| Saturday Night Live | |
|---|---|
| Season 31 | |
 | |
| No. of episodes | 19 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | October 1, 2005 – May 20, 2006 |
| Season chronology | |
The thirty-first season of Saturday Night Live , an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 1, 2005, and May 20, 2006. 19 episodes were produced (rather than the usual 20) due to the 2006 Winter Olympic Games [1] and network budget cuts. [2]
This season is notable for the people who hosted the show. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, an SNL cast member from 1982 to 1985 under Dick Ebersol, became the first former female cast member to come back and host the show (and also the third cast member from Seinfeld to host). [3] Gilda Radner was originally supposed to host in 1988, but could not due to the Writers Guild of America strike and then Radner's death the following year. [4] This season is also known for the return of such frequent hosts as Alec Baldwin (who last hosted in season 29 with musical guest Missy Elliott in 2003), Tom Hanks (who last hosted the first episode of season 22 with musical guest Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1996), and Steve Martin (who last hosted the first episode of season 20 with musical guest Eric Clapton in 1994).
This season saw the seventh death of a former cast member, Charles Rocket (a cast member during the notoriously lackluster 1980–1981 season), who committed suicide six days after the premiere. Rocket's suicide is the first death of an SNL cast member who never worked under Lorne Michaels and is the first death of a Weekend Update anchor until Norm Macdonald in 2021. [5]
This season was the first to broadcast in high-definition (HD), after 30 years of broadcasting in standard definition. [6]
Before the start of the season, featured player Rob Riggle was let go from the show after one season. Finesse Mitchell and Kenan Thompson were both promoted to repertory status, while Jason Sudeikis remained a featured player. [7]
The show added three new cast members: Los Angeles-based improviser Bill Hader, Andy Samberg (the show also hired his two friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone as writers, all members of The Lonely Island sketch group) and Kristen Wiig of The Groundlings. [8] Wiig debuted on the show in November, in the episode hosted by Jason Lee. Samberg, Schaffer, and Taccone would be a notable force for creating SNL Digital Shorts. One such short was "Lazy Sunday". [8]
Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph missed episodes due to maternity leave. Fey's place on Weekend Update was briefly taken over by Horatio Sanz until her return in the episode hosted by Catherine Zeta-Jones. [9] Fey returned to the show before her maternity leave time was up. Rudolph, however, appeared on the first episode of the new season, and then went on maternity leave and returned in February, in the episode hosted by Steve Martin. [10]
This would be the final season for Fey, Rachel Dratch, Mitchell, Chris Parnell, and Sanz, as well as the last for longtime director Beth McCarthy-Miller. Dratch and Fey both left the show to focus on 30 Rock . [11] McCarthy-Miller left on her own terms and was replaced by Don Roy King. [11] Parnell, Sanz, and Mitchell were let go due to NBC budget cuts. [11] [2] [12]
Repertory players | Featured players
|
bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
There were three head writers for the 31st season: Harper Steele, [13] Tina Fey, and Seth Meyers.
Meyers (who had been a cast member since 2001) was initially named as the sole writing supervisor at the start of the season, [14] and was named as co-head writer with the Scarlett Johansson-hosted episode. [15]
Future cast member Colin Jost joined the writing staff this season. As do Samberg's Lonely Island cohorts Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, as well as current Senior Writer Bryan Tucker. [14]
Paula Pell returned to the show mid-season, after leaving at the end of the previous season, due to her sitcom Thick and Thin failing. [16]
Longtime writer Jim Downey skipped this season, but would return with the next season. [14]
Lastly, in addition to Fey (who had been a writer for nine years since 1997 and head writer since 1999), this was also the final season for fellow writers T. Sean Shannon (a writer for eight years since 1998), Frank Sebastiano (a writer overall for 8½ accumulative years from 1995-1998; and had been back since 2001), J.B. Smoove (who joined the writing staff in 2003, and departed after three seasons), and Liz Cackowski (who joined the writing staff in 2004, and departed after 2½ years). [17] It is unknown if Shannon, Sebastiano, Smoove, and/or Cackowski left on their own, or if they were let go due to the budget cuts.
| No. overall | No. in season | Host | Musical guest | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 586 | 1 | Steve Carell | Kanye West | October 1, 2005 | |
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| 587 | 2 | Jon Heder | Ashlee Simpson | October 8, 2005 | |
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| 588 | 3 | Catherine Zeta-Jones | Franz Ferdinand | October 22, 2005 | |
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| 589 | 4 | Lance Armstrong | Sheryl Crow | October 29, 2005 | |
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| 590 | 5 | Jason Lee | Foo Fighters | November 12, 2005 | |
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| 591 | 6 | Eva Longoria | Korn | November 19, 2005 | |
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| 592 | 7 | Dane Cook | James Blunt | December 3, 2005 | |
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| 593 | 8 | Alec Baldwin | Shakira | December 10, 2005 | |
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| 594 | 9 | Jack Black | Neil Young | December 17, 2005 | |
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| 595 | 10 | Scarlett Johansson | Death Cab for Cutie | January 14, 2006 | |
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| 596 | 11 | Peter Sarsgaard | The Strokes | January 21, 2006 | |
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| 597 | 12 | Steve Martin | Prince | February 4, 2006 | |
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| 598 | 13 | Natalie Portman | Fall Out Boy | March 4, 2006 | |
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| 599 | 14 | Matt Dillon | Arctic Monkeys | March 11, 2006 | |
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| 600 | 15 | Antonio Banderas | Mary J. Blige | April 8, 2006 | |
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| 601 | 16 | Lindsay Lohan | Pearl Jam | April 15, 2006 | |
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| 602 | 17 | Tom Hanks | Red Hot Chili Peppers | May 6, 2006 | |
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| 603 | 18 | Julia Louis-Dreyfus | Paul Simon | May 13, 2006 | |
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| 604 | 19 | Kevin Spacey | Nelly Furtado | May 20, 2006 | |
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| Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|
| "The Best of David Spade" | October 15, 2005 | |
The special presented material featuring David Spade during his stint on the show. Sketches include "Dick Clark's Receptionist", "Gap Girls", "Total Bastard Airlines", "Spade in America", "Stewart Release", "Salon", "Stunt Double", Sean Penn's Celebrity Roast", "Peer Pressure at Valley High", "Dirtball and Burnout Convention", "Karl's Video", "NCI Long Distance", "The Road to Self-Improvement", and "Hollywood Minute". | ||
| "The Best of SNL Commercial Parodies" | November 5, 2005 | |
The special presented commercial parodies featured on the show. | ||
| "Lost & Found: SNL in the '80s" | November 13, 2005 | |
Topics of the special include: the Jean Doumanian era as one of SNL's many critical and ratings low points, the cancellation, retooling, and reviving of SNL courtesy of Dick Ebersol and Doumanian-era stand-outs Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo, Murphy and Piscopo emerging as the driving force behind Ebersol's 1981-1984 seasons, Ebersol picking a new cast for season 10 after the departure of Murphy and Piscopo, Lorne Michaels returning to the show and hiring a young cast of semi-famous actors and actresses and the harsh critical response from that decision leading to yet another threat of cancellation, and the second golden age of SNL with season 11 survivors Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, A. Whitney Brown, and Dennis Miller and new cast members Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Victoria Jackson, Jan Hooks, Kevin Nealon, and Mike Myers. James Belushi, A. Whitney Brown, Dana Carvey, Billy Crystal, Denny Dillon, Robin Duke, Nora Dunn, Dick Ebersol, Al Franken, Gilbert Gottfried, Mary Gross, Victoria Jackson, Tim Kazurinsky, Gary Kroeger, Neil Levy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Lovitz, Gail Matthius, Lorne Michaels, Kevin Nealon, Conan O'Brien, Joe Piscopo, Martin Short, Robert Smigel, Terry Sweeney and Bob Tischler gave insight for the special. | ||
| "The Best of TV Funhouse" | April 29, 2006 | |
The special presented TV Funhouse material featured on the show. The special was hosted by The Ambiguously Gay Duo, Ace and Gary. Jimmy Fallon cameos near the end of the show. Sketches include "The Ambiguously Gay Duo", "The All-New Adventures of Mr. T", "Fun With Real Audio", "E! Cartoons' The Smurfette Show", "The X-Presidents", "The Religetables" (DVD version only) and "Conspiracy Theory Rock" (DVD version only). | ||
Rachel Susan Dratch is an American actress and comedian. After she graduated from Dartmouth College, she moved to Chicago to study improvisational theatre at The Second City and ImprovOlympic. Dratch's breakthrough role was her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1999 to 2006. During her time on SNL, she portrayed a variety of roles including Debbie Downer. She has since occasionally returned to SNL as a guest portraying Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Thomas Christopher Parnell is an American actor and comedian. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Parnell found wider success during his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2006. After leaving SNL, he played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013). Parnell is also a prominent voice actor known for his deep and distinctive voice. In animation, he voices the narrator on the PBS Kids series WordGirl (2007–2015), Cyril Figgis on the FX series Archer (2009–2023), Jerry Smith on Adult Swim's Rick and Morty (2013–present), and Doug on Fox's Family Guy (2019–2022). His work also extends into commercials, having voiced the Hamburger Helper mascot “Lefty”, appeared in advertisements as “America’s Dad” for Orbit Gum, and is most known for voicing "The Progressive Box" in a series of advertisements by the Progressive Corporation.
The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program Saturday Night Live (SNL).
Andy Samberg is an American actor, comedian, musician, writer and producer. He is a member of the comedy music group the Lonely Island, along with childhood friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. Samberg was also a cast member and writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2012, where he and his fellow group members are credited with popularizing the SNL Digital Shorts.
Incredibad is the debut studio album of the American comedy troupe The Lonely Island, released on February 10, 2009, through Universal Republic Records. Composed of writers and childhood best friends Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, the album consists of hip hop-inspired comedy songs and skits with a satirical slant on traditional hip hop culture.
Jorma Christopher Taccone is an American writer, producer, director, comedian, actor, and musician. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island with his childhood friends Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer. In 2010, Taccone co-wrote and directed the SNL spinoff film MacGruber, which was his directorial debut. He directed his second feature alongside Schaffer, the musical comedy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, which he also co-wrote and co-starred in with Schaffer and Samberg.
"Lazy Sunday" is a single and short film by American comedy troupe The Lonely Island. It was released on December 17, 2005, when it premiered on episode nine, season 31 of Saturday Night Live as the troupe's second Digital Short. Primarily performed by Andy Samberg and fellow cast member Chris Parnell, the song and accompanying music video follow the two comedians as they eat cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery, buy snacks at a convenience store, and smuggle the food into a Sunday afternoon matinee of The Chronicles of Narnia.
Akiva Daniel Shebar Schaffer is an American writer, producer, director, comedian, actor, and musician. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island, along with childhood friends Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone. Schaffer began his career with The Lonely Island making videos for Channel 101. In 2005, Saturday Night Live hired the trio, with Schaffer joining as a writer. In their time at SNL, The Lonely Island pioneered the digital short format, creating popular sketches such as "Lazy Sunday", "I Just Had Sex", "I'm on a Boat", and "Dick in a Box". After SNL, Schaffer went on to direct movies including Hot Rod, The Watch, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. The Lonely Island has made albums such as Incredibad, Turtleneck & Chain, and The Wack Album. Schaffer also produced a number of TV shows and movies, including MacGruber, PEN15, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, and Palm Springs.
"Tracy Does Conan" is the seventh episode of NBC's first season of 30 Rock. It was written by the series' creator and executive producer, Tina Fey and it was directed by one of the season's supervising producers, Adam Bernstein. It first aired on December 7, 2006, in the United States and November 29, 2007, in the United Kingdom. Guest stars in the episode included Katrina Bowden, Kevin Brown, Grizz Chapman, Rachel Dratch, Dave Finkel, Maulik Pancholy, Chris Parnell, Aubrey Plaza, Keith Powell, and Dean Winters. Conan O'Brien appeared as himself in this episode. The episode marks the first appearance of Chris Parnell as recurring character, Dr. Leo Spaceman.
The thirty-second season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 30, 2006, and May 19, 2007.
The thirty-third season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 29, 2007, and May 17, 2008. Due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, there were only 12 episodes produced in this season instead of the usual 20, making this the shortest season in the series run and beating out both the sixth (1980–1981) season and the thirteenth (1987–1988) season, which had thirteen episodes each and were also cut short due to WGA strikes. This is also the only season in SNL history not to have a new Christmas episode, since the WGA strike spanned from November 2007 to February 2008.
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.
The twenty-eighth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 5, 2002 and May 17, 2003.
The twenty-seventh season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 29, 2001 and May 18, 2002.
The twenty-sixth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 7, 2000, and May 19, 2001.
The twenty-fifth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 2, 1999 and May 20, 2000.
The thirty-fourth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 13, 2008, and May 16, 2009.
Saturday Night Live in the 2000s: Time and Again is a two-hour documentary television special that showcases the years of Saturday Night Live from 2000 to 2009. It features interviews with the cast and crew from those years, and aired on NBC on April 15, 2010. It was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Special.
"Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special" is a three-and-a-half-hour prime-time special that aired on February 15, 2015, on NBC, celebrating Saturday Night Live's 40th year on the air, having premiered on October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC's Saturday Night. It is produced by Broadway Video. This special generated 23.1 million viewers, becoming NBC's most-watched prime-time, non-sports, entertainment telecast since the Friends series finale in 2004. It is the third such anniversary special to be broadcast, with celebratory episodes also held during the 15th and 25th seasons.
The long-running American late-night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) first premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, and its fiftieth and most recent season premiered on September 28, 2024. Created by Lorne Michaels, who is the original and current showrunner, its history has been shaped by its large and constantly-changing cast of performers, as well as changes in its writing staff from year to year. It has played a prominent role in American popular culture and television since its inception, and changing attitudes towards cultural diversity have been evident particularly in its recent history.