Saturday Night Live (season 21)

Saturday Night Live
	Season 21
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	20
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 30, 1995 –; May 18, 1996
Season chronology

The twenty-first season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 30, 1995 and May 18, 1996.

History

SNL once again dodged cancellation from season 20's low ratings and scathing reviews about the show's decline in quality. The cast was mostly overhauled. new writers were brought in, and Beth McCarthy Miller took over as director.

The season was home to the Rage Against the Machine incident. On April 13, 1996, the band was the musical guest, and was scheduled to perform two songs. The show was hosted that night by ex-Republican presidential candidate and billionaire Steve Forbes. According to RATM guitarist Tom Morello, "RATM wanted to stand in sharp juxtaposition to a billionaire telling jokes and promoting his flat tax by making our own statement."[1] To this end, the band hung two upside-down American flags from their amplifiers. Seconds before they took the stage to perform "Bulls on Parade", SNL and NBC sent stagehands in to pull the flags down.[2] Following the removal of the flags during the first performance, the band was approached by SNL and NBC officials and ordered to immediately leave the building. Upon hearing this, bassist Tim Commerford reportedly stormed Forbes's dressing room, throwing shreds from one of the torn down flags. Morello noted that members of the Saturday Night Live cast and crew, whom he declined to name, "expressed solidarity with our actions, and a sense of shame that their show had censored the performance."[1]

A new logo was used starting this season, consisting of the words SATURDAYNIGHTLIVE in a sans-serif typeface, and was used until 2006.

Cast

Only five cast members returned to the show from the previous season: Norm Macdonald, Mark McKinney, Tim Meadows, Molly Shannon and David Spade.[3] Although Spade returned to the show, he had more of a diminished role, very rarely appearing in sketches except for Spade in America, a "Weekend Update" segment hosted by Spade that debuted at the start of the season and was featured in all but five episodes.

Molly Shannon was upgraded to repertory status.

Chris Kattan and newly hired writer Colin Quinn also joined as featured players for the final six episodes of the season. Fred Wolf was hired later in April as a featured player.

Cast roster

Repertory players

Featured players

Chris Kattan (first episode: March 16, 1996)
Colin Quinn (first episode credited: March 16, 1996)
Fred Wolf (first episode: April 13, 1996)

bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

Writers

Steve Higgins, Adam McKay, Paula Pell, Frank Sebastiano, and Colin Quinn join the writing staff.

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Host	Musical guest	Original air date
387	1	Mariel Hemingway	Blues Traveler	September 30, 1995 (1995-09-30)
Blues Traveler performs "Run-Around" and "Hook". Jim Breuer, Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, David Koechner, Cheri Oteri and Nancy Walls' first episode as cast members. As mentioned in the "Spade in America" sketch, the original musical guest scheduled to appear on this episode was Prince (back when he was known as "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince").
388	2	Chevy Chase	Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories	October 7, 1995 (1995-10-07)
Lisa Loeb performs "Do You Sleep?" and "Stay (I Missed You)". Mariel Hemingway appears during the "Braveheart" sketch. Don Novello appears as Father Guido Sarducci during "Weekend Update".
389	3	David Schwimmer	Natalie Merchant	October 21, 1995 (1995-10-21)
Natalie Merchant performs "Wonder" with Jennifer Turner and "Carnival" with Jennifer Turner and Katell Keineg. Schwimmer's Friends co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow appeared in the opening monologue. Aniston also appeared during the "Spade in America" segment. Gary Coleman, Jimmie Walker and Barry Williams also appears in the opening monologue. Writer Colin Quinn, who was to become a credited cast member later, appears as an extra in the "Standing in an Elevator" sketch.
390	4	Gabriel Byrne	Alanis Morissette	October 28, 1995 (1995-10-28)
Alanis Morissette performs "Hand in My Pocket" and "All I Really Want". Writer Colin Quinn, who was to become a credited cast member later, appears in the opening monologue as a dancing potato. Bill Bradley and Lamar Alexander appear during the cold open. Tom Glavine, Chrissie Hynde, Chipper Jones and Mark Wohlers appear in a pre-recorded "Spade in America" segment.
391	5	Quentin Tarantino	The Smashing Pumpkins	November 11, 1995 (1995-11-11)
The Smashing Pumpkins perform "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" and "Zero". First Spartan Cheerleaders Episode. Robert Hegyes appears during the "Spade in America" segment.
392	6	Laura Leighton	Rancid	November 18, 1995 (1995-11-18)
Rancid performs "Roots Radicals" and "Ruby Soho". Leighton's Melrose Place co-star Grant Show appears in the "Cydney" sketch. Sam Waterston appears in the pre-recorded "Old Glory Insurance" sketch. Sean Penn appears in a pre-recorded "Spade in America" segment, where he gives David Spade a tattoo.
393	7	Anthony Edwards	Foo Fighters	December 2, 1995 (1995-12-02)
Foo Fighters performs "I'll Stick Around" and "For All the Cows". Jim Breuer debuts his recurring sketch "The Joe Pesci Show".
394	8	David Alan Grier	Silverchair	December 9, 1995 (1995-12-09)
Silverchair performs "Tomorrow" and "Pure Massacre".
395	9	Madeline Kahn	Bush	December 16, 1995 (1995-12-16)
Bush performs "Comedown" and "Glycerine". Sam Waterston appears in the pre-recorded "Old Glory Insurance" sketch.
396	10	Christopher Walken	Joan Osborne	January 13, 1996 (1996-01-13)
Joan Osborne performs "One of Us". Rudolph Giuliani and George Pataki appeared in the cold open.
397	11	Alec Baldwin	Tori Amos	January 20, 1996 (1996-01-20)
Tori Amos performs "Caught a Lite Sneeze" and "Hey Jupiter". Features the first Brasky's Buddies sketch
398	12	Danny Aiello	Coolio	February 10, 1996 (1996-02-10)
Coolio performs "1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New)" and "Gangsta's Paradise" (the latter with L.V.). He also appears in the "Kevin Franklin Show" sketch. Chris Farley appears as a special guest during the "Spade in America" segment, promoting Farley and Spade's new film Black Sheep. Larry Brown appears during "Weekend Update".
399	13	Tom Arnold	Tupac Shakur	February 17, 1996 (1996-02-17)
Tupac Shakur accompanied by Danny Boy and Roger Troutman performs "California Love" and "I Ain't Mad at Cha". Adam Sandler appears during Weekend Update, singing a song about his grandmother. No Spade in America sketch
400	14	Elle Macpherson	Sting	February 24, 1996 (1996-02-24)
Sting performs "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot" and "You Still Touch Me". Darrell Hammond filled in for Don Pardo as announcer, since he was sick. Hammond would later take over permanently as announcer following Pardo's death in 2014. No Spade in America sketch
401	15	John Goodman	Everclear	March 16, 1996 (1996-03-16)
Everclear performs "Santa Monica". Elle Macpherson made a cameo appearance during the monologue. Kurt Loder appears during the "MTV News" sketch. No Spade in America sketch Chris Kattan and Colin Quinn's first episode as cast members.
402	16	Phil Hartman	Gin Blossoms	March 23, 1996 (1996-03-23)
Gin Blossoms performs "Follow You Down" and "Memphis Time". Hartman brings back his impersonation of Frank Sinatra. This episode marked the first appearance of Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan's "Roxbury Guys" characters.
403	17	Steve Forbes	Rage Against the Machine	April 13, 1996 (1996-04-13)
Rage Against The Machine performs one song, "Bulls on Parade". Their second song was cut after the band attempted to hang inverted U.S. flags from its amplifiers, protesting host Steve Forbes, a Republican presidential candidate. No Spade in America sketch Forbes's family appears onstage during the goodnights. Fred Wolf's first episode as a cast member.
404	18	Teri Hatcher	Dave Matthews Band	April 20, 1996 (1996-04-20)
Dave Matthews Band performs "Too Much" and "So Much to Say". Sam Waterston appears in the pre-recorded "Old Glory Insurance" sketch. Sketch Spade in America is performed by Teri Hatcher (as David Spade) and David Spade (as Teri Hatcher).
405	19	Christine Baranski	The Cure	May 11, 1996 (1996-05-11)
The Cure performs "Mint Car" and "In Between Days". Dennis Rodman made a cameo appearance in the cold open as Bob Dole's running mate, and then once again during Weekend Update. Jim Gaffigan appears during the pre-recorded "Fuzzy Memories" sketch.
406	20	Jim Carrey	Soundgarden	May 18, 1996 (1996-05-18)
Soundgarden performs "Pretty Noose" and "Burden in My Hand". First time "What Is Love" plays in the Roxbury Guys sketch as well as a third member's joining the brothers played by Jim Carrey. Last episode for stage manager Joe Dicso, who had been in that position since the show's 1975 inception. David Koechner, David Spade and Nancy Walls' final episode as cast members.

References

Anon., Saturday Night Live Incident, Public release and distribution. Retrieved November 12, 2007.
"Rage Against the Machine". The Flag Burning Page. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
Shales, Tom (2003). Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. Back Bay. ISBN 0-316-73565-5.

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[SNL-1] Anon., Saturday Night Live Incident, Public release and distribution. Retrieved November 12, 2007.

[2] "Rage Against the Machine". The Flag Burning Page. Retrieved 2008-03-16.

[3] Shales, Tom (2003). Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. Back Bay. ISBN 0-316-73565-5.