Saturday Night Live season 23

Cast

Before the season, Mark McKinney left the show after three seasons. Colin Quinn was promoted to repertory status. This season is one of the few to not include any featured players or new cast members.

During the season, a controversy arose in which Don Olymeyer (NBC West Coast president) made the decision to remove Weekend Update anchor Norm Macdonald from the desk because of ratings going down during the segment. Macdonald's final episode as Update anchor was on December 13, 1997. Quinn was then promoted to the job and anchored the segment in the next live episode, which aired January 10, 1998. Macdonald performed in sketches, but was angry about the change-up and ultimately quit the show; his final appearance was on March 14, 1998.

This was also the final season for Jim Breuer as he left the show at season's end to move on to other acting opportunities.

Cast roster

Repertory players

• Jim Breuer
• Will Ferrell
• Ana Gasteyer
• Darrell Hammond
• Chris Kattan
• Norm Macdonald (final episode: March 14, 1998)
• Tim Meadows
• Tracy Morgan
• Cheri Oteri
• Colin Quinn
• Molly Shannon bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers#season 23

Future cast member/head writer Tina Fey joins the writing staff in this season.

Adam McKay continues as the sole head writer, while Tim Herlihy is promoted to a producer alongside Steve Higgins.

Fellow regular writer Paula Pell is named as a creative consultant (nowadays a writing supervisor) this season.

With the Sarah Michelle Gellar-hosted episode, future Parks and Recreation/The Good Place creator Michael Schur joined the writing staff. Decades later, Schur explained that he initially applied for the job at the start of the season, but Fey was hired over him, and that he was hired over the show's winter break.

Longtime writer Jim Downey was fired. Producer Don Ohlmeyer had grown irritated by the constant jokes regarding his friend, former football star, OJ Simpson. Downey was the primary source for the many jokes Norm Macdonald made at the expense of Simpson. After Downey was fired, Macdonald was informed he could no longer serve as Weekend Update host. Macdonald decided to leave following this revelation.Downey is still credited as a writer until the end of the season, and would return to the writing staff in 2000.

Episodes

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes

• Jamiroquai performs "Alright".

• The initial 1996 Olympics bombing suspect Richard Jewell makes a guest appearance, where, in a highly publicized sketch, he punches Janet Reno (played by Will Ferrell) in the gut, with Reno responding, "Same time next week?" Jewell also appeared alongside Norm Macdonald on Weekend Update.

• Oasis performs "Don't Go Away" and "Acquiesce".

• This episode marked the first appearance of Tim Meadows' popular "The Ladies Man" sketch.

• Björk performs "Bachelorette".

• Eric Dickerson made a guest appearance in the Monday Night Football sketch.

• This episode marked the first appearance of Chris Kattan's Mango character.

• The Mighty Mighty Bosstones perform "The Impression That I Get".

• Chevy Chase and Chris Rock have cameo appearances in the cold opening and the monologue.

• The first Morning Latte sketch appears in this episode.

• Ana Gasteyer debuts her recurring sketch Martha Stewart Living.

• Chicago news anchor and reporter Bill Kurtis along with George Wendt and Mike Ditka appear in a short film showing the lives of the "Bill Swerski's Superfans" after their run on SNL.

• Chris Farley reprises his characters Matt Foley and Todd O'Connor.

• This episode contains the first sketch Tina Fey got on the air.

• This was Farley's final television appearance before his death on December 18, 1997.

• Jane's Addiction performs "Jane Says" with Flea.

• Former cast member Dana Carvey makes a cameo appearance in this episode as Ross Perot in the "Wedding Reception" sketch and as George Michael in the "Set Our Nanny Free!" commercial.

• Mariah Carey performs "Butterfly" and "My All".

• During the monologue, show writer and future cast member Tina Fey makes a brief appearance as an audience member.

• Sarah McLachlan performs "Sweet Surrender". She also appeared in the Weekend Update segment.

• Metallica performs "Fuel" and "The Memory Remains", the latter featuring Marianne Faithfull on vocals.

• Lane's The Lion King co-star, Ernie Sabella, makes a cameo appearance during the monologue, in which both sing a few bars of "Hakuna Matata".

• The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders make a guest appearance in the "Spartans Dream" sketch.

• Hanson performs "MMMBop" and "Merry Christmas Baby". They also appeared in the "MMMBop Elevator Hostages" sketch.

• Hunt's As Good as It Gets co-star Jack Nicholson makes a cameo appearance during the monologue and in a "Roxbury Guys" sketch.

• Pedro Borbón Jr., Marty Cordova, Russ Davis, Jeff Fassero, Cliff Floyd, Mark Grudzielanek, David Howard, Todd Hundley, Gregg Jefferies, Scott Rolen, Mike Sweeney, Rondell White, Gerald Williams, Mark Wohlers and Todd Zeile make an appearance in the "Baseball Dreams" sketch.

• Norm Macdonald's final episode as Weekend Update anchor.

• Ben Folds Five performs "Brick".

• Colin Quinn's first episode as Weekend Update anchor.

• Portishead performs "Only You".

• Paula Cole performs "I Don't Want to Wait".

• Dan Aykroyd cameos in this episode, reprising two of his popular recurring characters, Elwood Blues from The Blues Brothers during the monologue and Irwin Mainway from "Consumer Probe" in the Judge Judy sketch. He also impersonates Bob Dole in the cold opening.

• Aykroyd and Goodman performed "Lookin' For a Fox" with the Blues Brothers Band.

• Missy Elliott performs "Sock It 2 Me" and "Beep Me 911". She is joined during the performance by Timbaland & Magoo.

• Garth Brooks performs "Two Piña Coladas".

• Robert Duvall makes a guest appearance in the "Who's More Grizzled?!" sketch and the "Lay Lady Lay" sketch as well as introducing Garth Brooks' musical performance.

• Natalie Imbruglia performs "Torn".

• In the cold open, show writer and future cast member Tina Fey appears as Kathleen Willey on Larry King Live.

• This episode is referenced in Jordan Peele's movie Nope when Yeun describes a childhood tragedy that was parodied in the fictitious "Bad Gordy" sketch.

• Backstreet Boys performs "As Long as You Love Me".

• Norm Macdonald's final episode as a cast member.

• Third Eye Blind performs "How's It Going to Be".

• Lewis H. Lapham cameos in the cold open.

• Writer Tina Fey appears in the monologue.

• John Hurt made a guest appearance as the Hare in the "Mad Tea Party" sketch.

• Didi Conn appears in the "Morning Latte" sketch.

• Natasha Henstridge appears in the "Job Interview" sketch.

• Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, Gilbert Gottfried and Molly Ringwald lend their voices in the animated TV Funhouse segment.

• All Saints performs "Never Ever".

• Bob Hoskins made two guest appearances in the "Walk the Plank" sketch and the "Former Hosts of Later Reunion" commercial.

• Saturday TV Funhouse "Fun with Real Audio" cartoon – about Tom Snyder's being obsessed with Dolly Parton – was written by Robert Smigel, Smigel's wife, Michelle, and Stephen Colbert.

• Natalie Merchant performeds "Kind & Generous".

• Tenacious D appears as a special guest, performing "The History of Tenacious D" and "Double Team".

• Regis Philbin appeared in the pre-filmed "Viagra" commercial.

• Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page perform "Come with Me".

• Duchovny's The X-Files co-star Nicholas Lea made a cameo appearance in the cold open.

• Paula Abdul made a guest appearance in the “Cheerleading Camp” sketch.

• John Goodman, Matt Lauer and Al Roker appeared in the "Mango" sketch.

• Jim Breuer's final episode as a cast member.

Specials

References

References

1. (1998-05-11). "NBC to Air Chris Farley Tribute".
2. (1998-06-16). "'SNL' Salute to Hartman Pure Genius".
3. Wright, Megh. (2012-06-06). "Saturday Night's Children: Mark McKinney (1995-1997)".
4. Hugar, John. (2015-02-13). "The Bizarre Circumstances And Shaky Aftermath Of Norm Macdonald's Dismissal From Weekend Update".
5. Garrity, Katie. (2021-09-16). "Norm Macdonald Was Fired From 'Saturday Night Live' in 1998, but Why Exactly?".
6. Evans, Bradford. (2013-11-22). "Adam McKay Responds to Jim Breuer Saying He Got Him Fired from 'SNL'".
7. (September 27, 1997). "Sylvester Stallone/Jamiroquai".
8. (January 17, 1998). "Sarah Michelle Gellar/Portishead".
9. (December 5, 2024). "Mike Schur Says Working at 'SNL' is 'Kill or be Killed'".
10. Sacks, Mike. (2014-06-24). "'SNL's James Downey on Working with Norm Macdonald and Getting Fired for Making Fun of OJ Simpson".
11. (May 9, 1998). "David Duchovny/Puff Daddy".
12. (13 December 2022). "The Oral History of the "Baseball Dreams Come True" 'Saturday Night Live' Sketch".