History of Saturday Night Live (2015–present)

This article is about the most recent history of Saturday Night Live from 2015 through 2020.

2015–2016 season

The 2015-2016 season of Saturday Night Live began on October 3, 2015 with host and musical guest Miley Cyrus.

Opening montage

The previous season's opening montage returns, but without the special SNL 40 logo. Darrell Hammond returns as the show's announcer. Repertory players are announced first, followed by featured players, the musical guest, and the host.

Bumper format

Various old bumper formats return. Each host has several bumper shots on a solid color faded background, where their image may be repeated or given other various picture effects. Each host also has one or two photos of him or her in costume around NBC Studios. The musical guest for each episode has two bumper photos on solid colored backgrounds.

Cast

The season has a cast of 16 members, including five African American cast members (the most to ever be in the cast at once). As in previous seasons, the cast is separated into a most established repertory company, and a newer featured company. Jon Rudnitsky was the only new addition to the cast prior to the season premiere. Four cast members were upgraded from featured to repertory.

Notes

• The season premiere featured a cameo appearance by presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, in a sketch called Bar Talk. Kate McKinnon appeared in the sketch as Hillary Clinton, while Clinton portrayed a bartender named Val. Darrell Hammond reprised his long-running role as Bill Clinton for the sketch.
• The third episode, hosted by Tracy Morgan, was the comedian's first large comedy appearance since suffering head injuries from a near fatal car crash.^[1]
  • In the cold open, parodying the Democratic primary debate, Alec Baldwin appeared as Jim Webb, an at-the-time candidate. Larry David appeared as Bernie Sanders. McKinnon reprised her role as Hillary Clinton, while Jon Rudnitsky, Taran Killam, and Kyle Mooney portrayed Anderson Cooper, Martin O'Malley, and Lincoln Chafee, respectively.
  • In the monologue, Morgan appeared alongside former 30 Rock castmates Tina Fey, Jane Krakowski, and Jack McBrayer, as well as Baldwin.
  • Tina Fey also appeared as a correspondent during Weekend Update, her first appearance at the desk since the departure of long-running anchor and friend Seth Meyers.
• The announcement of Donald Trump returning to host on the fourth episode drew controversy for several reasons:
  • Hispanic and Latino organizations called for Trump to be removed as host due to controversial comments he had made regarding immigration. An online petition was formed requesting his removal.^[2]
  • Trump's hosting was filled with the Federal Communications Commission in regards to the equal-time rule. Although no candidate has ever requested an appearance on Saturday Night Live due to equal-time, concerns were raised over whether SNL qualified for an exception to the rule as a live entertainment program.^[3]
  • After the episode with Donald Trump hosting was aired, it quickly drew criticism for not being very humorous, largely due to the fact of Trump being cautious about offending voters in Iowa.
• The Elizabeth Banks episode featured no comedic cold open; rather, cast member Cecily Strong issued a solemn address to the city of Paris, as the episode aired the day after the November 2015 Paris attacks, offering condolences in English and French.^[4]
• Amy Poehler and Tina Fey co-hosted the season's December 17 episode, marking the first time an episode has featured multiple hosts since 2004 (the season 29 episode hosted by Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson),^[5] as well as the first time two female cast members have hosted, and the first time since season 12's Christmas episode hosted by Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short that two former cast members have hosted.
• Larry David hosting on February 6, 2016 marks the first time a cast member from the early 1980s sketch show Fridays hosts Saturday Night Live, as well as the first time since season 26 that a former SNL writer who was never a cast member has hosted (Conan O'Brien was an SNL writer from 1988-1991 and hosted in 2001).
• Following the death of Prince (who had been a musical guest on the show in 1981, 2006, and 2014 and performed during SNL's 15th anniversary special) in April 2016, a planned rerun of the episode hosted by Peter Dinklage was replaced with a retrospective hosted by Jimmy Fallon called Goodnight, Sweet Prince, showing Prince's musical performances (including a never-before-seen-on-TV one from the show's 40th anniversary special and three The Prince Show sketches: one from the season 30 episode with Queen Latifah as host and musical guest, another from the season 31 episode with Steve Martin as host (and Prince returning as musical guest for the first time since the 15th anniversary special in 1990), and one from the season 32 episode hosted by Shia LaBoeuf.
• Tina Fey and Amy Poehler received a historic co-nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a comedy for their roles as co-host of the Christmas episode, which they ultimately won.^[6]

Problems with Election Coverage

As usual during election seasons, SNL has placed particular emphasis on the 2016 presidential election. Given the unusually large field of candidates, some impressions of candidates shift or have shifted based on who remains in the race.

On the Democratic side, Kate McKinnon is the show's current Hillary Clinton. McKinnon debuted as Clinton in Season 40, Episode 15 (though she previously portrayed an actress portraying Clinton).^[7] While they remained in the race, cast members Taran Killam and Kyle Mooney portrayed Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee, respectively, both debuting in Season 41, Episode 3. Former candidate Jim Webb was portrayed by Alec Baldwin, also debuting in the aforementioned episode. Larry David has made recurring appearances to portray Bernie Sanders.

There was media speculation as to who would play whom for the upcoming election prior to the season.^[8] The casting was made problematic by the fact that many of the candidates were played by the same impressionists prior to the election. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul had all been portrayed by Taran Killam. Chris Christie was portrayed by Bobby Moynihan, who had also played Cruz. Mike Huckabee and Jeb Bush were both portrayed by Beck Bennett. Additionally, Pete Davidson and Colin Jost were not considered by speculators to be generally desired for the job, since neither was an impressionist. Carly Fiorina had been portrayed by Kate McKinnon on one occasion, while Ben Carson was portrayed by Kenan Thompson. No one on the current cast had portrayed John Kasich.

More issues further complicated the matter. Just prior to the start of the season, SNL announced that Killam would be portraying Donald Trump for the upcoming election.^[9] This meant that Killam would be portraying four of the candidates in the main Republican race. SNL ultimately was forced to wait until their ninth episode to tackle a Republican debate, when the field was sufficiently narrowed.

For the December 19 episode, the first to feature a debate, several impressions were ultimately moved permanently to new cast members. Jimmy Fallon was initially offered the role of Trump on a recurring cameo basis, but a last minute change resulted in announcer Darrell Hammond portraying him as he had done for fourteen seasons in the cast.^[10] Killam ultimately portrayed Cruz, while Moynihan portrayed Christie. Rubio was played by Davidson, Bush by Bennett, and Paul by Kyle Mooney. Cecily Strong and Jay Pharoah portrayed Fiorina and Carson, respectively, while Colin Jost acted as a stand-in for Kasich, with no lines. Rudnitsky portrayed debate moderator Wolf Blitzer.^[11]

The following episode, on January 16, featured another debate, with a slightly smaller Republican field. Carly Fiorina had been demoted to the earlier undercard debate, and while Paul and Kasich remained on the mainstage, SNL chose not to include them in the sketch. Trump, Cruz, Christie, Rubio, Bush, and Carson were all portrayed by the same people that portrayed them in the earlier episode.^[12]

Despite Hammond's acclaimed impression, speculation remained as to whether he was playing the role because he was needed (as Killam was playing Cruz), or because his impression was superior.^[13] The show ultimately confirmed that Hammond was going to be portraying Trump indefinitely; the following week, he appeared alongside Tina Fey's Sarah Palin in a sketch without Killam, confirming that he would continue to play Trump even if Killam was available (for the time being).^[14] Killam, in turn, was confirmed as the show's indefinite Cruz, in a sketch where he portrayed him when Moynihan was not present.^[15]

2016-2017 season

Season 42 was indirectly confirmed via advertising plans from NBC's sales division. The announcement revealed that the program will contain 30% less advertisement time in the coming season.^[16] Additionally, select NBC advertising clients will be given the opportunity to have their brand appear in promotional sketches, called "pods". Six of these pods will air each season.

2016-2017 Cast

As far as cast changes go, on June 24, 2016, Lorne Michaels announced that Michael Che and Colin Jost would continue as the anchors of Weekend Update.^[17] Both were featured on SNL special editions of Weekend Update for the Democratic and Republican Conventions.

In the meantime, Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah (both cast members since 2010) were let go from the cast.^[18] Killam, despite having signed a seven-year contract that would have taken him to the end of season 42, was dropped from the cast in part due to issues concerning his work directing the film Why We're Killing Gunther, which would have limited his time on SNL.^[19] Additionally, it was also announced that Jon Rudnitsky, who joined the cast in 2015, would not be returning for a second season.^[20]

In a news article on Ew!, the return of the remainder of the cast was confirmed.^[21]

It was later reported that Mikey Day, SNL writer, Robot Chicken writer, and Maya & Marty cast member, would be joining the cast along with Chris Redd.^[22] However, news of Chris Redd being the show's latest cast member was proven to be false. The newest cast members joining Mikey Day are Alex Moffat and Melissa Villaseñor. Villaseñor is now the second female Hispanic cast member hired (after Noel Wells from season 39) and the fourth Hispanic cast member overall (joining Horatio Sanz, Fred Armisen, and Wells) and with her addition, this season is the second with seven women in the cast after Season 39 (2013-2014).

It was also announced that Michael Che, Pete Davidson, and Leslie Jones would all be upgraded from featured to repertory status.^[23]

The above-named changes kept the cast membership for this season at 16 members, with four African-American cast members and one Hispanic cast member. As in previous seasons, the cast is listed in two separate groups: repertory and featured players.

Election coverage

On September 28th, SNL announced that while Kate McKinnon would return as Hillary Clinton for its parodies of the 2016 presidential election, Alec Baldwin would play the role of Donald Trump, replacing Darrell Hammond, who continues as the show's announcer.^[24]

Future seasons

Although NBC has not officially renewed Saturday Night Live for a 43rd season at this time, SNL, largely considered to be a cultural icon, is considered continually renewed by NBC until further notice.

References