| Saturday Night Live | |
|---|---|
| Season 13 | |
 | |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | October 17, 1987 – February 27, 1988 |
| Season chronology | |
The thirteenth season of Saturday Night Live , an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 17, 1987 and February 27, 1988. Although the changes to the cast and writers were minimal, the season was cut short due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike.
During a dress rehearsal for the season premiere, a fire broke out near Studio 8H and was planned to be postponed. However, episode host Steve Martin pushed the cast to carry on with the show, making the Steve Martin/Sting episode the only episode without a dress rehearsal. [1]
On March 7, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. The strike continued until August, thus cutting the season short at 13 episodes. [2]
Repertory players | Featured players |
bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
New hires this season were Greg Daniels, Conan O'Brien and Bob Odenkirk. [3]
The writers for this season included A. Whitney Brown, Tom Davis, Greg Daniels, Jim Downey, Al Franken, Jack Handey, Phil Hartman, George Meyer, Lorne Michaels, Conan O'Brien, Bob Odenkirk, Herb Sargent, David Borowitz, Rosie Shuster, Robert Smigel, Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, and Christine Zander. The head writer, like the previous season, was Jim Downey.
| No. overall | No. in season | Host | Musical guest(s) | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 234 | 1 | Steve Martin | Sting | October 17, 1987 | |
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| 235 | 2 | Sean Penn | LL Cool J Michael Penn | October 24, 1987 | |
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| 236 | 3 | Dabney Coleman | The Cars | October 31, 1987 | |
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| 237 | 4 | Robert Mitchum | Simply Red | November 14, 1987 | |
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| 238 | 5 | Candice Bergen | Cher | November 21, 1987 | |
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| 239 | 6 | Danny DeVito | Bryan Ferry | December 5, 1987 | |
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| 240 | 7 | Angie Dickinson | Buster Poindexter David Gilmour | December 12, 1987 | |
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| 241 | 8 | Paul Simon | Linda Ronstadt | December 19, 1987 | |
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| 242 | 9 | Robin Williams | James Taylor | January 23, 1988 | |
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| 243 | 10 | Carl Weathers | Robbie Robertson | January 30, 1988 | |
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| 244 | 11 | Justine Bateman | Terence Trent D'Arby | February 13, 1988 | |
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| 245 | 12 | Tom Hanks | Randy Travis | February 20, 1988 | |
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| 246 | 13 | Judge Reinhold | 10,000 Maniacs | February 27, 1988 | |
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| Airdate | Host | Musical Guest | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 14, 1988 | Gilda Radner | U2 | A planned episode with original cast member Gilda Radner as host was cancelled due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America Strike. [2] Radner would never get another chance to host, due to her death in 1989. This episode would have marked the first time a female cast member came back to host, a milestone that wasn't reached until Julia Louis-Dreyfus hosted on May 13, 2006. U2 would perform on the show on December 9, 2000. |
Saturday Night Live (SNL) is an American late-night live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and streams on Peacock. Michaels currently serves as the program's showrunner. The show's premiere was hosted by George Carlin on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC's Saturday Night. The show's comedy sketches, which often parody contemporary American culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers the opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, with featured performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that was usually based on political events and ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", properly beginning the show.
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