Saturday Night Live (season 27)

Saturday Night Live (season 27)
The title card for the twenty-seventh season of Saturday Night Live.
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 20
Release
Original network NBC
Original release September 29, 2001 (2001-09-29) – May 18, 2002 (2002-05-18)
Season chronology

The twenty-seventh season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 29, 2001, and May 18, 2002.

Eighteen days before the season started, the September 11, 2001 attacks took place in New York. The season premiere (hosted by Reese Witherspoon) went on as scheduled, with a special cold open featuring Rudy Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City at the time, along with the firefighters and police officers of New York, declaring that despite the terrorist attack, New York City will run as normal and Saturday Night Live will go on as planned (with Lorne Michaels asking Giuliani, "Can we be funny?" and Giuliani replying, "Why start now?").

Three weeks into the season the show faced another scare when anthrax was found in the GE Building (from where the show is broadcast). The scare caused most of the cast and crew, as well as that week's guest host Drew Barrymore, to evacuate the building.

Cast

Changes and notes

Before the start of the season, Jerry Minor and Chris Parnell were both let go from the show. However, luck was on Parnell's side as he was hired back to the show mid-season in the episode hosted by Jonny Moseley, becoming the second cast member to be hired back to the show after being fired, the first person being Jim Belushi in 1983.

Hired to fill two absences were stand-up comic Dean Edwards; Chicago improv comedian Seth Meyers; Amy Poehler of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe (she previously starred in the troupes sketch show on Comedy Central for three seasons), who was promoted to repertory status mid-season; and stand-up comic/impressionist Jeff Richards, who was previously a cast member on the rival sketch show Mad TV. Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph were all upgraded to repertory status.

Will Ferrell was absent from a number of episodes because he was filming Old School. This would also be the final season for both Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer.

Cast roster

Repertory players
Featured players

bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

Writers

Episodes

No.
overall		No. in
season		HostMusical guest(s)Original air date
5061Reese WitherspoonAlicia KeysSeptember 29, 2001

[2]

5072Seann William ScottSum 41October 6, 2001

  • Sum41 performs "Fat Lip" and "In Too Deep".
  • Former cast member Chevy Chase made a cameo on Weekend Update as the Land Shark. Chase ends the segment by saying "Goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow," the sign-off used by both Chase and Fey during their tenures on Weekend Update.
5083Drew BarrymoreMacy GrayOctober 13, 2001

5094John GoodmanJa RuleNovember 3, 2001

  • Ja Rule performs "Always on Time" with Ashanti and "Livin' It Up" with Case.
  • Former cast member Dan Aykroyd appears during the "Hudson Valley Community Circuit" sketch, during Weekend Update, reprising his role as Elwood Blues, and during the "Bad Conceptual Theater" sketch, reprising his role as Leonard Pinth-Garnell.
5105Gwyneth PaltrowRyan AdamsNovember 10, 2001

5116Billy Bob ThorntonCreedNovember 17, 2001

5127Derek JeterShakira
Bubba Sparxxx		December 1, 2001

5138Hugh JackmanMick JaggerDecember 8, 2001

5149Ellen DeGeneresNo DoubtDecember 15, 2001

51510Josh HartnettPinkJanuary 12, 2002

51611Jack BlackThe StrokesJanuary 19, 2002

51712Britney SpearsBritney SpearsFebruary 2, 2002

51813Jonny MoseleyOutkastMarch 2, 2002

51914Jon StewartIndia.ArieMarch 9, 2002

52015Ian McKellenKylie MinogueMarch 16, 2002

52116Cameron DiazJimmy Eat WorldApril 6, 2002

52217Dwayne JohnsonAndrew W.K.April 13, 2002

52318Alec BaldwinP.O.D.April 20, 2002

52419Kirsten DunstEminemMay 11, 2002

52520Winona RyderMobyMay 18, 2002

Special

TitleOriginal air date
"SNL Remembers John Belushi"March 11, 2002
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of John's death, Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey host this retrospective of some of his greatest sketches on SNL. Dan Aykroyd makes a cameo appearance in this special.

References

  1. ↑ Boedeker, Hal (October 1, 2001). "'Snl' Falters After Moving Tribute". Orlando Sentinel.
  2. ↑ Huff, Richard (2001-09-05). "Witherspoon on 'SNL'". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
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