheads (Aykroyd, Curtin, Newman), and Radner's Roseanne Roseannadanna.

Chase was the first performer to say the show's introduction line in the first episode, and would say it in every episode for the rest of the season. He was the first anchor of the show's recurring "Weekend Update" segment, and therefore received more screen time than the rest of the cast. Physical comedy and exaggerated pratfalls became his trademark, and he became the show's first breakout star. His bumbling impression of Gerald Ford during the 1976 presidential election was later cited as a factor in Ford's subsequent failure to win re-election. Chase's success led to tensions with the rest of the cast, particularly Belushi. The network also wanted him for a prime time show, and he soon left the show during the 1976–77 season.

Bill Murray and Chevy Chase feuded with each other when the latter came back to host.

After Chase left the show, he was replaced by Bill Murray, whom Michaels had intended to hire for the initial cast but was unable to because of budget restrictions. Murray had a shaky start, but by the end of the second season, had begun to develop a following, with a sleazy know-it-all persona and characters such as Nick the Lounge Singer that became popular with audiences.

Tensions

Chase returned to host in 1978; during the live telecast, Murray, goaded by Belushi, got into a physical altercation with Chase while musical guest Billy Joel was performing, according to Newman and Michaels in 2002. Chase later said the incident was actually right before the show's monologue.

Chase's departure for film made Michaels possessive of his talent; he threatened to fire Aykroyd if he accepted the role of D-Day in the 1978 comedy Animal House, and later refused to allow SNL musician Paul Shaffer to participate in The Blues Brothers (1980) with Aykroyd and Belushi after they left in 1979 to pursue film careers. Animal House was already a major box office success when Michaels and the cast returned for the fourth season in October 1978. Michaels began to struggle to hold the remaining cast together while everyone knew about the independent success of Belushi, still with the series. Chase's ongoing visibility in SNL reruns and cinemas contributed to Michaels’ concern that other cast members and their fans considered SNL a launching pad for movies and popular music. Aykroyd already had made his movie debut as a leading man in Love at First Sight, and though the movie had not been widely seen in the United States, Lorne Michaels became concerned that Aykroyd's major success as a musical artist, as one of the Blues Brothers, could compromise his commitment to performing and writing for their TV series. Michaels’ burden became heavier in 1979 when Gilda Radner had a successful one-woman Broadway show, produced by Michaels himself. During the Broadway run of her show, cinemas screened the popular comedy Meatballs, which launched Murray's movie career. The PG rating allowed kids of all ages to watch it. This resulted in new SNL viewers who were not familiar with what writers Anne Beatts and Michael O’Donoghue considered to be the unorthodox style of the first two seasons. The rapidly changing viewer demographics caused Michaels to become even more concerned about the possible departures of cast members and writers. In 1978 the show began to produce "best of" compilations, in order to reach viewers who could not stay awake for the live broadcasts.

Drugs were a major problem during the show's first five years. "The value system that was around there was, as long as people showed up on time, did their job, it was nobody's business what they did in their bedroom or in their lives. That value system turned out to be wrong", Michaels later said. Aykroyd said that "The cocaine was a problem. Not for me, it was never my favorite... but it was around a lot, and it was affecting the work, the performance, the quality of the scripts... wasting time, and that was bad".

Laraine Newman had developed serious eating disorders as well as a heroin addiction. She spent so much time in her dressing room playing Solitaire that for Christmas 1979, castmate Radner gave her a deck of playing cards with a picture of Laraine on the face of each card.

Morris felt underutilised by the writers, and was often assigned sketches that involved racial stereotypes. One of these was a planned "Tarbrush" sketch that would dull African-Americans' supposedly shiny teeth, which was pulled at the last minute. He began freebasing cocaine, and at one point, ran screaming onto the set, saying that someone had put an "invisible robot" on his shoulder who watched him everywhere he went. He pleaded with crew to get the robot off of him.

Radner, meanwhile, was resented by many because she and Michaels had spent much of the year working on a Broadway play and album, Gilda Live. She had recently broken off a relationship with Murray, and the two could barely speak to one another. Murray resented that the other male cast members had left him stranded and essentially forced him to play every male lead on the show. Exhausted, Gilda had few starring roles during the 1979–80 season.

The most energetic and diverse performer during this season was Jane Curtin, who was thrilled to see the "Bully Boys", as she called them (Aykroyd and Belushi), depart, and who debuted a number of new characters and impressions while she had the chance (she became noted this season for her impersonation of Nancy Reagan). Featured players/writers Al Franken and Tom Davis also contributed more heavily during the season, giving themselves more prominent roles as Aykroyd and Belushi departed. Another surprise contributor was writer Don Novello, whose "Father Guido Sarducci" character was especially popular and appeared repeatedly during the 1979–80 season.

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Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter was elected the 39th President of the United States of America. Cast member Dan Aykroyd was selected to portray Carter in subsequent seasons. His impression emphasized Carter's southern roots and the country twang in his voice. Political parody was relatively new to American mainstream television in 1975; comedy shows in the past had rarely dared to push the envelope. By satirising the head of the nation, Saturday Night Live redefined the parameters of acceptable television content and became "the first television show to speak the nation of the time", according to NBC executive Dick Ebersol.

Mention Lorne and The Beatles. Steve Martin’s hostings.

The 1979–80 season would see the hiring of many writers as featured players, usually temporarily. Harry Shearer was the only one promoted to repertory status. Paul Shaffer was a major part of the show's band and had a role in several sketches (mainly a Don Kirshner impression) before 1979. Tom Schiller was a longtime filmmaker for Saturday Night Live (off and on in 1976–94). Jim Downey had been a writer and bit player since the 1976–77 season and would continue to write for the show on and off for the next 25 years. Alan Zweibel had been a writer since the show's beginning. Brian Doyle-Murray (Bill Murray's older brother) returned to the cast two years later for a season.

Michaels's departure: 1980–1984

Michaels and cast departures

As the fifth season ended in 1980, Michaels, emotionally and physically exhausted, asked executives to place the show on hiatus for a year in order to allow him time to pursue other projects. Concerned that the show would be cancelled without him, Michaels suggested writers Al Franken, Tom Davis, and Jim Downey as his replacements. NBC president Fred Silverman disliked Franken and was infuriated by his Update routine on May 10, 1980, called "A Limo for a Lame-O", a critique of Silverman's job performance and his insistence on traveling by limousine at the network's expense. Silverman blamed Michaels for approving this Weekend Update segment. Unable to secure the deal that he wanted, Michaels chose to leave NBC for Paramount Pictures, intending to bring associate producer Jean Doumanian along with him. Michaels later learned that Doumanian had been given his position at SNL after being recommended by her friend, NBC Vice President Barbara Gallagher.

The remaining cast appeared together for the last time on May 24, 1980, the final episode of the season, hosted by long-time host Buck Henry, who never again returned to host. Almost every writer and cast member, including Michaels, left the show after this episode. Brian Doyle-Murray was the only writer to stay on for the following season.

Saturday Night Live '80

Main article: Saturday Night Live (season 6)

The reputation of the show as a springboard to fame meant that many aspiring stars were eager to join the new series. Doumanian was tasked with hiring a full cast and writing staff in less than three months, and NBC immediately cut the show's budget from the previous $1 million per episode down to just $350,000. Doumanian also faced resentment and sabotage from the remaining Michaels staff. Cast member Harry Shearer, who disliked Michaels, informed Doumanian that he would stay as long as she let him completely overhaul the program. Doumanian refused, so Shearer also left. The Doumanian-era cast faced immediate comparisons to the beloved former cast and was not received favorably. Ratings were signifcantly down for the new season, and audiences failed to connect to the original cast's replacements, such as Charles Rocket and Ann Risley.

In a February 1981 episode hosted by Charlene Tilton, Rocket used the profanity "fuck" during a sketch. Director Dave Wilson, upon hearing the word, reportedly threw his script down and left the control room, muttering, "Well, that's the end of live television." The incident was cut from the subsequent West Coast broadcast. Rocket later said he was trying to kill time before the show's close and had not meant to utter the word. Following this episode, Doumanian was dismissed after only ten months on the job.

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After Bill Murray hosted the following episode, the next episode was scheduled for March 14, 1981 and would have been hosted by Robert Guillaume and Ian Dury and the Blockheads.

In his first two weeks, Ebersol fired Gottfried, Risley, and Rocket, replacing them with Robin Duke,[20] Tim Kazurinsky,[21] and Tony Rosato. At the end of the season, he would eliminate the rest of the 1980 cast except for Murphy and Piscopo. Ebersol originally wanted to bring in John Candy and Catherine O'Hara from SCTV; Candy turned down the offer. O'Hara initially accepted the job, but changed her mind after a production meeting where Michael O'Donoghue, the original head writer for SNL and had been hired to save the show, screamed at the cast and writers for the show's poor performances and sketches.

Further, Doumanian had only two months to discover and prepare a new cast and crew; she claims she received virtually none of the support that was promised to her by either the network or her staff. For much of this season, SNL was in turmoil and many critics, including Marvin Kitman of Newsday and Tom Shales of The Washington Post, wrote the show off as a pale imitation of its former glory.

Dick Ebersol years

Although executives suggested SNL be left to die, Brandon Tartikoff, who succeeded Silverman as network chief in mid-1981, wanted to keep the show on the air, believing the concept was more important to the network than money. Tartikoff turned to Ebersol as his choice for the new producer. Ebersol previously had been fired by Silverman. Ebersol gained Michaels's approval in an attempt to avoid the same staff sabotage that had blighted Doumanian's tenure.

Eddie Murphy was one of the few breakout performers during this time period.

Ebersol fired the majority of Doumanian's hires, except for two comedians: Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo. Talent coordinator Neil Levy claimed Murphy contacted and pleaded with him for a role on the show and, after seeing him audition, Levy fought with Doumanian to cast him instead of Robert Townsend. Doumanian wanted only one black cast member and favored Townsend, but Levy convinced her to choose Murphy. Doumanian also claimed credit for discovering Murphy and fighting with NBC executives to bring him onto the show. Even so, Murphy would languish as a background character until Ebersol took charge, after which Murphy was credited with much of that era's success. Murphy's star exploded, and he quickly appeared in films such as 48 Hrs. and Trading Places, before leaving for his film career in early 1984.

Ebersol's tenure saw commercial success but was considered lackluster compared to the Michaels era, except for the breakout of new cast member Eddie Murphy during the 1980–81 sixth season. Murphy introduced popular sketches and characters, such as Mister Robinson's Neighborhood, and Gumby. Much of the Ebersol cast departed after the 1983–84 season and were replaced with established comedians who could supply their own material, but at an inflated cost; Billy Crystal and Martin Short were paid $25,000 and $20,000 per episode, respectively, far more than earlier salaries. Murphy, the main draw of the cast, left in 1984 to pursue his already-successful film career, and Ebersol decided to again rebuild the cast. He broke with history by hiring established comedians such as Billy Crystal and Martin Short who could bring their already successful material to the show. Ebersol's final year with this new cast is considered one of the series' funniest, but had strayed far from the precedent-shattering show Michaels had created. After that season, Ebersol wanted a more significant revamp, including departing from the show's established live format.

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Ebersol's first show aired April 11, with appearances by Chevy Chase on Weekend Update, and Al Franken asking viewers to "put SNL to sleep".[8] Ebersol, wanting to establish a connection to the original cast, allowed Franken's mock-serious routine on the air.

Ebersol had promised Al Franken and Tom Davis that in addition to appearing on the April 11 show, they could host the next week. During the following week, with a writer's strike looming, Franken and Davis wrote material and mailed it to themselves so that their postmark could be used to prove they did not violate the strike.[24] After seeing copies of the material, Ebersol (never a fan of Franken and Davis) caved to the writer's strike and called off the rest of the season, promising the duo they could host the season premiere that fall. As the summer ended, Ebersol, confident in his new cast, decided he no longer needed a link to the original cast. Franken claims Ebersol never returned his calls, and Franken and Davis never hosted SNL. Franken would not return to SNL until four years later, as a featured cast member.

Ebersol ran a very different show from Michaels had in the 1970s. Many of the sketches were built less on "smart" and "revolutionary" comedy that was abundant in the early days and followed a much more "straightforward" approach. This shift alienated some fans and even some writers and cast members. Ebersol was eager to attract the younger viewers that advertisers craved. He dictated that no sketch should run longer than five minutes, so as not to lose the attention of teenagers.

Having come from the ranks of management, Ebersol was adept at dealing with the network. Ebersol was also not fond of political humor, and he and NBC mostly eschewed jokes about President Reagan during his time as showrunner. Later in his tenure, he was handling much of the business aspects and day-to-day production affairs, leaving producer Bob Tischler in charge of most of the creative facets of the show.

Unlike Michaels, Ebersol had no difficulty firing people. Among the first casualties after the 1981 season were Rosato (who later said that the firing was the best thing to ever happen to him, as he felt that the show's atmosphere encouraged his drug addiction) and Ebersole, who got the axe because of her frequent complaints that the women on the show had little airtime and what they did receive cast them in sexist and humiliating light. Michael O'Donoghue was fired in December 1981, after repeated arguments with Ebersol over the creative direction of the show, and because of his abusive treatment of the cast.

Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy were the only performers from Doumanian's cast to appear on SNL for season seven. Murphy, who had already emerged as a breakout star on Doumanian's season, continued to thrive under Ebersol, and his soaring popularity helped restore the show's ratings. He created memorable characters, including the empty-headed former child movie star Buckwheat and an irascible, life-size version of the Gumby toy character, complete with life-size star ego. Piscopo was also popular, renowned for his Frank Sinatra impersonation, as well as his character Paulie Herman.

With the release of the film 48 Hours during season eight, Murphy's star began to eclipse the other cast members.[40] Murphy's co-star in the film, Nick Nolte, was scheduled to host the show, but canceled at the last minute. Ebersol offered Murphy the chance to host, a move that Piscopo would perceive as a major slight. Piscopo would later claim that Ebersol used Murphy's success to divide the two erstwhile friends and play them against one another.

Midway through season nine in February 1984, Eddie Murphy left the show. His appearances for the remainder of the season consisted of sketches he had pre-taped in September 1983. Duke, Piscopo, Hall, and Kazurinsky were not invited to return after season nine. Piscopo was offered a chance to guest host during season ten, but declined.

Upon the departures of Murphy and Piscopo, Ebersol, having lost his key players, began rebuilding the cast for season ten, enlisting what is in retrospect known as the "All-Star" cast.[48] Along with veteran players James Belushi, Gross, Kroeger, and Louis-Dreyfus, Ebersol added, for the first time in the show's history, well-known names to the repertory. This new cast included Soap star Billy Crystal; Martin Short, who had made a name for himself as Ed Grimley (a character he would bring to SNL that year) on Canada's SCTV;[49] Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer (who was also a cast member in 1979) from The Credibility Gap and This Is Spinal Tap; Pamela Stephenson from Not the Nine O'Clock News and Superman III; and Rich Hall from HBO's Not Necessarily the News.

Billy Crystal became the show's breakout star. Crystal had been scheduled to appear in the first SNL in 1975, but walked when his airtime was whittled away during rehearsal.[52] Already known for his stand-up comedy and even more for his role as Jodie Dallas on Soap,[53] Crystal became the show's latest sensation, bringing the catchphrases "It is better to look good than to feel good" and "You look mahvelous!" (both uttered by his "Fernando" character) into popular culture.

Short, Guest, and Rich Hall had grown tired of the show's demanding production schedule and showed little interest in returning for another season, leaving Crystal the only "A-cast" member available for season 11. Like Michaels at the end of season five, Ebersol made it known to NBC that he would only return to SNL if the network would take the show off the air for several months to recast and rebuild. Another idea was to institute a permanent rotation of hosts (Billy Crystal, Joe Piscopo, and David Letterman) for "a hip Ed Sullivan Show".

NBC turned down Ebersol's requests and decided to continue production only if they could get Lorne Michaels to produce again. Ebersol and Tischler, along with their writing staff and most of the cast, left the show after this season (those who wished to stay, such as Billy Crystal, were eventually not re-hired for 1985), which closed the book on an inconsistent, yet memorable, era in SNL history.

Michaels returns: 1985–present

All-star cast

Following unsuccessful forays into film and television, in need of money, and eager not to see Tartikoff cancel the show, Michaels finally returned in 1985 after Ebersol opted out. The show was again recast, with Michaels borrowing Ebersol's idea to seek out established actors such as Joan Cusack and Robert Downey Jr. The cast and writers struggled creatively and, in April 1986, Tartikoff made the decision to cancel the show, until he was convinced by producer Bernie Brillstein to give it one more year.

Renaissance cast

The show was renewed, but, for the first time in its history, for only thirteen episodes instead of the usual twenty-two. Michaels again fired most of the cast, and unlike the previous seasons, sought out unknown talent such as Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman instead of known names. Together this cast would define a new era on the show into the early 1990s.

Lovitz was known for playing sleazy, obnoxious characters such as Tommy Flanagan, a pathological liar. Carvey's impressions of celebrities such as President George H.W. Bush and movie star John Travolta quickly proved popular. He also created popular new characters such as Church Lady and the Grumpy Old Man.

Bad Boys era

In the early 1990s, much of this cast was beginning to leave the show (such as Carvey and Dennis Miller), and younger performers such as Chris Farley and Adam Sandler began to be promoted to reportory status. Carvey later remarked that these cast members were "bursting with energy" and that it was a natural time to transition to a newer cast. Many of the sketches written by this newer cast mocked authority; some critics described it as "frat boy" humor, filled with profane language and jokes about bodily functions.

Mike Myers and other cast members were added in 1989 and 1990.

In 1989 and 1990, new talent such as Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, and Chris Farley were added. Afraid of cast members leaving for film careers, Michaels had overcrowded the cast, causing a divide between the veteran members and the new, younger talent, increasing competition for limited screen time. By 1995, Carvey and Hartman had left, taking with them a large number of characters; Myers quit for his movie career, and increasing network pressure forced Michaels to fire Sandler and Farley. The show saw its next major overhaul, bringing in a largely new cast including Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, Cheri Oteri, and Darrell Hammond. Within a few years Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey also joined the cast.

The show ran successfully again until it lost Carvey and Hartman, two of its biggest stars, between 1992 and 1994. Wanting to increase SNL's ratings and profitability, NBC West Coast president Don Ohlmeyer and other executives began to actively interfere in the show, recommending that new stars such as Chris Farley and Adam Sandler be fired and critiquing the costly nature of performing the show live. The show faced increasing criticism from the press and cast, in part encouraged by the NBC executives hoping to weaken Michaels's position. Michaels received a lucrative offer to develop a Saturday night project for CBS during this time, but remained loyal to SNL. In the mid-90s, the show focused on performers, and writers were forced to supply material for the cast's existing characters before they could write original sketches.

Sinéad O'Connor

Main article: Sinéad O'Connor on Saturday Night Live

See also: List of Saturday Night Live incidents

On October 3, 1992, Sinéad O'Connor appeared, performing an a cappella performance of Bob Marley's "War". During the dress rehearsal of the episode, O'Connor held up a photo of a Balkan child as a protest of child abuse in war before bowing and leaving the stage, which the episode's director Dave Wilson described as a "very tender moment". However, during the live show, O'Connor changed the "War" lyric "fight racial injustice" to "fight child abuse" as a protest against the then still relatively unknown cases of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. She presented a photo of Pope John Paul II while singing the word "evil", before tearing the image into pieces and saying "Fight the real enemy!"

NBC had no foreknowledge of O'Connor's plan, and Wilson purposely failed to use the "applause" button, leaving the audience to sit in silence. The network received thousands of irate calls in the aftermath of the incident, and protests against O'Connor occurred outside of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where a steamroller crushed dozens of her tapes, CDs, and LPs. In the following weeks on SNL, Catholic guests Joe Pesci and Madonna both voiced their opposition to O'Connor, and she was banned for life from the network. The show also aired several sketches mocking O'Connor, such as an impression by Jan Hooks that invited the audience to boo. The incident occurred nine years before John Paul II, in a 2001 apology, acknowledged that the sexual abuse within the Church was "a profound contradiction of the teaching and witness of Jesus Christ", followed in 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI apologizing and meeting with victims, speaking of his "shame" at the evil of abuse, calling for perpetrators to be brought to justice, and denouncing mishandling by church authorities. O'Connor later said she had "no regrets" about the performance in 2021, saying it was "brilliant [...] but it was very traumatising". She never appeared on Saturday Night Live again prior to her death on July 26, 2023.

1995–96 overhaul

Following what was widely referred to as a subpar year for the show, nine cast members, including Myers, Nealon, Sandler, and Farley, left the show after the 1994–95 season. Only five members of the cast returned for the following season, which added a number of performers that would become important to the show, including Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, and Darrell Hammond. Ferrell and Oteri introduced the Spartan cheerleaders, while Molly Shannon introduced her character, Mary Katherine Gallagher, who would later get a spin-off film in 1999. Tina Fey would become the show's first female head writer in 1999.

Norm Macdonald on Weekend Update

By 1997, Ohlmeyer renewed his focus on limiting Michaels's independence, forcing the removal of writer Jim Downey and cast member Norm Macdonald.

2000s

September 11 attacks and anthrax scare

The September 11 attacks had an enormous psychological impact on the show's New York City cast and crew.

The show's New York City cast and crew were highly impacted by the September 11 attacks in 2001. Many entertainment programs were halted or postponed following the attacks, but late-night programs such as SNL began planning to return to the airwaves. SNL's scheduled Reese Witherspoon episode, the September 29 season premiere for the 2001–2002 season, aired as planned. Producer Steve Higgins later said that he wanted to do something to "bring normalcy back" following the show's return, which occurred twelve days after talk show host David Letterman had returned to the air.

New York mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke at the top of the show standing with NYC firefighters and police officers, including Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, followed by a performance of "The Boxer" from Paul Simon. Giuliani called the emergency workers heroes, which was applauded by the studio audience. He also made mention of the victims of the attacks, hailing them as heroes also. After Michaels asked, "Can we be funny?" Giuliani replied, "Why start now?" to laughter from the audience. The joke was Michaels's idea. Michaels and Guiliani wanted to convey that the city was "open for business" with the episode. Guiliani also delivered the show's signature opening line. The episode is considered one of the most memorable in the show's history.

The show took on a more serious tone for the rest of the season, with less political humor. Planned second episode host Ben Stiller dropped out due to the attacks, forcing producers to find a replacement. SNL's 30 Rockefeller Plaza production location was also the subject of an anthrax scare, during the production of Drew Barrymore's episode in October 2001, when an NBC News employee on a lower floor was diagnosed with anthrax after opening a letter in the NBC newsroom. Barrymore considered dropping out of the episode, but decided to continue hosting, citing Giuliani as an inspiration to continue. Head writer Tina Fey later said she had a "panic attack, basically" and left the building, only returning later that night at the urging of Michaels.

SNL Digital Shorts

Main article: The Lonely Island

The Lonely Island were hired for the show in 2005.

The Lonely Island, a comedy trio composed of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, were hired by SNL for the 2005–2006 season, following a writing gig for the 2005 MTV Movie Awards that was hosted by Jimmy Fallon. Fallon's praise, and positive word of mouth to others like Fey and Michaels, had led the trio to audition in mid-2005. Samberg was hired as a cast member, while Schaffer and Taccone joined the writing staff.

Schaffer and Taccone struggled initially, with only two of their sketches making it to air in the first three months. They soon saw success incorporating more video work, deciding to bypass the pitching process, as they were so new to the show that it would have been dismissed as too expensive. Their breakthrough was the short "Lazy Sunday" in December 2005, which had spread nationwide and became one of the first viral YouTube videos. It increased the trio's recognisability, particularly Samberg's, nearly overnight. Their success, according to New York, "forced NBC into the iPod age".

This newfound popularity led to a record deal for the trio and the creation of the SNL Digital Shorts division, which allowed the group creative freedom to continue producing videos. Michaels was often confused by the trio's pitches, and decided to stop taking their pitches and allow them to self-produce their efforts. The group's rise to fame was highlighted by a combination of "new" and "old" media, as described by Schaffer.

Many songs recorded for their 2009 album, Incredibad, and following albums Turtleneck & Chain and The Wack Album, would premiere as Digital Shorts on SNL. Schaffer and Taccone left SNL in 2010, but stayed on for following seasons to produce Digital Shorts related to their musical work. Samberg left the show in 2012, later calling the decision difficult, but saying he was stressed and "falling apart" due to the workload.

2008 presidential election

Main article: Saturday Night Live parodies of Sarah Palin

Tina Fey portrayed Sarah Palin on the show during the 2008 presidential election.

Fey later returned to the show during the 2008 presidential election for several critically acclaimed guest appearances as vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Fey won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2009 for her impersonation of Palin.

Obama presidency

Darrell Hammond left the show in 2009 after fourteen years, then holding the record for longest-running cast member (later beaten by Kenan Thompson). He holds a record for the most times saying the show's opening line, saying it over seventy times during his tenure.

From 2008, Seth Meyers was the solo host of Weekend Update, before being partnered with Cecily Strong in 2013. After Meyers left for Late Night with Seth Meyers in February 2014, Strong was paired with head writer Colin Jost. However, later that year, she was replaced by writer Michael Che.

Long-time performers Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis and Fred Armisen all left the show after the 2012–2013 season, which prompted the show to add eight performers over the course of the following season, including Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney. In 2014, Sasheer Zamata was added as a cast member mid-season, after criticism of the show's lack of an African-American woman.

2016 presidential election

Trump won the election over Clinton in a surprise victory on November 8, 2016. Dave Chappelle hosted the show's highly-anticipated first post-election episode on November 12 with musical guest A Tribe Called Quest. The show's writing staff, initially expecting Clinton to win the election, were taken by surprise and forced to change course on their planned sketches. During the cold open, a somber Kate McKinnon, as Clinton, covered Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at a grand piano, closing by saying, "I'm not giving up and neither should you." The cold open was intended both as a tribute to Cohen and as an acknowledgement of the country's divided state following the election. The performance received divided responses; former cast member Rob Schneider said the show was "over" for good after the performance, accusing the show of "comedic indoctrination".

2000s

COVID-19 pandemic

The Hollywood Reporter said that the cast overhaul prior to the 2022–2023 season, in which eight cast members left including long-time cast members such as Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong, had been the "biggest [...] in a generation". Michaels referred to ongoing disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for the large exodus, saying cast members had lacked access to work that they would usually be able to find after leaving SNL. Due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, the 49th season was delayed until October 14, 2023.

Dave Chappelle hosted the first episode following the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden was elected President, on November 7, 2020.

Please Don't Destroy

See also: Please Don't Destroy

The trio became prominent on social media sketches, before breaking out on SNL. Sketches featured on the show usually include celebrity performers, such as Taylor Swift in a "Three Sad Virgins" sketch in November 2021. Billboard said the group had "capably picked up the digital short mantle" left on the show by The Lonely Island. The trio starred in a movie, Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, released on the Peacock streaming service on November 17, 2023.

See also

• List of Saturday Night Live cast members
• List of Saturday Night Live incidents

References

Works cited

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• Shales, Tom; Miller, James Andrew (6 October 2015). Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests (2 ed.). Back Bay Books. ISBN 978-0-316-29506-2. LCCN 2014943177.
• Tropiano, Stephen (2013). Saturday Night Live FAQ. New York: Applause Books. p. 2.
• Vesey, Alexandra (2013). "Live Music: Mediating Musical Performance and Discord on Saturday Night Live". In Marx, Nick; Sienkiewicz, Matt; Becker, Ron (eds.). Saturday Night Live and American TV. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-01090-2. JSTOR j.ctt16gznsz.
• Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving; Wallace, Amy (1977). The Book of Lists. New York: Bantam Books (published 1978). p. 217. ISBN 978-0-553-11150-7.