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Saturday Night Live season 34

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.

This season is notable for its take on the 2008 presidential election, which saw the show's ratings rapidly increase and multiple award wins.

Presidential election coverage

SNL's coverage of the 2008 presidential election caused ratings to increase rapidly.[1][2] The season premiere opened with Tina Fey playing Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin (alongside a pregnant Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton) in a "non-partisan message on sexism".[3] The phrase "I can see Russia from my house!" was coined by SNL producer Mike Shoemaker during this sketch.[4]

Accolades

The show won a Peabody Award for its political satire in 2009.[5] Tina Fey won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of Sarah Palin.[6] The show also won a Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety Talk Series.[7][8]

Cast

Before the start of the season, the cast remained mostly unchanged, except for the addition of Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performer Bobby Moynihan.[9][10]

Midway through the season, longtime cast member Amy Poehler went on maternity leave after giving birth to her son hours before the October 25, 2008 episode, hosted by Jon Hamm.[11] Shortly after Poehler went on maternity leave, the show added two new female cast members to fill the void. Abby Elliott (daughter of former SNL cast member Chris Elliott) and Michaela Watkins, a performer with The Groundlings, joined the show as featured players on November 15, 2008.[12] Poehler, who had been on the show for eight seasons since 2001, returned on December 6, 2008 in the John Malkovich hosted episode and made her final appearance as a cast member the following week on the Hugh Laurie hosted episode on December 13, 2008.[13][14] She announced that it would be her final show at the end of Weekend Update, leaving Seth Meyers to anchor Weekend Update solo. With this announcement, Poehler became the longest serving female cast member at the time, as she surpassed Molly Shannon and Rachel Dratch's record after staying for eight seasons. Poehler's record would be surpassed eleven years later by Kate McKinnon, who joined the show near the end of season 37, and stayed on for eleven seasons.

This season would also be the last for longtime cast member Darrell Hammond, the last remaining cast member from the 1990s, who had been on the show for fourteen seasons.[15] He was the longest-running cast member until Kenan Thompson surpassed him in 2017.[15] Hammond would eventually return to SNL, making multiple cameo appearances in sketches, until he succeeded longtime announcer Don Pardo in 2014, after Pardo died a month before the start of season 40.[16] Following Hammond's departure, featured players Watkins and Casey Wilson were both let go after the season's finale.[17]

Cast roster

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

Episodes

Specials

References

  1. ^ a b Stelter, Brian (September 14, 2008). "'SNL' Sees Its Ratings Soar". The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Gough, Paul J. (September 28, 2008). "'SNL' continues ratings run". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 1, 2008. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  3. ^ Spillius, Alex (September 14, 2008). "Tina Fey lands the first punch at Sarah Palin in Saturday Night Live sketch". The Telegraph. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  4. ^ Poehler, Amy (October 29, 2014). "Amy Poehler on What It Was Like to Tape Saturday Night Live While Pregnant". Vulture. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  5. ^ Labrecque, Jeff (April 1, 2009). "Peabody Awards: 'Lost,' 'SNL,' 'Entourage' among winners". EW.com. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Goodman, Dean (September 12, 2009). "Tina Fey wins Emmy award for Sarah Palin spoof". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 23, 2009. Retrieved March 28, 2011 – via Yahoo! TV.
  7. ^ "2010 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, and Graphic Animation Nominees Announced" (Press release). Writers Guild of America West. December 14, 2009. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2011.
  8. ^ "Writers Guild Awards Winners 2012-2006". awards.wga.org. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  9. ^ Ryan, Mike (February 26, 2009). "SNL's' Bobby Moynihan Discusses Working with Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, James Franco And More". Starpulse. Archived from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  10. ^ Waldo, Patrick (August 15, 2009). "Bobby Moynihan Named New SNL Cast Member". HuffPost. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  11. ^ a b "Amy Poehler baby causes mom to miss 'SNL'". Chicago Tribune. October 26, 2008. Archived from the original on May 22, 2024. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  12. ^ Carter, Bill (November 12, 2008). "Two Women Join 'SNL'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  13. ^ O'Connor, Mickey (December 8, 2008). "Surprise! Amy Poehler Returns to SNL". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on December 18, 2022. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  14. ^ Vary, Adam B. (December 14, 2008). "'SNL': Amy Poehler's farewell". EW.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  15. ^ a b "SNL's Longest-Running Cast Members". NBC. August 31, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  16. ^ Carter, Bill (September 18, 2014). "Darrell Hammond to Replace Don Pardo as the Announcer for 'Saturday Night Live'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  17. ^ Itzkoff, Dave (September 4, 2009). "Michaela Watkins on Her 'Saturday Night Live' Exit". The New York Times. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  18. ^ "Live, From New York: Barack Obama!". People. September 11, 2008. Archived from the original on June 22, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  19. ^ "Rain Check? Obama Nixes SNL Visit Due to Hurricane". TV Guide. September 13, 2008. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  20. ^ "Diaz plays 'cougar' on TV show". Daily Express. Northern & Shell. September 21, 2008. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  21. ^ Gold, Matea (October 7, 2008). "'Saturday Night Live' yanks, then reposts, controversial bailout sketch". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  22. ^ "Fey as Palin continues to boost 'SNL' ratings". MSNBC. October 7, 2008. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  23. ^ Gough, Paul J. (October 19, 2008). "Palin helps 'SNL' to best ratings in 14 years". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  24. ^ Gough, Paul J. (October 26, 2008). "'Saturday Night Live' still solid". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 29, 2008. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  25. ^ Seidman, Robert (January 14, 2010). "Charles Barkley Leads Saturday Night Live To 10.4 Million & Best Performance In 14 Months". TV By The Numbers. zap2it.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2014.
  26. ^ "Saturday Night Live: Hugh Laurie/Kanye West Trivia and Quotes". TV.com. March 12, 2011. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2011.
  27. ^ "SNL Transcripts: Alec Baldwin: 02/14/09: An SNL Digital Short". SNL Transcripts. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  28. ^ "SNL Transcripts: Alec Baldwin: 02/14/09: Republican Congressional Leadership Meeting". SNL Transcripts. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  29. ^ "Jonas Brothers Celebrate Their SNL Gig With A Hailey Bieber Throwback". Refinery29. April 21, 2019. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  30. ^ "Zac Efron, "Saturday Night Live" score higher ratings than prime-time fare Saturday; "Ten Commandments" gives ABC a win". Orlando Sentinel. April 12, 2009.