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Season 39 of Saturday Night Live premiered on September 28, 2013, hosted by longtime former cast member Tina Fey, with musical guests Arcade Fire and concluded on May 17, 2014, hosted by another longtime former cast member Andy Samberg, with musical guest St. Vincent.

Cast changes

At the end of the previous season, longtime cast members Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, and Jason Sudeikis, all left the show after eleven, eight, and nine seasons, respectively. Soon after their departures, featured player  Tim Robinson, who had been a cast member the previous season, decided to instead join the show's writing staff before this season began; this would be Robinson's last season overall on the show, as he departed following the finale; Robinson remained as a writer. Seth Meyers also announced a planned mid-season exit to prepare for his new job, hosting Late Night; in preparation, Cecily Strong was added to the Weekend Update desk with him. Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong were promoted to repertory status.[1]

The cast ballooned compared to the previous season, with six new people added before the start of the year: Beck Bennett, Noël Wells, John Milhiser, Kyle Mooney, Mike O'Brien, and Brooks Wheelan all joined the cast as featured players; O'Brien was promoted from the writers' room. It would be the first season for Bennett, Mooney, Zamata and Jost, and the only season for Wells, Milhiser, O'Brien, and Wheelan; Wells, Milhiser, and Wheelan were dropped from the show entirely, while O'Brien returned to the writers' room.

In October, Kenan Thompson gave an interview to TV Guide, where he criticized the show's lack of black females on the cast, and publicly refused to continue to dress in drag on the show.[2] This was a point of humor in the November 2 show, hosted by Kerry Washington. With the flurry of press attention that followed, Lorne Michaels and NBC decided to add a black woman to the cast, leading to Sasheer Zamata joining after Christmas break.[3][4] Auditioning but not making the cast were Tiffany Haddish, Amber Ruffin, LaKendra Tookes, and Leslie Jones.[5] Tookes and Jones were added as writers; Tookes would only last to the end of the season, but Jones would remain and was eventually promoted to the cast. Haddish and Ruffin would both reach fame outside of SNL; Ruffin appeared on Seth Meyers' Late Night and Haddish would come back to host.

Also in the news was the shift in late night programming, an extension of the 2010 Tonight Show conflict, which meant SNL alum Jimmy Fallon moving from the 12:35 Late Night to the 11:35 Tonight Show, and Seth Meyers taking over the 12:35 show. The transition took place during the gap created by the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi; Meyers last show was February 1, his Late Night started in the last week of February, and when SNL resumed on March 1, Meyers was gone and head writer Colin Jost had joined the cast in his place. (Jost had been a writer since 2005 and was head writer for seasons 2012) Jost joined Strong at the Weekend Update desk.

This was the final season for longtime cast members Meyers, who had been on the show since 2001, a total of 13 seasons, head writer since January 14, 2006 and Weekend Update anchor since September 30, 2006 for 8 seasons, and Nasim Pedrad, who had been on the show for five seasons since 2009. Pedrad announced her departure from the show in June 2014 in order to join John Mulaney's new sitcom Mulaney, the Lorne Michaels-produced show.

This would be also the final season for long-time announcer Don Pardo, who died on August 18, 2014, at the age of 96, over the summer following the season finale.

The opening montage is still the same, only Cecily Strong’s photo was changed.

Writing credits

For this season only, after written by, additional sketch by scrolls up before writing supervised by. Pete Schultz is a weekend update producer. His credit is before production designers and after Alex Baze’s credit. Rachel Lynn is digital producer. Her credit is before Mary Ellen Mathews’ credit and after co producers.

Writing supervised by has now Bryan Tucker and Marika Sawyer. On some episodes, it adds John Solomon. Starting on the episodes where Colin Jost starts being a cast member on SNL, Marika Sawyer and John Solomon are writing supervised by. On the episode where Louis CK hosts, Robert Smigel is credited for additional sketch by. On the episode where Anna Kendrick hosts, Sam Means is credited for additional sketch by. On the episode where Seth Rogen hosts, Dan Mirk is credited for additional sketch by. On the episode where Andrew Garfield hosts, Mike Scollins is credited for additional sketch by. Scollins is also credited for that credit in the episode where Charlize Theron hosts. On the episode where Andy Samberg hosts, two people are credited for additional sketch by.

This is the last season in which Alex Baze was weekend update supervising producer. His retirement was after the show ended. His retirement was announced at the end of May.

Cast

Changes

Not returning

· Fred Armisen
· Bill Hader
· Jason Sudeikis
· Tim Robinson

New

· Beck Bennett
· John Milhiser
· Kyle Mooney
· Mike O'Brien
· Noël Wells
· Brooks Wheelan

Promoted

· Aidy Bryant
· Kate McKinnon
· Cecily Strong

Mid-season changes

· Sasheer Zamata (first January 18)
· Seth Meyers (final February 1)
· Colin Jost (first March 1)

Repertory Players

Portal 38 - Vanessa Bayer  Portal 38 - Aidy Bryant  Portal - Taran Killam 

Portal - Kate McKinnon  Portal 38 - Seth Meyers  Portal 38 - Bobby Moynihan 

Portal 38 - Nasim Pedrad  Portal 38 - Jay Pharoah  Portal - Cecily Strong 

Portal 38 - Kenan Thompson 

Featured Players

Portal 38 - Beck Bennett  Portal 38 - Colin Jost  Portal 38 - John Milhiser 

Portal 38 - Kyle Mooney  Portal 38 - Mike O'Brien  Portal 38 - Noel Wells 

Portal 38 - Brooks Wheelan  Portal 38 - Sasheer Zamata 

Episodes

Date Image Host Music Guest
September 28, 2013 13ahost1 Tina Fey Arcade Fire
October 5, 2013 13bhost1 Miley Cyrus Miley Cyrus
October 12, 2013 13chost1 Bruce Willis Katy Perry
October 26, 2013 13dhost1 Edward Norton Janelle Monáe
November 2, 2013 13ehost3 Kerry Washington Eminem
November 16, 2013 13fhost2 Lady Gaga Lady Gaga
November 23, 2013 13ghost1 Josh Hutcherson HAIM
December 7, 2013 13hhost1 Paul Rudd One Direction
December 14, 2013 13ihost1 John Goodman Kings of Leon
December 21, 2013 13jhost1 Jimmy Fallon Justin Timberlake
January 18, 2014 13khost1 Drake Drake
January 25, 2014 13lhost1 Jonah Hill Bastille
February 1, 2014 13mhost1 Melissa McCarthy Imagine Dragons
March 1, 2014 JimParson Jim Parsons Beck
March 8, 2014 13ohost2 Lena Dunham The National
March 29, 2014 LouieCK04 Louis C.K. Sam Smith
April 5, 2014 NBC-SNL-1658-BUMPER-PHOTOS-005 Anna Kendrick Pharrell
April 12, 2014 SNL1659 BUMPER PHOTOS006 Seth Rogen Ed Sheeran
May 3, 2014 Andrew Garfield Andrew Garfield Coldplay
May 10, 2014 Charlize Theron Charlize Theron The Black Keys
May 17, 2014 13uhost6 Andy Samberg St. Vincent

Trivia

References

Navigation

Preceded by:
Season 38
Season 39
(2013— 2014)
Followed by:
Season 40
Seasons
 
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