The thirty-sixth 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 September 25, 2010, and May 21, 2011. Longtime announcer Don Pardo announced that he would pre-record his parts from his home in Arizona rather than perform live in New York City.

Cast

Prior to the start of the season, longtime cast member Will Forte left the show after a total of eight seasons from

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. Featured player Jenny Slate was let go from the show after one season. Abby Elliott and Bobby Moynihan were both upgraded to repertory status, while Nasim Pedrad remained a featured player. Following Forte and Slate's departures, the show hired four new cast members: ImprovOlympic alumni Vanessa Bayer and Paul Brittain, stand-up comic and impressionist Jay Pharoah, and comedic actor Taran Killam of The Groundlings. Killam is the second cast member after Kenan Thompson to be a cast member on a

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

kids' sketch show ('' The Amanda Show'') and the second cast member after Jeff Richards to be a cast member on ''

MADtv ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series created by David Salzman, Fax Bahr, and Adam Small. Loosely based on the humor magazine '' Mad'', ''Mad TVs pre-taped satirical sketches were primarily parodie ...

''.

Cast roster

Repertory players * Fred Armisen * Abby Elliott *

Bill Hader William Thomas Hader Jr.''Finding Your Roots'', January 26, 2016, PBS. (born June 7, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and director. He was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 20 ...

* Seth Meyers * Bobby Moynihan * Andy Samberg * Jason Sudeikis *

Kenan Thompson Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' since Saturday Night Live season 29, 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the ...

* Kristen Wiig Featured players * Vanessa Bayer * Paul Brittain * Taran Killam * Nasim Pedrad * Jay Pharoah bold denotes

Weekend Update ''Weekend Update'' is a ''Saturday Night Live'' sketch and satirical news program that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest-running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast and been featu ...

anchor

Writers

In August 2010, Michaels hired Second City Theater writers Tom Flanigan and Shelly Gossman. '' Portlandia'' co-creator Jonathan Krisel joined the staff as a writer, producer, and creative collaborator on several Digital Shorts. Heather Anne Campbell, a performer from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles, was also added to the writing staff. Sarah Schneider, a regular writer and performer for

CollegeHumor Dropout, incorporated as CH Media and formerly known as CollegeHumor, is an Internet comedy company based in Los Angeles that produces content for release on its streaming service Dropout (streaming platform), Dropout as well as YouTube. Dropou ...

, was a guest writer for the last five episodes of the season before joining full-time for season 37. This was also the final season for longtime writer/ Lonely Island member

Akiva Schaffer Akiva Daniel Shebar Schaffer (; born December 1, 1977) is an American writer, producer, director, comedian, actor, and musician. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island, along with childhood friends Andy Samberg and Jorma Tacc ...

(a role he had been in since

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

), as he left the show, after six years, but would contribute to SNL Digital Shorts over the following season. Additionally, this was the final season for longtime ''

'' writer Doug Abeles (who had written for the segment since

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

), as he left the show after 10 years; as well as Simon Rich (who previously joined the writing staff in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

), as he left after four years.

Episodes

Specials

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saturday Night Live season 36 36 Saturday Night Live in the 2010s 2010 American television seasons 2011 American television seasons Television shows directed by Don Roy King