The tenth season of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'', an American

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

series, originally aired in the United States on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

between October 6, 1984, and April 13, 1985. This was the only season to feature renowned comedians

Billy Crystal William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker. ...

Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian and American comedian, actor, and writer. Short is known as an energetic comedian who gained prominence for his roles in sketch comedy. He has also acted in numerous films and television ...

, and

Christopher Guest Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born 5 February 1948), known professionally as Christopher Guest, is a British-American actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. Guest has written, directed, and starred in his series of comedy ...

as cast members, and became known as the "All-Star" cast season. Only 17 episodes were produced due to a writers' strike and budget constraints. This was the final season of the Ebersol-run era.

Opening credits

This season also featured a new opening sequence produced by

Charlex CHRLX (formerly known as Charlex until 2014) is an American animation studio based in New York City that produces animation primarily for commercials. History Charlie Levi and Alex Weil founded Charlex (with the name being a portmanteau of their ...

(who also created

The Cars The Cars were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the New wave music, new wave Subculture, scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek (rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (l ...

' "

You Might Think "You Might Think" is a song by American rock band the Cars from their fifth studio album, '' Heartbeat City'' (1984). The track was written by Ric Ocasek and produced by Mutt Lange and the Cars, with Ocasek also providing the lead vocals. The so ...

" video earlier in 1984), depicting the ''SNL'' cast as giants in and around New York City landmarks.

Cast

During the previous season,

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...

left midseason.

Joe Piscopo Joseph Charles John Piscopo ( ; born June 17, 1951) is an American actor, comedian and conservative radio talk show host. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1980 to 1984, where he played a variety of recurring characters. His f ...

also left the show because he did not want to do it without Murphy.

Dick Ebersol Duncan Richard Ebersol (; born July 28, 1947) is an American television executive and a senior adviser for NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. He had previously been the chairman of NBC Sports, producing large-scale television events such as the ...

fired

Robin Duke Robin Duke (born March 13, 1954) is a Canadian actress, comedian, and voice actress. Duke may be best known for her work on the television comedy series '' SCTV'' and, later, ''Saturday Night Live''. She co-founded ''Women Fully Clothed'', a ske ...

Brad Hall William Bradford Hall (born March 21, 1958) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He appeared on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1982 to 1984. He was also known for manning the ''Weekend Update'' (then rebranded as ''Saturday Night News'') ...

and

Tim Kazurinsky Timothy James Kazurinsky (born March 3, 1950) is an American actor, comedian and screenwriter best known as a cast member and writer on ''Saturday Night Live'' and for his role as Carl Sweetchuck in the ''Police Academy'' films. Early life Kazu ...

. Ebersol and head writer

Bob Tischler Robert Tischler (June 12, 1946 – July 13, 2024) was an American television writer, audio engineer and television producer. Tischler engineered the National Lampoon's first comedy album and with Michael O'Donoghue co-created and produced the ...

then wanted to "blow up" the show by adding seasoned comedians instead of newcomers. He hired

(who hosted twice in

season 9 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...

and was originally set to appear in SNL's first episode),

(a frequent contributor to ''

The National Lampoon Radio Hour ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' was a comedy radio show which was created, produced and written by staff from ''National Lampoon'' magazine. The show ran weekly, for a little over a year, from November 17, 1973 to December 28, 1974. Or ...

'' in the early 1970s),

Rich Hall Richard Travis Hall (born June 10, 1954) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician, first coming to prominence as a sketch comedian in the 1980s. He wrote and performed for a range of American networks, in series such as ...

(best known for his work on '' Not Necessarily the News'' and the early 1980s ABC sketch show '' Fridays''),

Harry Shearer Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, musician, radio host, writer, and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a member of The ...

(who was a cast member on ''SNL'' in

season 5 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

(from '' SCTV'') and

New Zealander New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

Pamela Stephenson Pamela Stephenson, Lady Connolly (born 4 December 1949) is a New Zealand-born psychologist, writer, actress and comedian. She moved with her family to Australia in 1953 and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). After playi ...

(from ''

Not the Nine O'Clock News ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' is a British television sketch comedy show that was broadcast on BBC2 from 16 October 1979 to 8 March 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on BBC1, the show features satirical ...

''). Stephenson beat out

Geena Davis Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Davis made her acting debut in the satirical romantic comedy ''Toots ...

and

Andrea Martin Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American and Canadian actress, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and '' Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), '' Wag the Dog'' (1 ...

for the spot.

became the anchor of ''Saturday Night News''. In the middle of the season,

left the show due to "creative differences". Shearer told the AP, "I was creative, and they were different." Despite his departure, his image is still shown in the opening credits (spray-painting an elevated train as it goes down the track). The remaining cast members left the show at the end of the season. Ebersol had been wanting to completely revamp the show to include mostly prerecorded segments. Short, Guest, and Hall ultimately grew tired of the show's demanding production schedule and showed little interest in returning for another season, leaving Crystal the only " A-cast" member available for season 11. Like

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian and American television writer and film producer. He created and produced ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and produced the ''Late Night (franchise) ...

at the end of season 5, Ebersol considered taking the show off the air for several months to re-cast. Another idea was to institute a permanent rotation of hosts (

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...

and

) for "a hip ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

''". NBC decided to continue production only if they could get Michaels to produce again. Ebersol, along with his writing staff and most of the cast, left the show after this season. Those who wished to stay, such as Crystal, were not rehired for the following season.

Cast roster

Repertory players *

Jim Belushi James Adam Belushi (; born June 15, 1954) is an American actor and comedian. His television roles include ''Saturday Night Live'' (1983–1985), ''According to Jim'' (2001–2009), and '' Good Girls Revolt'' (2015–2016). Belushi appeared in fi ...

Mary Gross Mary Gross (born March 25, 1953) is an American voice actress, comedian, and actress known for her four-year stint on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1981 to 1985 and her recurring role as Sabrina's favorite teacher, Mrs. Quick in ''Sabrina, the Te ...

Gary Kroeger Gary Kroeger (born April 13, 1957) is an American businessman, politician, writer, comedian and actor best known for his work as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1982 to 1985, and his work on various game shows. He ran in the Democra ...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus ( ; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress and comedian. She has gained acclaim for starring in a string of successful comedy series as well as several comedy films. She has received List of awards ...

(final episode: January 12, 1985) *

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

Billy Crystal,

, Rob Riley, and Martin Short joined the writing staff. Jim Downey,

Herb Sargent Herbert Sargent (born Supowitz; July 15, 1923 – May 6, 2005) was an American television writer, a Television producer, producer for such comedy shows as ''The Tonight Show'' and ''Saturday Night Live'', and a screenwriter (''Bye Bye Braverman'' ...

, and

rejoined the staff after a four-year hiatus.

, Adam Green,

, Michael McCartney,

Pamela Norris Pamela Norris is an American screenwriter and producer. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1980–1984), and for co-writing the screenplay of the 1989 film '' Troop Beverly Hills''.(7 April 19 ...

, and Joe Piscopo left the staff. This season's writers were Jim Belushi, Andy Breckman, Billy Crystal, Jim Downey, Christopher Guest, Rich Hall, Nate Herman, Kevin Kelton, Andy Kurtzman, Margaret Oberman, Rob Riley, Herb Sargent, Martin Short, Harry Shearer, Andrew Smith, Bob Tischler and Eliot Wald. The head writer was Bob Tischler.

Larry David Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He is known for his dry wit, portrayals of awkward social situations, and brutally honest takes on everyday life. He has received two Prim ...

spent one season on the writing staff. He described this period as a miserable experience due to his conflicts with Dick Ebersol and being able to get only one sketch on the air, which aired in the final moments of Episode 7. He would later take some of his unused ideas and work them into his show ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

''. David would return to host ''SNL'' in 2017 and to portray

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

. Nearly everyone on the writing staff left at the end of the season, except for Herb Sargent and Jim Downey (Downey would be promoted to head writer next season).

Episodes

Specials

References

Works cited

* {{Saturday Night Live 10 1984 American television seasons 1985 American television seasons Saturday Night Live in the 1980s