Season 40, billed as Saturday Night Live 40, began in the fall of 2014 and ended in the spring of 2015 during the 2014–15 television season on NBC. The season premiered on September 27, 2014, with host Chris Pratt and musical guest Ariana Grande and concluded on May 16, 2015 with host Louis C.K. and musical guest Rihanna.
It marked a major change in style, with new show logos being rolled out. A fortieth anniversary special aired on February 15, 2015. It also marked the beginning of SNL Vintage, the airing of one-hour edits of old episodes at 10 PM.
Season 40 is the first season in over thirty years to not include longtime announcer Don Pardo; Pardo had died during the off-season on August 18, 2014. Longtime former cast member Darrell Hammond returned to SNL as the show's new announcer. The premiere included an interstitial photograph of Pardo.
Longtime cast member Nasim Pedrad, who had been on the show since 2009, announced her departure in June 2014, as she was on board to star on the Lorne Michaels-produced sitcom Mulaney starring former SNL writer John Mulaney, which Fox had picked up for the 2014-15 season.[1] Mulaney was originally pitched to NBC for the 2013-14 season, but NBC declined it; Pedrad had stated her intent to leave SNL at that time if the series were picked up. Following Pedrad's departure, John Milhiser, Noël Wells, and Brooks Wheelan, all new hires for the previous season, were all let go following the finale, in July 2014, after only one season with the cast.[2][3] Additionally, Mike O'Brien, a writer promoted to featured player for season 39, was moved back to the writers' room. Overall, of the six cast members introduced in the previous season's premiere, only Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett returned. Colin Jost and Sasheer Zamata, who were both introduced later in the previous season, both returned for this season.
In total, Beck Bennett, Colin Jost, Kyle Mooney and Sasheer Zamata remained as featured players. Bennett, Jost, Mooney and Zamata were all upgraded to repertory status in the following season.
Previous Weekend Update anchor Cecily Strong was dropped from her post prior to the start of the season and she remained in the cast.
To fill the void following Pedrad, Milhiser, O'Brien, Wells, and Wheelan's departures, two comedians joined the cast at the start of the season: stand-up comic Pete Davidson, the first SNL cast member to have been born in the 1990s, and former SNL writer Michael Che was added to the cast and the Update desk with Colin Jost. Leslie Jones, a writer who had auditioned to join the cast at Christmas break in the previous season, was promoted to the cast for the October 25, 2014 episode. Jones had made several uncredited cameos in previous episodes.
Following the finale, no changes were made to the cast, and everyone returned for the next season.
During the credits after "written by," "writing supervised by" began listing Chris Kelly, Sarah Schneider and Kent Sublette. Dennis McNicholas fills in for Alex Baze.
Cast[]
Changes[]
| Not Returning: | Added: |
Repertory Players[]
Featured Players[]
Episodes[]
Deaths[]
- Jan Hooks (October 9, 2014)
- George Coe (July 18, 2015)
Opening montage[]
S40
Intro was used all the way through season 43; though the "40" was dropped for seasons 41-43.
This season had introduced a redesigned montage which included the new logo. As with many other new intros, a new musical arrangement was also introduced. The intro removes the use of cast photos and is entirely video. This opening montage was used until the end of Season 43.
The design of the new title/name graphics takes cues from older analog technology, with flickering effects being used. The titles and names flicker off leaving the initials of the subject (e.g., K M for Kate McKinnon). The names are also animated to be tracked with the eyes of the cast member. This is especially noticeable with Colin Jost's card, as he looks down while the name follows the movement until it travels off-screen. A commemorative "40" was also added to the logo for this season.
An aerial shot of the GE Building/30 Rockefeller Plaza is removed for the second episode of the season. It is replaced with a view of Lower Manhattan. This is possibly due to the potential sale of NBC to Comcast at the time. Also changed for the second episode are the musical guest and host introductions, whose images have turned black and white.
Two shots in the montage have a different aspect ratio than the 1920x1080 one used throughout the rest of the montage. The first one is an exterior shot of the restaurant used in Vanessa Bayer's introduction, and the second one is a shot of a balcony used right before Cecily Strong's introduction. It is unclear why this is as this error had remained in the opening as it was never addressed during its usage.
For more information, check out Pentagram's release on the subject.
References[]
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| Preceded by: Season 39 |
Season 40 (2014— 2015) |
Followed by: Season 41 |
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