Saturday Night Live (season 26)

Saturday Night Live (season 26)

Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	20
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	October 7, 2000 (2000-10-07) – May 19, 2001 (2001-05-19)
Season chronology

The twenty-sixth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 7, 2000, and May 19, 2001.

This season featured satire of the 2000 U.S presidential election, including the Republican and Democratic primaries, the campaigns of Vice President Gore, Texas Governor George W. Bush, and Ralph Nader, the Florida election recount, and the Bush v. Gore case that came before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Cast

Changes and notes

Before the start of the season, Cheri Oteri, Colin Quinn, and Tim Meadows left the show. With the three of them gone, the show added two new cast members. SNL head writer Tina Fey and Second City comedian Jerry Minor joined the cast as featured players at the start of the season. Fey had been a writer on the show since 1997 and began as the show's head writer in 1999. Rachel Dratch and Maya Rudolph remained featured players.

This would be Molly Shannon's final season on the show, leaving mid-season. Minor was let go after the season ended.

Chris Parnell was fired at the end of this season, but then rehired midway through the next season. Executive producer Lorne Michaels would later admit he made a mistake in firing Parnell from the cast and wanted him back.^[1]

With Colin Quinn's seat on "Weekend Update" empty, executive producer Lorne Michaels decided to have two anchors just as the segment had used in the 1970s. Jimmy Fallon and head writer Tina Fey were picked to anchor the segment together. Because of Fey's head writer status, she would appear rarely out of "Weekend Update".

Cast roster

Repertory players

Jimmy Fallon
Will Ferrell
Ana Gasteyer
Darrell Hammond
Chris Kattan
Tracy Morgan
Chris Parnell
Horatio Sanz
Molly Shannon (final episode: February 17, 2001)

Featured players

bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

Writers

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers § Season 26

Episodes

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Host	Musical guest(s)	Original air date
486	1	Rob Lowe	Eminem	October 7, 2000
2000 Presidential candidate Ralph Nader made a cameo appearance during the monologue The George W. Bush/Al Gore presidential debate sketch in this episode is credited with coining the word "strategery" Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey become the new anchors of Weekend Update; Tim Meadows appears during the segment to promote The Ladies Man, a film produced by SNL Studios Tina Fey and Jerry Minor's first episode as cast members Brendan Fraser cameos in a sketch featuring Chris Kattan getting ready for the next sketch like the athletes featured in the Olympic Profiles segment Eminem performs "Stan" (with Dido) and "The Real Slim Shady", and also appeared during Weekend Update
487	2	Kate Hudson	Radiohead	October 14, 2000
Nomar Garciaparra appears as himself during a Sully and Denise sketch. Radiohead performs "The National Anthem" and "Idioteque."
488	3	Dana Carvey	The Wallflowers	October 21, 2000
Robert De Niro appears as himself during Weekend Update to discuss Jimmy Fallon's negative review of Meet the Parents from the previous episode. The Wallflowers performs "Sleepwalker" and "Hand Me Down." Baha Men makes a surprise appearance and performs "Who Let the Dogs Out?".
489	4	Charlize Theron	Paul Simon	November 4, 2000
Paul Simon performs "Hurricane Eye" and "Old." SNL writer and stand up Hugh Fink appears as himself on Weekend Update in a commentary on Judaism and Joe Lieberman.
490	5	Calista Flockhart	Ricky Martin	November 11, 2000
Ricky Martin performs "She Bangs" and "Loaded." Chris Kattan impersonates Ricky Martin right before the real Ricky Martin performs the song "Loaded" (from Martin's album Sound Loaded). Giovanni Hidalgo performs percussion during Ricky Martin's musical performances.
491	6	Tom Green	David Gray	November 18, 2000
Drew Barrymore is in the audience and mentioned in the monologue by Tom Green. Tom Green brought in his own writers for this episode, which didn't please the cast.^[2] David Gray performs "Babylon."
492	7	Val Kilmer	U2	December 9, 2000
U2 performs "Beautiful Day" and "Elevation." The previous day marked the 20th anniversary of John Lennon's assassination; Bono paid tribute to Lennon by singing a verse of "All You Need Is Love" over the end of "Beautiful Day." The Director, Associate Directors, and Stage Managers who worked on this episode won a Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement.
493	8	Lucy Liu	Jay-Z	December 16, 2000
Jay-Z performs "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)" and "Is That Your Chick," and cameos in the Robert Goulet Rap Album sketch.
494	9	Charlie Sheen	Nelly Furtado	January 13, 2001
Nelly Furtado performs "I'm Like a Bird." Charlie Sheen reprises his role as Ricky Vaughn from the Major League films in the NFL Pregame Sketch
495	10	Mena Suvari	Lenny Kravitz	January 20, 2001
Outgoing U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno makes a special appearance in the "Janet Reno's Dance Party" sketch where she confronts the "Janet Reno" portrayed by Will Ferrell. Lenny Kravitz performs "Again" and "Mr. Cab Driver," and appears in two live sketches as himself; one as holding auditions for Kyle and Sean DeMarco (Chris Kattan and Chris Parnell) and another going through airport security.
496	11	Jennifer Lopez	Jennifer Lopez	February 10, 2001
Jennifer Lopez performs "Play" and "Love Don't Cost a Thing." Tom Hanks makes a guest appearance during Weekend Update.
497	12	Sean Hayes	Shaggy	February 17, 2001
Shaggy performs "It Wasn't Me" and "Angel." Molly Shannon's final episode as a cast member.
498	13	Katie Holmes	Dave Matthews Band	February 24, 2001
Dave Matthews Band performs "I Did It" and "The Space Between."
499	14	Conan O'Brien	Don Henley	March 10, 2001
Max Weinberg, the drummer on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Weinberg's wife Becky appear in O'Brien's opening monologue. Ben Affleck appears at the end of the "Boston Teens at the Liquor Store" sketch. Don Henley performs "Everything Is Different Now" and "The Heart of the Matter."
500	15	Julia Stiles	Aerosmith	March 17, 2001
Aerosmith performs "Jaded" and "Big Ten Inch Record."
501	16	Alec Baldwin	Coldplay	April 7, 2001
Coldplay performs "Yellow" and "Don't Panic." David Spade appears on Weekend Update to plug his movie Joe Dirt. Co-star Kid Rock also makes an appearance and does a few "Hollywood Minute" jokes.
502	17	Renée Zellweger	Eve	April 14, 2001
Eve and Gwen Stefani (who isn't credited for her appearance) performs "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" for the first performance. Eve performs "Who's That Girl?" for the second performance. Molly Shannon makes an appearance.
503	18	Pierce Brosnan	Destiny's Child	May 5, 2001
Destiny's Child performs "Survivor" and "Emotion," and also appears in a sketch as former members of "Gemini's Twin", a recurring parody of the group. Julia Stiles appears in the cold opening, as George W. Bush's daughter, Jenna.
504	19	Lara Flynn Boyle	Bon Jovi	May 12, 2001
Bon Jovi performs "It's My Life" and "You Give Love a Bad Name." Lou Reed makes an appearance on Weekend Update.
505	20	Christopher Walken	Weezer	May 19, 2001
Jerry Minor's final episode as a cast member, and Chris Parnell's until the middle of the next season Weezer performs "Hash Pipe" and "Island in the Sun" Former cast member Kevin Nealon appears during Weekend Update to tell viewers that he is not on SNL anymore and that viewers who do see him are watching reruns from the 1990s that at the time aired on Comedy Central Winona Ryder appears during The Weekend Update Cliffhanger

Specials

Title	Original air date
"2000 Presidential Bash"	November 3, 2000
The special included election material from this year and years past. Rachel Dratch, Will Ferrell and Darrell Hammond hosted the special while doing a number of different impressions. This special also featured cameo appearances from George W. Bush, Al Gore, Jesse Ventura, George H.W. Bush, Barbara Bush and Dana Carvey.
"Thursday Night Live (1)"	February 1, 2001
"The Culps' Mandatory Drug Awareness Assembly" sketch from this episode was included in the prime-time special "SNL Mother's Day Special 2001" as well as the clip show "The Best of Will Ferrell."
"Thursday Night Live (2)"	February 8, 2001
"The Best of Molly Shannon"	March 20, 2001
The special included material featuring Molly Shannon during her stint on the show. Sketches include "Mary Katherine Gallagher," "Leg Up," "The Courtney Love Show," "Pretty Living," "Delicious Dish," "Rockettes Auditions," "Monica Lewinsky in Congress," "Fanatic" (film), "Blind Date At The Airport," "Veronica and Co.," "Dame Elizabeth Taylor," and "Jeannie Darcy."
"Mother's Day Special 2001"	May 13, 2001
The first SNL Mother's Day special since 1993, the episode featured the cast and their mothers talking about their favorite sketches aired on the show. Sketches included "Behind the Music: Rock & Roll Heaven", "TRL: Gemini's Twin", "Mango vs. J.Lo", "The Weakest Link" and more. This special contained a special tribute to singer-songwriter Minnie Riperton, who was the mother of cast member Maya Rudolph.

The Ladies Man film

Main article: The Ladies Man (2000 film)

Based on Leon Phelps' popular sketches, The Ladies Man film was released on October 13, 2000. The film's star Tim Meadows left Saturday Night Live at the end of the previous season but returned to promote the film in the first episode of this season. The movie was panned by critics and flopped at the box office.