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The 43rd season of Saturday Night Live premiered on September 30, 2017 with host Ryan Gosling and musical guest Jay-Z, and concluded on May 19, 2018, hosted by longtime former cast member Tina Fey with musical guest Nicki Minaj.

During the week of the Season 42 finale, it was announced that longtime cast members Bobby Moynihan, Vanessa Bayer, and Sasheer Zamata left the show after spending their respective nine, seven, and four seasons been with the cast.[1][2] Following Moynihan, Bayer, and Zamata's departures, the show hired three new featured players: comedian and writer Heidi Gardner of The Groundlings, iO Chicago alum Luke Null, and stand-up comedian Chris Redd, who previously did sketch comedy at Second City. Redd had been incorrectly reported as joining the cast during the previous season. This is the first season for Gardner and Redd as cast members, and the only season for Null, who was let go after the season's end.

Mikey Day, Alex Moffat and Melissa Villaseñor continued as featured players until they were upgraded to repertory status in the following season.

With this announcement came the confirmation that the rest of the cast from the previous season would return, including frequent host Alec Baldwin in his role as President Donald Trump.

With his return, Kenan Thompson surpassed Darrell Hammond's record as the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history, with a total of fifteen seasons compared to Hammond's fourteen seasons from 1995-2009.

Starting with the December 16, 2017 episode, hosted by comedian and actor Kevin Hart, with musical guest Foo Fighters, Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che were named head writers of the show, alongside Bryan Tucker and Kent Sublette (though Tucker, who had been head writer since March 2014, resigned as head writer at the end of the season).

Jost and Che themselves had been regular writers at the show since they started at the show back in 2005 and 2013 respectively, with Jost having previously served as head writer from 2012 to 2015.

They continued on as head writers until the end of the show's 47th season; as part of a big transition year for that show. Where, as of Season 48, they continue to anchor Update and write for the show, but are no longer head writers.

Cast[]

Changes[]

Not Returning New

Repertory Players[]

Portal 40 - Beck Bennett  Portal 40 - Aidy Bryant  Portal 40 - Michael Che 

Portal 40 - Pete Davidson  LeJo1  Portal 40 - Colin Jost 

Portal 40 - Kate McKinnon  Portal 40 - Kyle Mooney  Portal 40 - Cecily Strong 

Portal 40 - Kenan Thompson 

Featured Players[]

Mikey-day-s42  Gardner-s43 Alex-moffat-s42

Null-s43 Redd-s43 Melissa-villasenor-s42

Episodes[]

Episode
Number
Season
Number
Date Host(s) Musical Guest(s)
830 1 September 30, 2017 Ryan Gosling Jay-Z
831 2 October 7, 2017 Gal Gadot Sam Smith
832 3 October 14, 2017 Kumail Nanjiani P!nk
833 4 November 4, 2017 Larry David Miley Cyrus
834 5 November 11, 2017 Tiffany Haddish Taylor Swift
835 6 November 18, 2017 Chance The Rapper Eminem
836 7 December 2, 2017 Saoirse Ronan U2
837 8 December 9, 2017 James Franco SZA
838 9 December 16, 2017 Kevin Hart Foo Fighters
839 10 January 13, 2018 Sam Rockwell Halsey
840 11 January 20, 2018 Jessica Chastain Troye Sivan
841 12 January 27, 2018 Will Ferrell Chris Stapleton
842 13 February 3, 2018 Natalie Portman Dua Lipa
843 14 March 3, 2018 Charles Barkley Migos
844 15 March 10, 2018 Sterling K. Brown James Bay
845 16 March 17, 2018 Bill Hader Arcade Fire
846 17 April 7, 2018 Chadwick Boseman Cardi B
847 18 April 14, 2018 John Mulaney Jack White
848 19 May 5, 2018 Donald Glover Donald Glover
as Childish Gambino
849 20 May 12, 2018 Amy Schumer Kacey Musgraves
850 21 May 19, 2018 Tina Fey Nicki Minaj

Opening montage[]

References[]

Preceded by:
Season 42
Season 43
(2017— 2018)
Followed by:
Season 44
Seasons
 
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