The twenty-second season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 28, 1996, and May 17, 1997.
This season is notable for the host selection. Seven of the 20 hosts were former cast members. They included Dana Carvey, Robert Downey Jr. (the second of three season 11 cast members to come back and host the show joining Damon Wayans [who hosted during the show's 20th season] and, later in season 23, Jon Lovitz), Phil Hartman, Chris Rock, Martin Short (who hosted before with Steve Martin and Chevy Chase on the show's 12th season, and the only cast member out of the seven to not have worked under Lorne Michaels, as Short was a Dick Ebersol cast member), Chase and Mike Myers. This would mark Chase's final time hosting before getting banned[1] (returning much later for numerous guest appearances).
Cast
Many changes happened before the start of the season. David Koechner and Nancy Walls were both let go after one season, and longtime cast member David Spade, who had been with the cast for six seasons since 1990, left the show on his own terms.[2]
Comedian and singer Ana Gasteyer and stand-up comedian Tracy Morgan were hired to replace Koechner and Walls,[3] being promoted to repertory status when hired.
This was the final season for Mark McKinney, who had been on the show for three seasons since 1995.[4] Wolf also left his position as featured player and co-head writer after the season's first three episodes.[5] Overall, Wolf had been on the show as a writer and featured player for six seasons since 1992. This was also the final season to show the Dolby Surround and NBC logos during the opening montage.[6]
Adam McKay, who had joined the writing staff at the start the previous season in season 21, became head writer alongside Tim Herlihy.[7] While Steve Higgins (who was also promoted to producer) and Fred Wolf remained on the writing staff. Robert Carlock and Stephen Colbert[8] joined the writing staff for this season.
Additionally, former writer Robert Smigel (who previously wrote for the show from 1985 to 1993) returned to the writing staff to produce the "TV Funhouse" cartoons.[9]
Wolf (who joined the writing staff in 1993) left the show after the Bill Pulman-hosted episode after about three calendar years.[10]
This was Norm Hiscock's final season as a writer. Hiscock (joining the writing staff in 1994) departed from the series after three seasons.[11] Hiscock was one of the few writers who survived the writer/cast overhaul after season 20 in 1995.
Dana Carvey makes a guest appearance, most notably as George H. W. Bush, who tells Norm Macdonald's Bob Dole to give up hope on the 1996 election. Carvey also appeared as Charles Grodin in a parody of "The Charles Grodin Show".
Cameo by Abe Vigoda in "The Charles Grodin Show" skit
Show writer Stephen Colbert appears in the Excedril commercial parody.
Chevy Chase makes a cameo appearance during a sketch featuring Short's Ed Grimley character.
First appearance of the Celebrity Jeopardy! sketch. The episode re-aired in November 2020 following the passing of Alex Trebek, with a clip of Trebek in a Celebrity Jeopardy! sketch from a future season following the original sketch
Whitney Houston performs "I Believe in You and Me" and "I Go to the Rock" with Georgia Mass Choir. She also appears in the monologue where she performs "I Got You Babe" with O'Donnell and Penny Marshall and in the Mary Katherine Gallagher sketch where she performs "Sleigh Ride" with Gallagher.
Director/Actress Penny Marshall, then O'Donnell's co-star in Kmart TV commercials, appears during the monologue, in a Mary Katherine Gallagher sketch, and in a Rita DelVecchio sketch.
Monty Python cast members John Cleese and Michael Palin have cameos, appearing in the cold opening as well as in select sketches. (In the "Marijuana Doctor" sketch, Palin announces that he is "the star of TV's Home Improvement, Tim Allen".) Cleese and Palin also perform their classic "Dead Parrot" sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
David Spade makes guest appearances during the monologue and as Woody Allen on 20/20 sketch. He also performs "The Hollywood Minute" during Weekend Update.
During Weekend Update, Norm MacDonald coughs during one of the stories and says "The fuck was that?" He quickly laughs it off and jokes "My farewell performance." When he signs off at the end of Weekend Update, he says "Maybe I'll see you next week."
Mike Myers makes a guest appearance as Ron Wood in a sketch featuring Chris Kattan's gibberish speaking "Suel Forrester" character as a talk-show host.
