Saturday Night Live (season 5)

Saturday Night Live (season 5)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	20
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	October 13, 1979 – May 24, 1980
Season chronology

The fifth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 13, 1979, and May 24, 1980.

John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd left the show at the end of the fourth season, leaving a void in the cast that most fans thought would be the beginning of the end of the late-night sketch show.

To keep the show going, Lorne Michaels upgraded many of the show's writers to featured cast member status: Peter Aykroyd (Dan's brother), Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray (Bill's brother), Don Novello (unless appearing exclusively as Father Guido Sarducci), Tom Schiller and Alan Zweibel. Band leader Paul Shaffer also joined the cast, becoming the first person from the SNL band to become a cast member. Harry Shearer joined the show as a featured cast member and was promoted to repertory status during the season.

This season was also the first to have two members of the same family as cast members (Bill Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray).

This would be the final season for everyone in the cast. Tom Davis and Downey would return to the show in future seasons as writers. Al Franken, Doyle-Murray, Novello, and Shearer would rejoin the cast in future seasons (Franken would also return as a writer).

Cast

Repertory cast members Jane Curtin Garrett Morris Bill Murray Laraine Newman Gilda Radner Harry Shearer (upgraded to repertory status: February 9, 1980)

Featured cast members Peter Aykroyd (first episode: November 17, 1979) Tom Davis Jim Downey (first episode: January 26, 1980) Brian Doyle-Murray (first episode: December 15, 1979) Al Franken Don Novello / Father Guido Sarducci Tom Schiller (first episode: December 15, 1979) Paul Shaffer (first episode: November 17, 1979) Alan Zweibel (first episode: December 15, 1979) [1]

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Featured cast members announced and shown during the "Opening Introductions" varied from week to week, as noted below in each episode's description.

Writers

As previously mentioned, Michaels upgraded many of the show's writers to cast member status, including Aykroyd, Downey, Doyle-Murray, Novello, Schiller and Zweibel. Doyle-Murray would be the only one to return, as a writer, in the following season.

This season's writers were Peter Aykroyd, Anne Beatts, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray, Al Franken, Tom Gammill, Lorne Michaels, Matt Neuman, Don Novello, Sarah Paley, Max Pross, Herb Sargent, Tom Schiller, Harry Shearer, Rosie Shuster and Alan Zweibel. The head writer was Herb Sargent.

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Host(s)	Musical guest(s)	Original air date
87	1	Steve Martin	Blondie	October 13, 1979
Blondie performs "Dreaming" and "The Hardest Part"[2] Buck Henry has a cameo.
88	2	Eric Idle	Bob Dylan	October 20, 1979
Dylan performs "Gotta Serve Somebody", "I Believe in You", and "When You Gonna Wake Up"[2] Andy Kaufman challenges the women in the studio audience to a wrestling match.
89	3	Bill Russell	Chicago	November 3, 1979
Chicago performs a cover of The Spencer Davis Group's "I'm a Man" and "Street Player"[2]
90	4	Buck Henry	Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers	November 10, 1979
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers perform "Refugee" and "Don't Do Me Like That"[2]
91	5	Bea Arthur	The Roches	November 17, 1979
The first episode as featured players for Peter Aykroyd and Paul Shaffer The Roches perform "Bobby's Song" (from its second album, "Nurds") and "The Hallelujah Chorus" (from its third album, "Keep On Doing")[2] Andy Kaufman guest stars.
92	6	Howard Hesseman	Randy Newman	December 8, 1979
Newman performs "It's Money That I Love",[2] "The Story of a Rock and Roll Band",[2] and "I'm Gonna Take Off My Pants"
93	7	Martin Sheen	David Bowie	December 15, 1979
The first episode as featured players for Doyle-Murray, Zweibel, and Schiller Bowie performs "The Man Who Sold the World", "TVC 15", and "Boys Keep Swinging"[2] Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias make guest appearances as backup singers
94	8	Ted Knight	Desmond Child & Rouge	December 22, 1979
Desmond Child & Rouge perform "Goodbye Baby"[2] and "Tumble In The Night" G.E. Smith plays backup guitar
95	9	Teri Garr	The B-52's	January 26, 1980
The B-52's perform "Rock Lobster" and "Dance This Mess Around"[2] Jim Downey's first episode as a cast member Presidential candidate John B. Anderson appears in a sketch.
96	10	Chevy Chase	Marianne Faithfull Tom Scott	February 9, 1980
Harry Shearer's first episode as a member of the main repertory cast rather than as a featured performer New opening montage, featuring all cast members in rolling still images in a bar setting Faithfull performs "Broken English" and "Guilt"[2] Chase and Scott perform "Sixteen Tons"
97	11	Elliott Gould	Gary Numan	February 16, 1980
A running gag where Father Guido Sarducci attempts to interview former President Richard Nixon, and stakes out his New York apartment building JAP character Rhonda Weiss (Gilda Radner) performs a takeoff on Jordache: "She's the Jewess in Jewess jeans" Numan performs "Cars" and "Praying to the Aliens"[2]
98	12	Kirk Douglas	Sam & Dave	February 23, 1980
Sam & Dave performs "You Don't Know Like I Know" and "Soul Man"[2]
99	13	Rodney Dangerfield	The J. Geils Band	March 8, 1980
The J. Geils Band performs "Love Stinks" and "Sanctuary"[2] Leave It to Beaver cast members Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow appear during Weekend Update. Actor Rob Morrow appears as an extra in a sketch. He would later host the show during Season 17.
100	14	none	Paul Simon James Taylor David Sanborn	March 15, 1980
No announced guest host David Sanborn's only time as musical guest The show's 100th episode, featuring several cameos Simon and Taylor perform "Cathy's Clown", "Sunny Skies", and "Take Me to the Mardi Gras"[2] David Sanborn performs "Anything You Want"[2] During a sketch about a medieval band rehearsing for a performance, Paul Shaffer said the word "fuck" live on the air.[3]
101	15	Richard Benjamin Paula Prentiss	The Grateful Dead	April 5, 1980
The Grateful Dead performs "Alabama Getaway" and "Saint of Circumstance,"[2] both from the album Go To Heaven
102	16	Burt Reynolds	Anne Murray	April 12, 1980
Murray sings "Lucky Me" and "Why Don't You Stick Around"[2]
103	17	Strother Martin	The Specials	April 19, 1980
Strother Martin's final television appearance before his death in August, 1980 The Specials perform "Gangsters" and "Too Much, Too Young"[2]
104	18	Bob Newhart	The Amazing Rhythm Aces Bruce Cockburn	May 10, 1980
In a Weekend Update commentary, "A Limo For A Lame-O", Franken laments that he does not have limo service like NBC president Fred Silverman, despite the network's poor ratings and shaky finances under Silverman's leadership. This ruined Franken's slim chance of succeeding Lorne Michaels as the show's executive producer[4] The Amazing Rhythm Aces performs "Who Will the Next Fool Be"[2] and "Third Rate Romance"[2] (Joined by Murray on the Maracas) Cockburn performs "Wondering Where the Lions Are"[2]
105	19	Steve Martin	3-D, Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney	May 17, 1980
3-D performs "All-Night Television"[2] Paul McCartney premieres the music video for his single "Coming Up"[5]
106	20	Buck Henry	Andrew Gold Andrae Crouch & the Voices of Unity	May 24, 1980
Buck Henry's tenth and final time as host The final episode as repertory cast members for Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner The final episode as featured performers for Peter Aykroyd, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Tom Schiller, Paul Shaffer, and Alan Zweibel The final episode as repertory cast member for Harry Shearer until season ten The final episode as featured performers for Brian Doyle-Murray until season 7, and for Al Franken and Don Novello until season 11 Lorne Michaels's final episode as executive producer until season 11 Andrew Gold performs "Kiss This One Goodbye"[2] Andrae Crouch & the Voices of Unity perform "Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus"[2] Contains the "Lord and Lady Douchebag" sketch,[6] in which the word "douchebag" was said 12[7] times. Future cast member Yvonne Hudson appeared in the Nick the Lounge Singer sketch.

DVD release

SNL's fifth season was released on DVD on December 1, 2009.^[8] There are no plans to release any further seasons.^[9]

References

1. "The SNL Archives: 1979-1980". Retrieved 8 April 2015.
2. Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 124–127. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
3. Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 26–27, 264. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
4. Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad, Saturday Night, Beech Tree Books, 1986, p. 376
5. "Saturday Night Live: Steve Martin/Paul and Linda McCartney Episode Summary". TV.com. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
6. Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. p. 109. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
7. Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. p. 264. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
8. "Saturday Night Live: Season 5, 1979-1980". Amazon. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
9. Lambert, David (November 4, 2010). "Saturday Night Live - Season Set Outlook is Not So Good for SNL, Studio Says". TV Shows on DVD. Retrieved March 5, 2015.