Saturday Night Live (season 45)

The forty-fifth season of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (also branded ''Saturday Night Live 45'' and ''SNL45'') premiered on September 28, 2019, during the 2019–20 television season with host Woody Harrelson and musical guest Billie Eilish, and concluded on May 9, 2020 with host Kristen Wiig and musical guest Boyz II Men. This season featured the return of Eddie Murphy as host, on December 21, 2019, for the first time in 35 years. Murphy's episode was the most watched episode since 2008.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was temporarily halted on March 16, 2020. The move came hours after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered all theaters in the city to close by the following morning. The season resumed on April 11, 2020 with three remotely produced episodes containing ''Weekend Update'' and other contributions from the cast. The self-filmed episodes, with pre-recorded from-home segments, were instead referred to as '' ''Saturday Night Live'' at Home''. The first remote episode was hosted by Tom Hanks, who survived COVID-19 after being diagnosed the month prior. The third of these episodes, airing on May 9, 2020 and hosted by longtime former cast member Kristen Wiig, served as the show's season finale.

Cast

Prior to the beginning of the season, longtime cast member Leslie Jones, who joined the cast one month into season 40 in October 2014, left after having been with the show for almost five full seasons. Three new featured players were announced on September 12, 2019: impressionist and writer Chloe Fineman of the Groundlings, stand-up comedian Shane Gillis, and ''SNL'' staff writer Bowen Yang. Yang is the first fully East Asian-American cast member in the show's history. Fineman had auditioned for the show previously and been unsuccessful.

The choice of Gillis as a cast member generated backlash after podcast clips of him making racist remarks were reposted. Gillis has also made derogatory remarks about Muslims, women, and the LGBTQ community on his online show ''Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast''. Gillis was let go from the cast only four days after the announcement of his hiring, prior to the airing of the first episode. Five years later, in 2024, Gillis controversially hosted the show in the twelfth episode of season 49, during which he jokingly referenced his firing from the show. Later that year (early in the show's 50th season), executive producer Lorne Michaels revealed that he was not happy about the decision, and that NBC forced him to fire Gillis.

Heidi Gardner and Chris Redd were upgraded to repertory status this season, while Ego Nwodim remained a featured player. Pete Davidson took a leave of absence at the beginning of the season, missing the first two episodes before returning for the third, due to filming commitments of '' The Suicide Squad''. Despite this, he was still credited in the episodes he missed.

Cast roster

Repertory players
* Beck Bennett
* Aidy Bryant
* Michael Che
* Pete Davidson
* Mikey Day
* Heidi Gardner
* Colin Jost
* Kate McKinnon
* Alex Moffat
* Kyle Mooney
* Chris Redd
* Cecily Strong
* Kenan Thompson
* Melissa Villaseñor

Featured players
* Chloe Fineman
* Ego Nwodim
* Bowen Yang

bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

Writers

Prior to the start of the season, it was announced that Dan Bulla, Emma Clark, Dan Licata, and Jasmine Pierce were added to the writing staff. Michael Che, Colin Jost, and Kent Sublette remained as head writers for the show.

This was the final season for longtime writer James Anderson (who joined the writing staff in 2000).

Episodes

Saturday Night Live at Home (

COVID-19 Era)

On March 16, 2020, it was announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the episodes that were to air March 28, April 4, and April 11 were cancelled, with reruns shown in place of the first two. John Krasinski and Dua Lipa had been announced as host and musical guest for March 28 episode; both were rescheduled to the following season. The Strokes were scheduled to perform on the April 11 episode to promote their new album ''The New Abnormal''; they were rescheduled to the following season. During her monologue in the 46th season, Issa Rae said she was supposed to have hosted the show "back in March". Both Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon's plans to leave at the end of the season were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic; they stayed for two additional seasons, and left in 2022.

The show resumed on April 11 in a new format in compliance with the CDC-mandated "sheltering in place" requirements. Cast members
appeared remotely from their homes via video conferencing. The new format for the show became known as ''Saturday Night Live at Home''.

Specials

Notes

References

{{Saturday Night Live

45
Saturday Night Live in the 2010s
Saturday Night Live in the 2020s
2019 American television seasons
2020 American television seasons
Television shows directed by Don Roy King
Television productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic