Saturday Night Live (season 36)

Saturday Night Live (season 36)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	22
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 25, 2010 – May 21, 2011
Season chronology

The thirty-sixth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 25, 2010, and May 21, 2011.

This season also debuted a new animated feature voiced by former SNL cast members, called "Greetings from American America", created by former SNL head writer Fred Wolf.

Long-time announcer Don Pardo announced that he would pre-record his parts from his home in Arizona rather than performing live in New York City.^[1]

Cast

Prior to the start of the season, many cast changes occurred. Will Forte, who had been with the show since 2002 (a total of 8 seasons), announced on August 26, 2010 that he would be leaving the show.^[2] Featured player Jenny Slate was let go from the show after only one season.^[3] Abby Elliott and Bobby Moynihan were promoted to repertory status, becoming the first featured players to be promoted since 2006.

The show hired four new cast members: Chicago improvisers Vanessa Bayer and Paul Brittain from ImprovOlympic; stand-up comic/impressionist Jay Pharoah; and comedic actor Taran Killam of The Groundlings, who, like Jeff Richards was a former cast member on SNL's rival sketch show, Mad TV (Killam was the show's youngest cast member at 19 years old).^[4]

Repertory players Fred Armisen Abby Elliott Bill Hader Seth Meyers Bobby Moynihan Andy Samberg Jason Sudeikis Kenan Thompson Kristen Wiig

Featured players Vanessa Bayer Paul Brittain Taran Killam Nasim Pedrad Jay Pharoah

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

In August 2010, Michaels hired Second City Theater writers Tom Flanigan and Shelly Gossman.^[5] Heather Anne Campbell, a performer from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles, was also added to the writing staff.^[6] Sarah Schneider, a regular writer and performer for CollegeHumor, was a guest writer for the last five episodes of the season before joining full-time for season 37.^[7]

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Host	Musical guest(s)	Original air date	Ratings/ Share
681	1	Amy Poehler	Katy Perry	September 25, 2010	5.3/13
Vanessa Bayer, Paul Brittain, Taran Killam, and Jay Pharoah's first episode as cast members Amy Poehler reprises her roles as Betty Caruso and Amber Katy Perry performs "California Gurls" and "Teenage Dream", and appears in Bronx Beat and the SNL Digital Short Back-up dancer Kherington Payne appears in both performances Justin Timberlake, Rachel Dratch, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Peter Sarsgaard, and Maya Rudolph made cameo appearances New York Governor David Paterson appears in Weekend Update alongside Fred Armisen's portrayal of Paterson
682	2	Bryan Cranston	Kanye West	October 2, 2010	4.8/12
Kanye West performs "Power" and "Runaway". Pusha T performs with him on the second song. Morgan Freeman and Ernest Borgnine made cameo appearances in the sketch "What Up with That". Helen Mirren appears in the digital short.
683	3	Jane Lynch	Bruno Mars	October 9, 2010	4.8/12
Bruno Mars performs "Just the Way You Are" and a medley of the songs "Nothin' on You" and "Grenade". Kristen Wiig received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for this episode.
684	4	Emma Stone	Kings of Leon	October 23, 2010	4.5/11
Kings of Leon performs "Radioactive" and "Pyro". SNL writer John Mulaney appears on a Weekend Update segment called "I Love It".
685	5	Jon Hamm	Rihanna	October 30, 2010	4.6/11
Rihanna performs "What's My Name?" and "Only Girl (In the World)" and appears in the Digital Short. The episode's final segment features David Spade as the voice of a chihuahua in an animated short by former SNL writer Fred Wolf.
686	6	Scarlett Johansson	Arcade Fire	November 13, 2010	4.7/12
Arcade Fire performs "We Used to Wait" and "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" and appears in the Digital Short. Owen Pallett plays violin during both of Arcade Fire's performances.[8] Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner plays the synthesizer during Arcade Fire's second performance.[9]
687	7	Anne Hathaway	Florence + the Machine	November 20, 2010	4.7/12
Florence + the Machine performs "Dog Days Are Over" and "You Got the Love".
688	8	Robert De Niro	Diddy-Dirty Money	December 4, 2010	5.0/12
Diddy-Dirty Money performs "Coming Home" and "Ass on the Floor" Sean "Diddy" Combs appears in the "Blizzard Man" sketch Swizz Beatz performs with Diddy-Dirty Money for their second song Robin Williams made a cameo in "What Up with That" Ben Stiller made cameos in the "Movie Fan" and "It's a Living" sketches The episode's final segment features Dana Carvey as the voice of a hippie in an animated short by former SNL writer Fred Wolf
689	9	Paul Rudd	Paul McCartney	December 11, 2010	5.3/13
Paul McCartney performs "Jet", "Band on the Run", a medley of "A Day in the Life" and "Give Peace a Chance", and as an encore, "Get Back", replacing the extended good-byes. He appears in the opening monologue, SNL Digital Short, and Weekend Update. Chef Mario Batali appears in the Digital Short.
690	10	Jeff Bridges	Eminem and Lil Wayne	December 18, 2010	4.9/12
For the first set, Eminem and Lil Wayne perform "No Love". For the second set, Eminem performs "Won't Back Down" and Lil Wayne performs "6 Foot 7 Foot". David Rudman plays Cookie Monster in the opening monologue. Cookie Monster started his own campaign on Facebook, similar to that of Betty White, to audition for SNL the month before, though he did not get the part. Akon, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer, John McEnroe, Blake Lively, and Jessica Alba along with Andy Samberg appear in the SNL Digital Short. At the end of the episode, Bridges exclaimed "Rest in peace, Captain Beefheart!"; Beefheart, who performed on SNL in 1980, died the day before the episode's premiere.
691	11	Jim Carrey	The Black Keys	January 8, 2011	7.8/18
The Black Keys performs "Howlin' for You" and "Tighten Up". Jim Carrey reprises his Charles Bronson impression from In Living Color. The start of this broadcast was delayed 20 minutes due to the Colts-Jets AFC Wild Card game running long.
692	12	Gwyneth Paltrow	Cee Lo Green	January 15, 2011	5.1/12
Cee Lo Green performs "Forget You" and "Bright Lights Bigger City", appears in the opening monologue, The Bar Mitzvah Sketch and the "Forget You" sketch. Pee-wee Herman and Anderson Cooper appear in the SNL Digital Short.
693	13	Jesse Eisenberg	Nicki Minaj	January 29, 2011	5.1/12
Nicki Minaj performs "Right Thru Me" and "Moment 4 Life" and appears in the SNL Digital Short and the "Bride of Blackenstein" sketch. Mark Zuckerberg appears in the opening monologue. Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer, and John Waters appear in the SNL Digital Short.
694	14	Dana Carvey	Linkin Park	February 5, 2011	5.6/13
Linkin Park performs "Waiting for the End" and "When They Come for Me" Mike Myers appears in the cold open to reprise his role as the title character in a Wayne's World sketch and introduces Linkin Park's second number Jon Lovitz appears in the opening monologue and introduces Linkin Park's second number Justin Bieber appears in Church Chat and a pre-taped SNL Movie Trailer Re-Cut parody of The Roommate Carvey reprises his characters of Garth Algar and The Church Lady, as well as his impressions of Mickey Rooney and Regis Philbin
695	15	Russell Brand	Chris Brown	February 12, 2011	5.0/12
Chris Brown performs "Yeah 3x" and "No BS".[10]
696	16	Miley Cyrus	The Strokes	March 5, 2011	5.4/13
The Strokes performs "Under Cover of Darkness" and "Life is Simple in the Moonlight".
697	17	Zach Galifianakis	Jessie J	March 12, 2011	4.8/12
Jessie J performs "Price Tag" with B.o.B and "Mamma Knows Best". Seth Meyers ends Weekend Update by encouraging viewers to donate to Red Cross relief for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[11] Seth Meyers made an appearance in the "The Original Kings of Catchphrase Comedy Tour" sketch as comedian Boston Powers. According to Meyers, it was his first appearance in a sketch in two years.[12]
698	18	Elton John	Elton John and Leon Russell	April 2, 2011	5.0/12
Elton John and Leon Russell performs "Hey Ahab" and "Monkey Suit", also performs an encore performance of "The Bitch Is Back" after the show was over[13] Will Forte appears in the ESPN Classic sketch to reprise his character Greg Stink Tom Hanks appears in the ESPN Classic sketch, the Knights of the Realm sketch, the SNL Digital Short, and introduces John's first musical number Carmelo Anthony appears in the ESPN Classic sketch, the SNL Digital Short and introduces John's second musical number Jake Gyllenhaal appears on Weekend Update
699	19	Helen Mirren	Foo Fighters	April 9, 2011	4.7/12
Foo Fighters performs "Rope" and "Walk". Additionally, Dave Grohl appears in the SNL Digital Short and the Bongo's Clown Room sketch.
700	20	Tina Fey	Ellie Goulding	May 7, 2011	5.3/15
Ellie Goulding performs "Lights" and "Your Song" Maya Rudolph appears in the opening monologue, the pregnancy class sketch, and the Googie Rene sketch Darrell Hammond appears as Donald Trump in the GOP Debate sketch Tina Fey reprises her impersonation of Sarah Palin in the GOP Debate sketch Michael Bolton, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer appear in the SNL Digital Short Tina Fey received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for this episode[14]
701	21	Ed Helms	Paul Simon	May 14, 2011	4.9/12
Paul Simon performs "Rewrite" and "So Beautiful or So What" and appears in What Up with That. Chris Colfer and Lindsey Buckingham appear in What Up with That. Jon Hamm, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell appear in the live-action segment of TV Funhouse.
702	22	Justin Timberlake	Lady Gaga	May 21, 2011	7.0/17
Lady Gaga performs a medley of "The Edge of Glory" and "Judas" and "Born This Way" and appears in the Liquorville sketch, the SNL Digital Short, and the "What's That Name?" sketch Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson appear in the digital short, reprising their roles from the "Motherlover" Digital Short Bradley Cooper appears on Weekend Update Jimmy Fallon reprises his role as Barry Gibb in the Barry Gibb Talk Show sketch

Specials

Title	Original air date
"The Women of SNL"	November 1, 2010
A collection of past and present sketches highlighting the best work from SNL's female cast members, shown as a parody of The Real Housewives reality series. Rachel Dratch, Nora Dunn, Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer, Jan Hooks, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Laraine Newman, Cheri Oteri, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Molly Shannon and Kristen Wiig appeared in new material made exclusively for the special.[15] Andy Cohen made a cameo during the special. Originally this special was supposed to air in the previous season but was scrapped and replaced with a special about the history of Saturday Night Live in the 2000s. NBC re-aired the special on May 18, 2014.
"Saturday Night Live Backstage"	February 20, 2011[16]
A documentary showing the creation of a typical Saturday Night Live episode. Originally a special celebrating the 35th anniversary of the show was planned but was scrapped and replaced with this special instead.[17][18]

References

1. Ward, Coley (September 9, 2010). "Pardo to voice 'SNL' from Tucson". The Arizona Daily Star. Tucson, Arizona. Archived from the original on September 28, 2010.
2. Barrett, Annie (2010-08-26). "Will Forte Leaving SNL". Popwatch.ew.com. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
3. "Jenny Slate Leaving SNL". Popeater.com. 2010-09-07. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
4. Itzkoff, Dave (2010-09-07). "Four New Cast Members". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
5. "Second City's Tom Flanigan Hired By 'Saturday Night Live'". Huffington Post. 2010-08-25.
6. "Meet two more new writers for SNL's 36th season: Heather Anne Campbell and Tom Flanigan". The Comic's Comic. 2010-08-29. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
7. Frucci, Adam (August 10, 2011). "CollegeHumor's Sarah Schneider Hired as a Writer at SNL". SplitSider.
8. "Watch: Arcade Fire on "Saturday Night Live"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
9. "Watch: Arcade Fire return to SNL, bring friends « Consequence of Sound". Consequenceofsound.net. 2010-11-14. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
10. "Host Russell Brand and Musical Guest Chris Brown Make SNL Debuts on February 12". NBC. February 1, 2011. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012.
11. ""SNL" Roars Into March With Host Miley Cyrus and Musical Guest The Strokes on March 5". Thefutoncritic.com. 2011-02-28. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
12. Seth Meyers (March 12, 2011). "Many thanks to Bobby Moynihan and Christine Nangle for writing me into my first sketch in 2 years.". Twitter. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
13. "Elton John: The Bitch Is Back". Saturday Night Live. NBC.com. Archived from the original on April 6, 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
14. "Primetime Emmy Award Database". Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
15. "The Women of SNL". Tvsquad.com. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
16. "Saturday Night Live Backstage". Thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
17. Gorman, Bill (2010-05-16). "NBC Unveils 2010–11 Primetime Schedule". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
18. "Toonces Is Back: OnStar Texting Cat Is The New Driving Cat". Jalopnik.com. 2010-09-15. Retrieved 2011-06-15.