History of Saturday Night Live (2020–present)

Saturday Night Live is an American sketch comedy series created and produced by Lorne Michaels for most of the show's run. The show has aired on NBC since 1975.

2020–2021 season[edit]

The 46th season of Saturday Night Live premiered on October 3, 2020, with host Chris Rock and musical guest Megan Thee Stallion, and concluded on May 22, 2021, with host Anya Taylor-Joy and musical guest Lil Nas X.^[1]

On September 15, 2020, it was announced that the entire cast from last season will return, with Ego Nwodim being promoted to repertory status^[2][6], while Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang, both of whom had been hired in 2019 for the previous season, remained as featured players.

The next day brought the announcement of three new cast members: SNL writer/stand-up comic Andrew Dismukes, L.A. Upright Citizens Brigade alum Lauren Holt, and stand-up comedian Punkie Johnson, the show's second African-American lesbian cast member after Danitra Vance from the 1985–1986 season.^[3]

Though not members of the cast, it was announced the same day that Alec Baldwin and Maya Rudolph would reprise their respective roles as Donald Trump and Kamala Harris,^[4] while Jim Carrey would take over impersonating Joe Biden.^[5] Biden had been portrayed by Jason Sudeikis while he was vice president and by Woody Harrelson, John Mulaney, and Sudeikis the previous season. On December 19, Carrey announced he would step down from playing Biden, stating it was the original intention that he would play Biden for only six weeks.^[6] Then-current cast member Alex Moffat succeeded Carrey to portray as Biden during the cold open of the episode hosted by Kristen Wiig.^[7]

Cecily Strong was absent from the first six episodes of the season due to filming commitments for her Apple TV+ series Schmigadoon!. Aidy Bryant appeared in the season premiere before taking an extended absence due to filming commitments for her show Shrill.^[8][9]

This was the final season for longtime cast member Beck Bennett, who had been on the show since 2013, a total of 8 seasons. It was also Holt's only season on the show, as she was let go after the finale.

Notes[edit]

• As noted, this season has the largest cast in SNL history with 20 members, beating out Season 17 which had 18 cast members at the time.
• For the third time since 2014, there are two African-American women in the cast (Sasheer Zamata and Leslie Jones (2014-17), Jones and Ego Nwodim (2018-19), and Nwodim and Punkie Johnson (2020-present)).
• New cast member Punkie Johnson is a lesbian, making her the seventh LGBTQ+ cast member after Denny Dillon (1980-81), Terry Sweeney (1985-86), Danitra Vance (1985-86), Kate McKinnon (2012-present), John Milhiser (2013-14), and Bowen Yang (2019-present), the second African-American lesbian cast member after Vance (whose sexuality was not known until after her death in 1994), the third LGBTQ+ minority to be hired (after Vance and Yang), and the first openly gay African-American female cast member.
  • With Johnson and McKinnon, this is the first season to have two lesbian cast members in the same cast.
  • With Johnson, McKinnon and Yang, this season has three LGBTQ+ cast members, the most (so far) in series history.
  • Johnson is also the fifth openly gay cast member after Sweeney, McKinnon, Milhiser, and Yang, and the second openly out female cast member after McKinnon.
  • Additionally, Johnson is now the eighth African-American female cast member in the show's history, joining Yvonne Hudson, Vance, Ellen Cleghorne, Maya Rudolph, Sasheer Zamata, Jones, and Nwodim.
• SNL staff writer turned cast member Andrew Dismukes is the fourth cast member to be born in the 1990s (he was born in 1995) after Pete Davidson (born 1993), Luke Null (born 1990), and Yang (also born in 1990).^[1] In addition, he has surpassed Davidson (who is two years older than Dismukes) as the youngest male in the current cast and youngest in the cast overall. Dismukes is also the first cast member of Cajun descent.
• New cast member Lauren Holt (born in 1991)^[2] is the first female cast member and fifth overall (joining Davidson, Null, Yang and Dismukes) to be born in the 1990s.^[3] She is now also the youngest female in the current cast, beating out both Ego Nwodim and Chloe Fineman (both born in 1988, making them three years older than Holt).
• This season has seven cast members of color (35% of the cast), making this the show's most racially diverse cast, with five African-Americans (Thompson, Che, Redd, Nwodim, Johnson), one Mexican-American (Villaseñor), and one Chinese-American (Yang).
• Also, this season has the most female cast members at nine (McKinnon, Bryant, Strong, Villaseñor, Gardner, Nwodim, Fineman, Holt, Johnson), beating out seasons 39, 42, 44 and 45, all of which have had seven women in the cast.
• This season premiered with a record six shows in a row, with the latter two airing exactly on Halloween (making this the first season to have had an episode air on Halloween since 1992) and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.
  • This is also the first season in SNL history to have new episodes air for more than four weeks in a row.
• McKinnon's return this season officially makes her the show's longest tenured female cast member, surpassing previous female cast members such as Amy Poehler and Vanessa Bayer.^[4]
• For the first six shows of the season, Joe Biden was played by Jim Carrey, who took over the task doing so from former cast member Jason Sudeikis, Woody Harrelson and John Mulaney from the previous season. On December 19, Carrey would step down from the role, saying it was his intention to do it only for those six weeks. Current cast member Alex Moffat would take over the role of Biden. It was also announced that former cast member Maya Rudolph would be returning her impression of Kamala Harris in this season.
• Supervising writer Anna Drezen, who's been with the show since 2016 is promoted to co-head writer alongside Colin Jost, Michael Che and Kent Sublette, making her the first female head writer since Sarah Schneider in Season 42.
• Besides a cameo appearance in the season premiere, Cecily Strong was absent for the first six episodes this season due to filming her Apple TV+ series Schmigadoon! and returned to the show for the December 5, 2020 episode, while Aidy Bryant appeared in the season premiere, then took a leave of absence to film her Hulu series Shrill. Both shows had their schedules delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Some milestones this season include:
  • Chris Rock is the fourth former cast member to host a season premiere after Chevy Chase (Season 8), Amy Poehler (Season 36) and Tina Fey (Season 39), as well as the first former African-American cast member to host a season premiere. Rock is also the first African-American celebrity to host a season premiere since LeBron James back in 2007.
  • On October 7, 2020, country singer Morgan Wallen, who was set to make his SNL debut on October 10 in the episode hosted by stand-up comedian, actor and writer Bill Burr, was dropped from the show after several videos surfaced that shows him not wearing a mask and partying at a crowded bar in Alabama, clearly violating the show's COVID-19 protocols. Jack White replaced Wallen as musical guest for the October 10th episode paying tribute to Eddie Van Halen on SNL while playing a special guitar. Wallen was rescheduled for the December 5th episode.
  • Adele made her SNL hosting debut on October 24, 2020, and her first public appearance since November 21, 2015.
  • On October 31, 2020, the Halloween episode, John Mulaney hosted for the 4th time with musical guest The Strokes. The last time Mulaney hosted SNL was on February 29, 2020, at which time he became the most frequent former SNL writer to host SNL, beating out Larry David twice.
    • The Strokes were supposed to perform as musical guests in April, but their original appearance was cancelled due to COVID-19 initially hitting.
    • The Strokes also came back to the show as the musical guest for their 4th appearance and the first time in almost 9 years. Their last appearance was on March 5, 2011, with host Miley Cyrus.
  • Dave Chappelle returned to host for the second time for the second post-election episode following the 2020 United States presidential election four years after his first hosting stint, which had also been a post-election episode following the 2016 United States presidential election.
    • Foo Fighters served as the musical guest for the episode, which marked their 8th appearance on the show. The last time Foo Fighters were the musical guests was on December 16, 2017, the ninth episode and the Christmas show of Season 43 with host Kevin Hart.
  • Jason Bateman made his second time hosting stint on December 5th, 2020, and his first appearance on the show in 15 years, 9 months and 23 days. He lasted hosted SNL was on February 12, 2005, the twelfth episode of Season 30 with musical guest Kelly Clarkson.
  • Former cast member Kristen Wiig hosted the Christmas show on December 19th, 2020, just seven months and 10 days after she hosted the season 45 finale. She is also the seventh former cast member to host a Christmas show, after Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Jimmy Fallon, Martin Short and Tina Fey & Amy Poehler.
    • The musical guest was Dua Lipa, who was supposed to perform on the previous season on March 28, 2020 (with host John Krasinski), but that appearance was scrapped after COVID emerged.
    • She also came back to the show as the musical guest for her 2nd appearance on the Christmas show. She previously made her musical guest debut was on February 2, 2018, the thirteenth episode of Season 43, hosted by actress Natalie Portman.
• This is the first and only season to have five consecutive shows, the first time this happened in this season.
  • Actor John Krasinski, who was supposed to host on the previous season on March 28, 2020, the sixteenth episode (with musical guest Dua Lipa), but it was postponed due to fears over the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic.
    • He also made his hosting debut on January 30, 2021, the first show of New Year 2021 with musical guest Machine Gun Kelly.
  • Schitt's Creek star Dan Levy hosting the 900th episode on February 6, 2021, with musical guest Phoebe Bridgers. His father Eugene Levy cameoed in the opening monologue.
  • Actress and former 227 star Regina King made her hosting debut on February 13, 2021, the thirteenth episode and Valentine's Day show, with musical guest Nathaniel Rateliff.
  • English actor Regé-Jean Page, star of Netflix's historical fiction-romance streaming television series Bridgerton made his hosting debut on February 20, 2021, with musical guest Bad Bunny.
  • Nick Jonas of Jonas Brothers returned to SNL to hosting for the first time and made his 2nd solo musical guest appearance, as well as his 4th musical guest stint on February 27, 2021.
    • His first appearance when he was on the pop rock band Jonas Brothers for their two musical guest appearances on the show. He also previously made his solo musical guest debut back on the April 16, 2016 episode, the eighteenth episode of Season 41, hosted by former Ebersol-era cast member Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
  • Longtime former cast member Maya Rudolph returned to Saturday Night Live to host for the 2nd time on March 27, 2021, with musical guest Jack Harlow and her first appearance in 9 years, 1 month and 9 days. The last time Rudolph hosted the show was on February 18, 2012, the fifteenth episode of Season 37, with musical guest Sleigh Bells.
  • Miley Cyrus returned to Saturday Night Live as the musical guest for her 6th appearance and marks her 10th appearance and she performed three songs: covers Cyrus' godmother Dolly Parton's song "Light of a Clear Blue Morning", "Without You" and "Plastic Hearts".
  • This is the first season since Season 32 to not have former cast member or returning celebrity guest to host a season finale. The last time was on May 19, 2007, which is the Season 32 finale, hosted by actor and Scrubs star Zach Braff with musical guest Maroon 5.
  • This is also the first season to have had 20 episodes in it, since Season 32, though this season had only 20 episodes, due to COVID concerns.

2021–2022 season[edit]

The 47th season of Saturday Night Live premiered on October 2, 2021 with host Owen Wilson and musical guest Kacey Musgraves,^[10] and concluded on May 21, 2022 with host Natasha Lyonne and musical guest Japanese Breakfast.

On September 27, 2021, five days before the season premiere, it was announced that Beck Bennett and Lauren Holt had both left the show. Bennett had been part of the cast since 2013, while Holt had been in for just Season 46. The rest of the cast from the previous season was retained. Three new featured players were added: actor/comedian and filmmaker Aristotle Athari, impressionist James Austin Johnson, and surrealist comedian Sarah Sherman.^[11] Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang, who had been with the cast since Season 45, were both promoted to repertory status, while Andrew Dismukes and Punkie Johnson, who joined the previous season, remained as featured players.^[12]

This was the final season for Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant, who both had been cast members since 2012, Kyle Mooney who had been a cast member since 2013, and Pete Davidson, who had been with the cast since 2014.^[13]

On September 1, 2022, it was announced that Melissa Villaseñor, Alex Moffat (both previously cast members since 2016) and Athari (who only lasted one season) would also not be returning for Season 48,^[14] and then on September 19, 2022, it was announced that Chris Redd (a cast member since 2017) was also exiting the show.^[15]

2022–2023 season[edit]

The 48th season of Saturday Night Live premiered on October 1, 2022, with host Miles Teller and musical guest Kendrick Lamar, and concluded on April 15, 2023, with host Ana de Armas and musical guest Karol G.^[16] The season was originally set to conclude on May 20, 2023 with a planned episode hosted by Jennifer Coolidge with musical guest Foo Fighters, but it was cut short due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.^[17][18]

Before the start of the season, eight cast members (Aristotle Athari, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd, Melissa Villaseñor) had all left the show, making this the second time since the end of season 20 (1994-1995 season) that a large group of cast members have quit or were let go before the start of the season. In addition, executive producer Lorne Michaels called this season a "transition year", and revealed that four new cast members will be joining the show this season.^[19] Three days later, those four cast members were announced as Marcello Hernandez (the show's first Cuban and Dominican cast member, and the third overall to have Latino/Hispanic heritage, joining Horatio Sanz and Fred Armisen), Molly Kearney (the show's first non-binary cast member and the eighth cast member to be on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, joining Denny Dillon, Terry Sweeney, Danitra Vance, John Milhiser, Kate McKinnon, Bowen Yang, and Punkie Johnson), Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker.^[20] Andrew Dismukes and Punkie Johnson, who had been cast members since 2020, were promoted to repertory players, while James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman, who joined the previous season, remained as featured players. Cecily Strong was absent from the first three episodes of the season due to her commitments to the Los Angeles revival of The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, and returned for the October 29, 2022 episode.^[21][22] Strong would later leave the show in December, with her final episode being the Christmas midpoint episode hosted by Austin Butler.

2023–2024 season[edit]

The forty-ninth season of Saturday Night Live premiered on October 14, 2023, with host Pete Davidson and musical guest Ice Spice.^[23] While the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike ended two weeks before, the SAG-AFTRA strike was still ongoing, though SNL and other late-night talk shows were given permission to resume production by SAG-AFRTA.

Cast[edit]

On October 4, 2023, Chloe Troast was announced as a featured cast member.^[24] The rest of the cast from the previous season returned,^[23] with featured cast members James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman, who have been cast members since 2021, being promoted to repertory status, while Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker, who all joined the previous season, remained as featured players.^[25] For the first time since Rob Smigel ran his "TV Funhouse" animated segments, SNL's opening now mentions another pretaped recurring segment: the "Please Don't Destroy" short films created by Martin Herlihy, Ben Marshall, and John Higgins.

Cast roster[edit]

bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

References[edit]