| Saturday Night Live | |
|---|---|
| Season 29 | |
 | |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | October 4, 2003 – May 15, 2004 |
| Season chronology | |
The twenty-ninth season of Saturday Night Live , an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 4, 2003, and May 15, 2004.
This season marked the debut of a brand new stage for the host's monologue and the musical guest performing stage. Instead of the wrought-iron fire escape motif with the blinking "ON AIR" light, the stages are now modeled after Grand Central Terminal (right down to the spherical clock). [1]
Before the start of the season, longtime cast members Chris Kattan [2] and Tracy Morgan, [3] who had both been on the show since 1996, departed the show on their own terms, and Dean Edwards, who had been a featured player since 2001, was let go following the finale. Despite Kattan and Morgan's departures, the two would make guest appearances in several episodes throughout the season and Morgan would later host in 2009 and 2015.
Before the season started, Will Forte, Seth Meyers, and Jeff Richards were all promoted to repertory status, while Fred Armisen remained a featured player.
The show added two new African-American cast members: stand-up comedian Finesse Mitchell and Kenan Thompson, a former child star from the Nickelodeon comedy shows All That and Kenan & Kel . [4] [1] Thompson became the first SNL cast member to be born after the show's premiere in 1975 (Thompson was born in 1978). Thompson eventually became the longest-tenured cast member in the show’s history.
This was the final season for both Jeff Richards [5] and Jimmy Fallon (who decided to leave the show after the final episode). [6] In an interview at the time, Richards said he left to branch out into other projects, [7] though he later mentioned that his substance abuse was a factor. [8]
Repertory players
| Featured players |
bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor
Future cast member Jason Sudeikis and stand-up comedian J.B. Smoove were hired as writers this season. [9] [10]
John Lutz and Liz Cackowski are hired midway through the season, starting with the Megan Mullally-hosted episode. [11]
This was the final season for longtime writers Michael Schur (who had been a writer since 1998) and Dennis McNicholas (who had been a writer since 1995; and became head writer back in 2001). [12]
Schur left the writing staff after 6½ years, while McNicholas left after nine years with the show, and 3½ as head writer, but returned to producer Weekend Update, 10 years later in 2014.
| No. overall | No. in season | Host(s) | Musical guest(s) | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 546 | 1 | Jack Black | John Mayer | October 4, 2003 | |
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| 547 | 2 | Justin Timberlake | Justin Timberlake | October 11, 2003 | |
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| 548 | 3 | Halle Berry | Britney Spears | October 18, 2003 | |
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| 549 | 4 | Kelly Ripa | Outkast | November 1, 2003 | |
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| 550 | 5 | Andy Roddick | Dave Matthews & Friends | November 8, 2003 | |
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| 551 | 6 | Alec Baldwin | Missy Elliott | November 15, 2003 | |
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| 552 | 7 | Al Sharpton | Pink | December 6, 2003 | |
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| 553 | 8 | Elijah Wood | Jet | December 13, 2003 | |
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| 554 | 9 | Jennifer Aniston | The Black Eyed Peas | January 10, 2004 | |
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| 555 | 10 | Jessica Simpson Nick Lachey | G-Unit | January 17, 2004 | |
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| 556 | 11 | Megan Mullally | Clay Aiken | February 7, 2004 | |
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| 557 | 12 | Drew Barrymore | Kelis | February 14, 2004 | |
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| 558 | 13 | Christina Aguilera | Maroon 5 | February 21, 2004 | |
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| 559 | 14 | Colin Firth | Norah Jones | March 6, 2004 | |
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| 560 | 15 | Ben Affleck | N*E*R*D | March 13, 2004 | |
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| 561 | 16 | Donald Trump | Toots & the Maytals featuring Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Bootsy Collins, and The Roots | April 3, 2004 | |
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| 562 | 17 | Janet Jackson | Janet Jackson | April 10, 2004 | |
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| 563 | 18 | Lindsay Lohan | Usher | May 1, 2004 | |
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| 564 | 19 | Snoop Dogg | Avril Lavigne | May 8, 2004 | |
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| 565 | 20 | Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen | J-Kwon | May 15, 2004 | |
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| Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|
| "The Best of Chris Kattan" | September 27, 2003 | |
Sketches included "The Roxbury Guys," "Mango," "Defense Attorney Suel," "The How Do You Say? Ah Yes, Show," "Mr. Peppers in the Lab," "Auditions for Bon Jovi," "America Undercover," "The Rialto Grande," "Goth Talk," "Sparks," "Oprah," "Larry King's Wedding Reception," "E! Impeachment Coverage," "Loaded-Musical Performance," "Emmy Awards Pre-Show," "Shopping at Home Network," "Siamese Twin Dates," and some "Weekend Update" clips. | ||
| "The Best of Tracy Morgan" | October 25, 2003 | |
Sketches include "Wong & Owen, Ex-Porn Stars," "Brian Fellow's Safari Planet," "Pimp Chat," "Woodrow," "The View," "Uncle Jemima's Down House Mash Liquor," "Tracy Confronts Garth," "Astronaut Jones," "Talkin' to the Stars," "Hardball," "Big Bernard," "At the Movies," "Christmas Eve Drinks," "Channel 5 Late Night Movie," and a Weekend Update clips. | ||
| "The Best of Will Ferrell, Volume 2" | December 20, 2003 | |
A second compilation of sketches featuring Will Ferrell. | ||
| "The Best of Christopher Walken" | May 22, 2004 | |
Sketches include "The Continental" (on the TV airing, the "Continental" sketch that aired was the one from season 18; the DVD version also includes the one from season 25 and a dress rehearsal version of the one from season 28 shown picture-in-picture style under the title, "The Making of The Continental"), "Ed Glosser Trivial Psychic", "Rita Snowed In", "Behind the Music: Blue Oyster Cult", "Leon Loves Mango", "Hardball", "Pranksters", "The Bad Raft Captain" (DVD version only), "Colonel Angus" and "Christopher Walken at the 25th Anniversary Special". The DVD version includes two dress rehearsal sketches: "The Black Guardian Angel" (from season 25) and a movie trailer parody called Fonzie (from season 26). | ||
Christopher Lee Kattan is an American actor and comedian. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Kattan found wider success during his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2003. He also played Doug Butabi in A Night at the Roxbury, Bob on the first five seasons of The Middle, and Bunnicula in Bunnicula. He's also known for playing the main antagonist Mr. Feather in Undercover Brother (2002).
Kenan Thompson is an American comedian and actor. He has been a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. He was also the first regular cast member born after the show's premiere in 1975. Outside of SNL, Thompson starred on NBC's sitcom Kenan from 2021 to 2022.
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. 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 is 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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Jeffrey Hanson Richards is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He was the first person to be a cast member on both FOX's MADtv and its rival sketch show, NBC's Saturday Night Live, appearing on the former in 2000, and the latter from 2001 to 2004. He is perhaps best known for his frequent SNL character "Drunk Girl".
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