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Saturday Night Live season 12

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Saturday Night Live
Season 12
The title card for the twelfth season of Saturday Night Live.
No. of episodes20
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseOctober 11, 1986 (1986-10-11) –
May 23, 1987 (1987-05-23)
Season chronology
← Previous
season 11
Next →
season 13
List of episodes

The twelfth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 11, 1986 and May 23, 1987.

History

[edit]

When the 1986-1987 season began, only Lovitz, Nora Dunn, Dennis Miller, and featured player A. Whitney Brown returned as cast members. Michaels went back to his original tactic of assembling a strong ensemble of relative unknowns, led by Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, and Kevin Nealon.[1]

The first show of the 1986–1987 season opened with Madonna, host of the previous season opener, telling the audience that the entire 1985–1986 season had been a "horrible, horrible dream".[2] Carvey's Church Lady character debuted in this episode.[3]

Carvey's impression of George H. W. Bush is widely remembered, and Hartman's send-up of President Ronald Reagan kickstarted the most fruitful and successful period of political parody on SNL.[4][5]

Other popular sketches introduced this season include Mr. Subliminal,[6] the Sweeney Sisters,[7] and Derek Stevens.[8]

Cast

[edit]

Returning cast members included A. Whitney Brown, Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller. Al Franken continued to write on the show, dropping his featured player status that he held for one episode of the previous season. In rebuilding the cast, Lorne Michaels returned to his usual practice of hiring unknown performers from stand-up and improv comedy backgrounds.[9] New cast members included Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson and Kevin Nealon.[10][11]

Cast roster

[edit]

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Unlike featured players in most other 80s/90s seasons, A. Whitney Brown and Kevin Nealon are credited in the opening montage for every single episode this season.

Writers

[edit]
Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers § season 12

This season's writers were Andy Breckman, A. Whitney Brown, E. Jean Carroll, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Al Franken, Phil Hartman, George Meyer, Lorne Michaels, Kevin Nealon, Herb Sargent, Marc Shaiman, Rosie Shuster, Robert Smigel, Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Jon Vitti and Christine Zander. Downey also served as head writer.

Episodes

[edit]
Main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		Host(s)Musical guestOriginal air date
2141Sigourney WeaverNoneOctober 11, 1986 (1986-10-11)

2152Malcolm-Jamal WarnerRun-DMCOctober 18, 1986 (1986-10-18)

2163Rosanna ArquetteRic OcasekNovember 8, 1986 (1986-11-08)

2174Sam KinisonLou ReedNovember 15, 1986 (1986-11-15)

2185Robin WilliamsPaul SimonNovember 22, 1986 (1986-11-22)

2196Chevy Chase
Steve Martin
Martin Short		Randy NewmanDecember 6, 1986 (1986-12-06)

  • Randy Newman performs "Longest Night" and "Roll with the Punches".[12]
  • Chevy Chase acknowledges his recent stint in the Betty Ford Center in the monologue and cold opening, a sketch where klutzy people hold a support group meeting called Stumblebums Anonymous.
  • In a sketch written by Jim Downey and Al Franken, Phil Hartman portrays President Ronald Reagan as Mastermind, a "sweet, befuddled old man in public, who in private becomes the hard-charging director of the covert operation to finance the Nicaraguan Contras".
  • Guest appearance by Eric Idle.
2207Steve GuttenbergThe PretendersDecember 13, 1986 (1986-12-13)

2218William ShatnerLone JusticeDecember 20, 1986 (1986-12-20)

  • Lone Justice performs "Shelter" and "I Found Love".[12]
  • This show features a sketch where William Shatner, sick of Star Trek fans asking him inane questions, tells them to "Get a life!"[16]
  • Comedian Kevin Meaney makes a guest appearance.
  • Special guest Buster Poindexter played "Zat You, Santa?".[12]
2229Joe Montana
Walter Payton		Deborah HarryJanuary 24, 1987 (1987-01-24)

22310Paul ShafferBruce Hornsby & the RangeJanuary 31, 1987 (1987-01-31)

22411Bronson PinchotPaul YoungFebruary 14, 1987 (1987-02-14)

22512Willie NelsonWillie NelsonFebruary 21, 1987 (1987-02-21)

  • Danny DeVito makes a guest appearance.
  • Willie Nelson performs "Blue Eyes" and "Partners After All".[12]
  • In a sketch, Nelson accompanies Victoria Jackson on "The Boyfriend Song".
22613Valerie BertinelliRobert Cray BandFebruary 28, 1987 (1987-02-28)

  • Robert Cray Band performs "Smoking Gun" and "Right Next Door".[12]
  • Bertinelli's then-husband, Eddie Van Halen, appeared in a sketch and played with the SNL Band. Van Halen performed "Stompin' 8H".[12]
  • Guest appearance by Edwin Newman.
22714Bill MurrayPercy SledgeMarch 21, 1987 (1987-03-21)

  • Percy Sledge performs "When a Man Loves a Woman".[12]
  • The cold opening for the episode (where Lorne Michaels meets Bill Murray backstage and discusses his contract with him) has been either edited in reruns (as seen on Comedy Central and E!) or replaced with the cold opening from the Bronson Pinchot episode where Liberace (Phil Hartman) is playing the piano in Heaven and tells the audience that the censors won't let him do anything else besides that (as seen with the streaming version formerly shown on Netflix and now shown on NBC's Peacock).
22815Charlton HestonWynton MarsalisMarch 28, 1987 (1987-03-28)

  • Wynton Marsalis performs "J Mood" and "Juan (E. Mustaad)".[12]
  • The episode features a short film by future cast member Ben Stiller.
22916John LithgowAnita BakerApril 11, 1987 (1987-04-11)

23017John LarroquetteTimbuk 3April 18, 1987 (1987-04-18)

  • Timbuk 3 performs "Just Another Movie" and "Hairstyles & Attitudes".[12]
23118Mark HarmonSuzanne VegaMay 9, 1987 (1987-05-09)

  • Suzanne Vega performs "Luka" and "Marlene on the Wall".[12]
23219Garry ShandlingLos LobosMay 16, 1987 (1987-05-16)

23320Dennis HopperRoy OrbisonMay 23, 1987 (1987-05-23)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Gendel, Morgan (September 30, 1986). "Another Groundling Hops To 'Snl'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference snl20051113 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Hoogenboom, Lynn (April 17, 1987). "On the Cover: "You can't compete with a memory," says Lorne Michaels". The Vindicator. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  4. ^ Sims, David (December 3, 2018). "Dana Carvey's George H. W. Bush Was an All-Time Great 'SNL' Impression". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  5. ^ Adalian, Josef (June 2, 2017). "How Each Era of SNL Has Ridiculed American Presidents". Vulture. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  6. ^ Harris, Mark (December 25, 1992). "1. The Cast of 'Saturday Night Live'". EW.com. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  7. ^ Arar, Yardena (August 30, 1988). "Finally, an entertaining Emmy show". Los Angeles Daily News. p. 1C. Retrieved May 27, 2024 – via Lakeland Ledger.
  8. ^ Shefchik, Rick (May 8, 1987). "'Isn't that special?' Carvey finding niche on SNL". Lewiston Journal. Knight-Ridder Newspapers. p. 1C. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  9. ^ Shales, Tom; Miller, James Andrew (2002). Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. Little, Brown. p. 314. ISBN 978-0316781466.
  10. ^ Gendel, Morgan (September 30, 1986). "Another Groundling Hops to 'SNL'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  11. ^ "'Saturday Night Live' announces cast". The Lewiston Daily Sun. Associated Press. September 30, 1986. p. 21. Retrieved April 21, 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 124–127. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
  13. ^ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 214–217. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
  14. ^ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 120. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
  15. ^ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 218–219. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
  16. ^ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 42. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
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