Saturday Night Live season 9


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The ninth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 8, 1983, and May 12, 1984.

Saturday Night Live
Season 9
The title card for the ninth season of Saturday Night Live.
No. of episodes19
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseOctober 8, 1983 –
May 12, 1984
Season chronology

← Previous
season 8

Next →
season 10

List of episodes

Future cast member Billy Crystal hosted twice this season: once with musical guest Al Jarreau[1] and again on the season finale with Ed Koch, Edwin Newman, Betty Thomas and former cast member Don Novello, with the Cars as musical guest.[2]

Jim Belushi was added to the cast, making his debut on the third episode of the season.[3][4]

Midway through the season in February 1984, Eddie Murphy left the show. To keep viewers watching, SNL aired segments Murphy had pre-taped in September of 1983.[5]

Brad Hall, who had been anchoring Weekend Update (then called Saturday Night News) since the previous season, left the position in January of 1984.[6] For the rest of the season and into the next, both cast members and SNL guest-hosts would take turns at the anchor chair. Hall himself left SNL at the end of the season.[6]

Repertory players

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

This season's writers were Jim Belushi, Andy Breckman, Robin Duke, Adam Green, Mary Gross, Nate Herman, Tim Kazurinsky, Kevin Kelton, Andy Kurtzman, Michael McCarthy, Eddie Murphy, Pamela Norris, Margaret Oberman, Joe Piscopo, Andrew Smith, Bob Tischler, Eliot Wald and Herb Sargent (who returned for the last few episodes of the season). [7] The head writers were Bob Tischler and Andrew Smith.

Besides, Murphy, Piscopo, and Duke, this was also the final season for writer Pam Norris, who left the show after four seasons. [8] Not counting Murphy or Piscopo, Norris was the last writer from the Jean Doumanian-era season to leave the show.

  1. ^ "SNL Transcripts: Billy Crystal: 03/17/84". SNL Transcripts. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  2. ^ Douwsma, Bronwyn (August 28, 2016). "Classic SNL Review: May 12, 1984: Billy Crystal, Mayor Ed Koch, Edwin Newman, Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) & Betty Thomas / The Cars (S09E19)". Bronwyn Douwsma. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  3. ^ Hill & Weingrad 1986, pp. 461–462.
  4. ^ Hoglund, Andy (July 14, 2021). "Jim Belushi Has Always Been an Outsider". Vulture. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  5. ^ Hill & Weingrad 1986, p. 469.
  6. ^ a b Evans, Bradford (October 27, 2011). "The Lost Weekend Update Anchors". Vulture. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  7. ^ "George McGovern/Madness". Saturday Night Live. Season 9. Episode 17. April 14, 1984. Event occurs at Closing credits. NBC.
  8. ^ "The Thompson Twins". Saturday Night Live. Season 10. Episode 1. October 6, 1984. Event occurs at Closing credits. NBC.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 124–127. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
  10. ^ Shales & Miller 2002, pp. 278–280.
  11. ^ "Watch Saturday Night Live Highlight: James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub Party". NBC.com. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
  12. ^ "January 28, 1984". SNL Archives. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011.