Saturday Night Live season 12

History

When the 1986–1987 season began, only Jon Lovitz, Nora Dunn, Dennis Miller and featured player A. Whitney Brown returned as cast members. Michaels went back to his original tactic of assembling a strong ensemble of relative unknowns, led by Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson and Kevin Nealon.

Jim Carrey made his third unsuccessful attempt to join the cast.

The first show of the 1986–1987 season opened with Madonna, host of the previous season opener, telling the audience that the entire 1985–1986 season had been a "horrible, horrible dream". Carvey's Church Lady character debuted in this episode.

Hartman's send-up of President Ronald Reagan kickstarted the most fruitful and successful period of political parody on SNL. Carvey's widely remembered impression of then Vice President George H. W. Bush debuted in the following season.

Other popular sketches introduced this season include Mr. Subliminal, the Sweeney Sisters, and Derek Stevens.

Cast

The returning cast members were A. Whitney Brown, Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller. Al Franken continued to write on the show, dropping his featured player status that he held for one episode of the previous season. In rebuilding the cast, Lorne Michaels returned to his usual practice of hiring unknown performers from stand-up and improv comedy backgrounds. The new cast members were Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson and Kevin Nealon.

Cast roster

Repertory players

• Dana Carvey
• Nora Dunn
• Phil Hartman
• Jan Hooks
• Victoria Jackson
• Jon Lovitz
• Dennis Miller Featured players
• A. Whitney Brown
• Kevin Nealon bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Unlike featured players in most other 80s/90s seasons, Brown and Nealon are credited in the opening montage for every single episode this season.

Writers

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers#season 12

This season's writers were Andy Breckman, A. Whitney Brown, E. Jean Carroll, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Al Franken, Phil Hartman, George Meyer, Lorne Michaels, Kevin Nealon, Herb Sargent, Marc Shaiman, Rosie Shuster, Robert Smigel, Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Jon Vitti and Christine Zander. Downey also served as head writer.

Episodes

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes

• Madonna, who hosted the prior season's premiere, appeared in the cold opening to read a statement from NBC about the 1985–86 season: "It was all a dream—a horrible, horrible dream."

• Buster Poindexter and the playwright Christopher Durang appear as special guests as acknowledgement of the "Saturday Night Live Band" is made in the opening for the first time. Poindexter performed "Oh Me, Oh My (I'm a Fool for You Baby)", "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (as a duet with Weaver), and "Smack Dab in the Middle" (accompanied by Soozie Tyrell).

• First appearance of The Church Lady.

• Dana Carvey (as Derek Stevens) sings "Chopping Broccoli".

• Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson and Kevin Nealon's first episode as cast members.

• Run-DMC performs "Walk This Way" and "Hit It, Run".

• Guest appearances are made by Sam Kinison, Buster Poindexter performs "Hit the Road Jack" and Spike Lee introduces Run-DMC as his Mars Blackmon character from She's Gotta Have It.

• First appearance of The Sweeney Sisters.

• Ric Ocasek performs "Emotion in Motion" and "Keep on Laughin'".

• The episode was actually recorded and scheduled to air two weeks prior on October 25 but was delayed due to NBC's broadcast of the legendary sixth game of the 1986 World Series between the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox going into one extra inning (the series was eventually won by the Mets the following night); the aired version began with a taped segment in which Mets pitcher Ron Darling playfully apologized for the cancellation.

• Ocasek appears as himself in Church Chat.

• Lou Reed performs "I Love You, Suzanne" from 1984's New Sensations and "The Original Wrapper" from 1986's Mistrial.

• Guest appearance by porn star Seka.

• A guest appearance by Buster Poindexter is mentioned in the intro alongside the first acknowledgement of G.E. Smith being the lead of the house band; Kinison apologizes that he was cut for time in the goodnights.

• Paul Simon performs "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes", "The Boy in the Bubble" and "The Late Great Johnny Ace". The first song featured Ladysmith Black Mambazo, making their second appearance on the show, while "The Late Great Johnny Ace" opened with a still shot of John F. Kennedy, marking the 23rd anniversary of his assassination (which is referenced in the song.) Simon also appears in the "Ticket Line", "Hamlet" and "Baycrest Jewish Retirement Home" sketches.

• Art Garfunkel appears in the "Ticket Line" sketch with Paul Simon.

• Whoopi Goldberg makes a cameo appearance, introducing Simon's second song.

Steve Martin Martin Short

• Randy Newman performs "Longest Night" and "Roll with the Punches".

• Chevy Chase acknowledges his recent stint in the Betty Ford Center in the monologue and cold opening, a sketch where klutzy people hold a support group meeting called Stumblebums Anonymous.

• In a sketch written by Jim Downey and Al Franken, Phil Hartman portrays President Ronald Reagan as Mastermind, a "sweet, befuddled old man in public, who in private becomes the hard-charging director of the covert operation to finance the Nicaraguan Contras".

• Guest appearance by Eric Idle.

• The Pretenders perform "Don't Get Me Wrong" and "How Much Did You Get for Your Soul?".

• Guest appearances by Penn & Teller and Buster Poindexter. Poindexter and Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde performed "Rockin' Good Way".

• Tim Robbins appears in a short film, "Profiles: Bob Roberts". His directorial debut,* Bob Roberts* was based on this segment.

• Lone Justice performs "Shelter" and "I Found Love".

• This episode features the infamous sketch where William Shatner, sick of Star Trek fans asking him inane questions, tells them to "Get a life!"

• Comedian Kevin Meaney makes a guest appearance.

• Special guest Buster Poindexter played "Zat You, Santa?".

Walter Payton

• Deborah Harry performs "French Kissin" and "In Love with Love".

• Buster Poindexter performs "Scotch and Soda".

• Bruce Hornsby & the Range performs "The Way It Is" and "Mandolin Rain".

• Paul Young performs "War Games" and "The Long Run".

• Guest appearances by Paulina Porizkova and Buster Poindexter, who performed "Heart of Gold".

• Danny DeVito makes a guest appearance.

• Willie Nelson performs "Blue Eyes" and "Partners After All".

• In a sketch, Nelson accompanies Victoria Jackson on "The Boyfriend Song".

• Robert Cray Band performs "Smoking Gun" and "Right Next Door".

• Bertinelli's then-husband, Eddie Van Halen, appeared in a sketch and played with the SNL Band. Van Halen performed "Stompin' 8H".

• Guest appearance by Edwin Newman.

• Percy Sledge performs "When a Man Loves a Woman".

• The cold opening for the episode (where Lorne Michaels meets Bill Murray backstage and discusses his contract with him) has been either edited in reruns (as seen on Comedy Central and E!) or replaced with the cold opening from the Bronson Pinchot episode where Liberace (Phil Hartman) is playing the piano in Heaven and tells the audience that the censors won't let him do anything else besides that (as seen with the streaming version formerly shown on Netflix and now shown on NBC's Peacock).

• Wynton Marsalis performs "J Mood" and "Juan (E. Mustaad)".

• The episode features a short film by future cast member Ben Stiller.

• Anita Baker performs "Sweet Love" and "Same Ole Love (365 Days a Year)".

• Timbuk 3 performs "Just Another Movie" and "Hairstyles & Attitudes".

• Suzanne Vega performs "Luka" and "Marlene on the Wall".

• Los Lobos performs "Is That All There Is" and "One Time, One Night".

• Tracey Ullman appeared in the filmed Hollywood Mom sketch.

• Nell Campbell appeared in Tenny Café.

• A number of sketches had Shandling breaking the fourth wall, referring to the style of the then-airing It's Garry Shandling's Show.

• Roy Orbison performs "Crying", "Oh, Pretty Woman" and "In Dreams".

References

References

1. (September 30, 1986). "Another Groundling Hops To 'Snl'". [[Los Angeles Times]].
2. (2013-08-22). "Extended Interview with Dana Carvey (Published 2013)".
3. (8 October 2018). "Madonna: "It Was All a Dream"".
4. Hoogenboom, Lynn. (April 17, 1987). "On the Cover: "You can't compete with a memory," says Lorne Michaels.". The Vindicator.
5. Sims, David. (2018-12-03). "Dana Carvey's George H. W. Bush Was an All-Time Great 'SNL' Impression".
6. Adalian, Josef. (2 June 2017). "How Each Era of SNL Has Ridiculed American Presidents".
7. Harris, Mark. (1992-12-25). "1. The Cast of 'Saturday Night Live'".
8. Arar, Yardena. (1988-08-30). "Finally, an entertaining Emmy show". [[Los Angeles Daily News]].
9. Shefchik, Rick. (May 8, 1987). "'Isn't that special?' Carvey finding niche on SNL". [[Lewiston Journal]].
10. Shales, Tom. (2002). "Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live". Little, Brown.
11. (30 September 1986). "Another Groundling Hops to 'SNL'". Los Angeles Times.
12. (September 30, 1986). "'Saturday Night Live' announces cast". The Lewiston Daily Sun.
13. (1994). "Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years". [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]].
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15. (1994). "Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years". [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]].
16. (1994). "Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years". [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]].
17. (1994). "Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years". [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]].