Saturday Night Live season 45

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Contents

Saturday Night Live
Season 45
No. of episodes18
Release
Original network NBC
Original releaseSeptember 28, 2019 (2019-09-28) 
May 9, 2020 (2020-05-09) [1]
Season chronology
 Previous
Season 44
Next 
Season 46
List of episodes

The forty-fifth season of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (also branded Saturday Night Live 45 and SNL45) premiered on September 28, 2019, during the 2019–20 television season with host Woody Harrelson and musical guest Billie Eilish, [2] and concluded on May 9, 2020 with host Kristen Wiig and musical guest Boyz II Men. [1] This season featured the return of Eddie Murphy as host, on December 21, 2019, for the first time in 35 years. Murphy's episode was the most watched episode since 2008.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was temporarily halted on March 16, 2020. The move came hours after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered all theaters in the city to close by the following morning. [3] The season resumed on April 11, 2020 with three remotely produced episodes containing Weekend Update and other contributions from the cast. [4] The self-filmed episodes, with pre-recorded from-home segments, were instead referred to as Saturday Night Live at Home . The first remote episode was hosted by Tom Hanks, who survived COVID-19 after being diagnosed the month prior. [5] The third of these episodes, airing on May 9, 2020 and hosted by longtime former cast member Kristen Wiig, served as the show's season finale. [1]

Cast

Prior to the beginning of the season, longtime cast member Leslie Jones, who joined the cast one month into season 40 in October 2014, left after having been with the show for almost five full seasons. [6] Three new featured players were announced on September 12, 2019: impressionist and writer Chloe Fineman of the Groundlings, stand-up comedian Shane Gillis, and SNL staff writer Bowen Yang. Yang is the first fully East Asian-American cast member in the show's history. [7] Fineman had auditioned for the show previously and been unsuccessful. [8]

The choice of Gillis as a cast member generated backlash after podcast clips of him making racist remarks were reposted. [9] Gillis has also made derogatory remarks about Muslims, women, and the LGBTQ community on his online show Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast. [10] Gillis was let go from the cast only four days after the announcement of his hiring, prior to the airing of the first episode. [11] Gillis later controversially hosted the show in 2024, during which he jokingly referenced his firing from the show. [12] Five years later (early in the show's 50th season), executive producer Lorne Michaels revealed that he was not happy about the decision, and that NBC forced him to fire Gillis. [13]

Heidi Gardner and Chris Redd were upgraded to repertory status this season, while Ego Nwodim remained a featured player. [14] Pete Davidson took a leave of absence at the beginning of the season, missing the first two episodes before returning for the third, due to filming commitments of The Suicide Squad . [15] Despite this, he was still credited in the episodes he missed.

Cast roster

bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

Writers

Dan Bulla, Emma Clark, Dan Licata, and Jasmine Pierce were added to the writing staff. [16] Michael Che, Colin Jost, and Kent Sublette continue as head writers for the show.

This was the final season for longtime writer James Anderson. Anderson had been a writer for the show since 2000.

Episodes

No.
overall
No. in
season
HostMusical guestOriginal air dateRatings/
Share
8721 Woody Harrelson Billie Eilish September 28, 2019 (2019-09-28)4.1/10

8732 Phoebe Waller-Bridge Taylor Swift October 5, 2019 (2019-10-05)4.0/11

8743 David Harbour Camila Cabello October 12, 2019 (2019-10-12)3.8/11

8754 Chance the Rapper Chance the RapperOctober 26, 2019 (2019-10-26)3.8/11

8765 Kristen Stewart Coldplay November 2, 2019 (2019-11-02)4.1/11

8776 Harry Styles Harry StylesNovember 16, 2019 (2019-11-16)3.9/10

8787 Will Ferrell King Princess November 23, 2019 (2019-11-23)4.3/14

8798 Jennifer Lopez DaBaby December 7, 2019 (2019-12-07)4.2/11

8809 Scarlett Johansson Niall Horan December 14, 2019 (2019-12-14)4.0/11

88110 Eddie Murphy Lizzo December 21, 2019 (2019-12-21)6.7/16 [24]

88211 Adam Driver Halsey January 25, 2020 (2020-01-25)3.8/11

88312 J. J. Watt Luke Combs February 1, 2020 (2020-02-01)4.1/11

  • Luke Combs performs "Lovin' On You" and "Beer Never Broke My Heart".
  • Alec Baldwin appears in the cold open as Donald Trump.
  • During the goodnights, Watt and some of the cast members wore several Los Angeles Lakers jerseys showing Kobe Bryant's #24 number with Watt tossing a crumpled piece of paper off stage (à la shooting a basketball), as a tribute to Bryant who died a week earlier from a helicopter crash, a day after the previous episode.
88413 RuPaul Justin Bieber February 8, 2020 (2020-02-08)4.3/12

88514 John Mulaney David Byrne February 29, 2020 (2020-02-29)4.0/12

88615 Daniel Craig The Weeknd March 7, 2020 (2020-03-07)4.1/11

Saturday Night Live at Home

On March 16, 2020, it was announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the episodes that were to air March 28, April 4, and April 11 were cancelled, [32] with reruns shown in place of the first two. John Krasinski and Dua Lipa had been announced as host and musical guest for March 28 episode; both were rescheduled to the following season.[ citation needed ] The Strokes were scheduled to perform on the April 11 episode to promote their new album The New Abnormal ; [33] they were rescheduled to the following season.[ citation needed ] During her monologue in the 46th season, Issa Rae said she was supposed to have hosted the show "back in March". [34] Both Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon's plans to leave at the end of the season were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic; they stayed for two additional seasons, and left in 2022. [35] [36]

The show resumed on April 11 in a new format, with cast members remotely appearing from their homes via video conferencing. The new format for the show became known as Saturday Night Live at Home. [37]

No.
overall
No. in
season
HostMusical guestOriginal air dateRatings/
Share
88716 Tom Hanks Chris Martin April 11, 2020 (2020-04-11)4.6 [38]

88817none credited [lower-alpha 1] Miley Cyrus April 25, 2020 (2020-04-25)4.0 [38]

88918 Kristen Wiig Boyz II Men featuring Babyface May 9, 2020 (2020-05-09)3.7 [44]

Specials

TitleOriginal air dateRatings/
Share
"A Saturday Night Live Mother's Day"May 10, 2020 (2020-05-10)0.5/2 [45]
A special showing of all Mother's Day-themed sketches from previous seasons, including a Mother's Day Lawrence Welk Show sketch from season 35 with host Betty White.

Notes

  1. 1 2 While some sources listed Brad Pitt as the host for the episode, [39] [40] [41] he was not formally credited as such. [42]
  2. In an interview two weeks prior to the show, Dr. Fauci jokingly agreed with the interviewer that Pitt would be a good choice for portraying him. [43]
  3. Pitt briefly breaks character to thank the real Dr. Fauci and the health care professionals who have been working the front line in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.
    For the conclusion of the cold open, instead of delivering the typical "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" line, Pitt delivers it as "Live, kind of, from all across America, it's Saturday Night".

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