History of Saturday Night Live (1990–1995)


Saturday Night Live is an American sketch comedy series created and produced by Lorne Michaels for most of the show's run. The show has aired on NBC since 1975.
The 1990–91 season brought the first major changes to the show's cast in over four years, adding cast members such as Chris Farley and David Spade. As the previous cast slowly left, the new players began to take over.
With most of the older cast gone, Michaels attempted to push a mix of old and new for the 1994–95 season's cast. This season is widely considered one of the show's worst. After this cast, Michaels replaced most of the cast with unknowns for the 1995–96 season, once again saving the show from cancellation.

Transition in progress (1990–1991)

The 1990–91 season was a transitional year. Jon Lovitz and Nora Dunn left the show after the previous season, the latter in a cloud of controversy. Lorne Michaels introduced a number of players who quickly became stars on the show: Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, David Spade, and Julia Sweeney.
Memorable characters and sketches introduced by the new cast members from this period included Sweeney's "Pat", Sandler's "Opera Man" and "Canteen Boy", Farley's "Matt Foley", Schneider's annoying office geek "The Copy Guy", Rock's black perspective talk show host "Nat X", and Spade's caustic commentary piece "Hollywood Minute". The popularity of these new cast members helped to offset the departure of several popular long-time players over the first two seasons of this era, including Jan Hooks and "Weekend Update" anchor Dennis Miller after this season, as well as Victoria Jackson after the following season.
The remaining cast members of the "older" cast also remained popular with audiences. Nealon succeeded Miller as "Weekend Update" anchor. For the remainder of his tenure, Nealon found himself playing the straight man during "Update" and other sketches, particularly against the newer cast members. His participation in that role increased after Carvey, Hartman, and Myers left the show. Myers introduced many popular new characters during this period, including Linda Richman, host of a talk show "Coffee Talk". Meanwhile, Hartman, who had impersonated President Ronald Reagan on the show, began appearing regularly with his impression of Democratic candidate and soon-to-be President Bill Clinton. Carvey's impersonations of President George H.W. Bush remained an audience favourite, and Carvey also developed a popular impression of independent presidential candidate Ross Perot. In the period leading up to the 1992 presidential election, Carvey and Hartman dominated the show with these impressions, creating mock debates. The Myers and Carvey characters Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar from the "Wayne's World" sketch would become household names during the early 1990s following the release of the successful feature film, Wayne's World. =

Chris Farley

Of the new cast members of the show, Chris Farley was not afraid to trade on his size for laughs. In one sketch he played a shirtless dancer, opposite the trim and muscular Dirty Dancing star Patrick Swayze, as they competed in an audition for a position with the Chippendales male dance troupe. Sandler and Farley also did a song called "Lunch Lady Land", with Farley dancing while dressed up as a lunch lady. Another recurring Farley character was the manic, thrice-divorced motivational speaker Matt Foley, whose schtick consisted mainly of yelling at and whining to his clients about having to live "in a van down by the river", and hurling himself around the room, demolishing everything in sight. Farley was fired from the show in 1995, but went on to star in successful movies like Tommy Boy and Black Sheep with David Spade, and Beverly Hills Ninja with Chris Rock and Nicollette Sheridan.

1993–1994 season

After the end of the 1993–1994 season, having already lost star cast member Dana Carvey, who left midway through the previous season, SNL's 1994 post-season saw more departures. Julia Sweeney left due to frustration and burnout. Another departure was that of Phil Hartman, whose final moment on the show was at the end of a musical number, with the entire cast singing a parody of the "So Long, Farewell" song from The Sound of Music. After all of the cast had left the stage, Farley, in his Matt Foley character, was left sitting on the stage, with Phil walking back on stage, cuddling next to Farley to sing goodbye and waving at the audience.
Producer Lorne Michaels hired a number of new cast members, beginning midway through the 1993–1994 season.

1994–1995 season

Similar to his decision in the mid-1980s to bring in established actors Randy Quaid, Joan Cusack and Robert Downey, Jr., Michaels added Michael McKean, and later Chris Elliott, to the cast. Both left at the end of the 1994–1995 season.
Later acquisitions were sketch veteran Mark McKinney of the recently wrapped, Michaels-produced Canadian sketch comedy show The Kids in the Hall, and stand-up comic Janeane Garofalo, the latter of whom joined at the beginning of the 1994–1995 season, and the former joining in January, shortly before the departure of Mike Myers. Garofalo left in mid-season, replaced by Molly Shannon. Myers also left in mid-season, as would Nealon after season's end. Farley and Sandler left at the end of the season. Longtime featured player Jay Mohr left as well, and Al Franken, who had worked on the show as a writer and featured player on and off since 1975, left at season's end as well. British actress Morwenna Banks joined the cast for the last four episodes of the season as a full cast member, but did not return the next season.
Much like season 6 , season 20 is considered one of SNL's worst-received seasons. The season was home to many cast turnovers and much dissension. Janeane Garofalo left the show halfway through the season. Mike Myers departed to pursue a movie career. Longtime feature player Al Franken quit, Ellen Cleghorne, Kevin Nealon, Chris Elliott, and Michael McKean also quit the show as well. Laura Kightlinger left to join Roseanne Barr's ill-fated FOX comedy series Saturday Night Special. Morwenna Banks, Chris Farley, Jay Mohr, and Adam Sandler were fired. Banks was hired as a contract player for the last four episodes of the season, leaving behind no memorable characters or celebrity impersonations.
Towards the end of the 1994–1995 season on SNL the show was in a state of turmoil, with the show enacting the highest turnover rate going into the next season. The 1994–1995 season had a total of 14 cast members; only five remained for the 1995–1996 season: Molly Shannon, Mark McKinney, Norm Macdonald, David Spade and Tim Meadows.

Season breakdown

1990–1991 season

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On October 3, at the end of her second song, a cover of Bob Marley's song "War", musical guest Sinéad O'Connor created controversy by holding up a picture of Pope John Paul II, exclaiming, "Fight the real enemy", and tearing the picture to pieces. According to the book Live From New York, this was unrehearsed, and condemned by Michaels and the SNL crew, who refused to light the applause sign after O'Connor's performance; likewise, guest host Tim Robbins, who was raised Catholic, did not thank O'Connor during the closing.

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One host during this season, Martin Lawrence, had an opening monologue which included an extended series of comments about feminine hygiene. The syndicated version of the episode replaces the offending section of the monologue with a graphic describing in vague terms what Lawrence had said and noting that it had
almost cost SNL employees their jobs. Lawrence was subsequently banned from appearing on SNL again.

1994–1995 season

Cast

Featuring