Country of origin United States Original network NBC | No. of episodes 20 | |
Original release September 25, 1982 (1982-09-25) – May 14, 1983 (1983-05-14) | ||
The eighth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 25, 1982, and May 14, 1983.
Contents
Cast changes
Many changes happened before the start of the season. Brian Doyle-Murray, Christine Ebersole and Tony Rosato were dropped from the show to make room for new cast members. Hired in their places were Brad Hall, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Hall's future wife and future Seinfeld cast member), and Gary Kroeger. All three had been members of Chicago's Practical Theatre Company along with Paul Barrosse, who was hired as a writer.
Format changes
Dick Ebersol brought back the show's cold openings that ended with "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" and the monologues by the host. Ebersol also changed Weekend Update's name for the second time, to Saturday Night News. Since Doyle-Murray and Ebersole had both been dropped, a new anchor was needed for the segment. Hall got the gig and became the new anchor.
Notable sketches
Notable moments of this season included Drew Barrymore hosting the show—the youngest ever person to host. During the episode, the audience at home was given the chance to vote on whether or not Andy Kaufman should be banned from the show. The vote was conducted by a 1-900 number. At the end of the show, Kaufman was banned from ever performing on SNL again.
Another notable moment was when Eddie Murphy hosted the show. Murphy substituted for his 48 Hours co-star Nick Nolte after Nolte fell ill (Nolte became hungover following a night of partying at Studio 54). Murphy became the only person to have hosted the show while still a cast member. He controversially announced "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy Show!" Murphy's hosting gig angered most of the cast and crew, particularly Joe Piscopo.