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.
Saturday Night Live | |
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Season 27 | |
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No. of episodes | 20 |
Release | |
Original network | NBC |
Original release | September 29, 2001 May 18, 2002 | –
Season chronology | |
Eighteen days before the season started, the September 11 terrorist attacks took place in New York. The season premiere (hosted by Reese Witherspoon) went on as scheduled, with a special cold open featuring Rudy Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City at the time, along with firefighters from the FDNY and police officers from the NYPD, declaring that despite the terrorist attack, New York City will run as normal and Saturday Night Live will go on as planned (with Lorne Michaels asking Giuliani "Can we be funny?" and Giuliani replying "Why start now?").
Three weeks into the season the show faced another scare when anthrax was found in the GE Building (from where the show is broadcast).[1] The scare caused most of the cast and crew, as well as that week's guest host Drew Barrymore, to evacuate the building.
Cast
editBefore the start of the season, longtime cast member Molly Shannon, who had been on the show for seven seasons since 1995, departed midway through the previous season on her own terms,[2] and featured player Jerry Minor[3] and longtime cast member Chris Parnell were both let go from the show after the finale. However, Parnell was hired back to the show midseason in the episode hosted by Jonny Moseley,[4][5] becoming the second cast member to be hired back to the show after being fired, the first person being Jim Belushi in 1983.[6]
Four new cast members were hired to the show this season: stand-up comic Dean Edwards, Chicago improviser Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe,[7][8] and stand-up comic/impressionist Jeff Richards, who was previously a cast member on the rival sketch show MADtv.[9] Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, and Maya Rudolph were all upgraded to repertory status at the beginning of the season, and Poehler was promoted to repertory status mid-season.
Will Ferrell was absent from a number of episodes because he was filming Old School. This would also be the final season for both Ferrell[10] and Ana Gasteyer. After Gasteyer went on maternity leave at the end of the season, she decided not to return to the show.[11]
Cast roster
edit
Repertory players
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Featured players
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bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor
Writers
editEpisodes
editNo. overall | No. in season | Host | Musical guest(s) | Original air date | |
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506 | 1 | Reese Witherspoon | Alicia Keys | September 29, 2001 | |
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507 | 2 | Seann William Scott | Sum 41 | October 6, 2001 | |
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508 | 3 | Drew Barrymore | Macy Gray | October 13, 2001 | |
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509 | 4 | John Goodman | Ja Rule | November 3, 2001 | |
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510 | 5 | Gwyneth Paltrow | Ryan Adams | November 10, 2001 | |
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511 | 6 | Billy Bob Thornton | Creed | November 17, 2001 | |
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512 | 7 | Derek Jeter | Bubba Sparxxx Shakira | December 1, 2001 | |
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513 | 8 | Hugh Jackman | Mick Jagger | December 8, 2001 | |
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514 | 9 | Ellen DeGeneres | No Doubt | December 15, 2001 | |
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515 | 10 | Josh Hartnett | Pink | January 12, 2002 | |
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516 | 11 | Jack Black | The Strokes | January 19, 2002 | |
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517 | 12 | Britney Spears | Britney Spears | February 2, 2002 | |
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518 | 13 | Jonny Moseley | Outkast | March 2, 2002 | |
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519 | 14 | Jon Stewart | India.Arie | March 9, 2002 | |
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520 | 15 | Ian McKellen | Kylie Minogue | March 16, 2002 | |
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521 | 16 | Cameron Diaz | Jimmy Eat World | April 6, 2002 | |
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522 | 17 | The Rock | Andrew W.K. | April 13, 2002 | |
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523 | 18 | Alec Baldwin | P.O.D. | April 20, 2002 | |
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524 | 19 | Kirsten Dunst | Eminem | May 11, 2002 | |
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525 | 20 | Winona Ryder | Moby | May 18, 2002 | |
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Special
editTitle | Original air date | |
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"SNL Remembers John Belushi" | March 11, 2002 | |
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of John's death, Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey host this retrospective of some of his greatest sketches on SNL. Dan Aykroyd makes a cameo appearance in this special. |
References
edit- ^ "SNL Goes on Despite Anthrax Scare". ABC News. October 15, 2001. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
- ^ "Shannon to Exit 'SNL'". People. Archived from the original on March 2, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
- ^ Wright, Megh (September 25, 2012). "Saturday Night's Children: Jerry Minor (2000-2001)". Vulture. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
- ^ Graham, Mark (January 14, 2010). "Archer's Chris Parnell Talks Well-Endowed Cartoon Characters, Being Fired From SNL Twice". Vulture. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
- ^ Rawden, Jessica (February 19, 2015). "How Chris Parnell Got Un-fired From Saturday Night Live". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
- ^ Hoglund, Andy (July 14, 2021). "Jim Belushi Has Always Been an Outsider". Vulture. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ Logan, Lizzie; Fox, Jesse David (March 1, 2021). "The History of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's Best Friendship". Vulture. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
- ^ "Poehler". Toledo Blade. March 25, 2007. p. 9G. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
- ^ "Sean Hayes to the rescue; In other people news…". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. August 16, 2001. p. 2A.
- ^ Bark, Ed (May 9, 2002). "Will Ferrell announces end of 'Saturday Night Live' stint". Sun Journal. Knight Ridder Newspapers. p. C8. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
- ^ "Ana Gasteyer leaves Saturday Night Live". EW.com. August 21, 2002. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
- ^ Boedeker, Hal (October 1, 2001). "'Snl' Falters After Moving Tribute". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011.
- ^ Huff, Richard (September 5, 2001). "Witherspoon on 'SNL'". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on June 20, 2023. Retrieved June 3, 2016.