Saturday Night Live (season 43)

The forty-third season of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live premiered on September 30, 2017, during the 2017–2018 television season with host Ryan Gosling and musical guest Jay-Z, and concluded on May 19, 2018, with host Tina Fey and musical guest Nicki Minaj.[1] Like the final four episodes of season 42, season 43 was broadcast live in all four time zones within the contiguous United States, with the exception of the Natalie Portman/Dua Lipa episode due to the network's commitment to the NFL.[2]

Saturday Night Live
Season 43
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes21
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseSeptember 30, 2017 (2017-09-30) –
May 19, 2018 (2018-05-19)
Season chronology

Cast

Prior to the start of the season, longtime cast members Vanessa Bayer, Bobby Moynihan, and Sasheer Zamata all left the show after seven, nine, and four seasons, respectively.[3][4] Following Bayer, Moynihan, and Zamata's departures, the show hired three new featured players: comedian and writer Heidi Gardner of The Groundlings, iO Chicago alum Luke Null, and stand-up comedian Chris Redd, who previously did sketch comedy at Second City.[5] Redd had been incorrectly reported as joining the cast during the previous season.[6]

Mikey Day, Alex Moffat, and Melissa Villaseñor continued as featured players.

With this announcement came the confirmation that the rest of the cast from the previous season would return, including guest star Alec Baldwin in his role as President Donald Trump.[7][8]

With his return, Kenan Thompson surpassed Darrell Hammond's record as the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history, with a total of fifteen seasons compared to Hammond's fourteen seasons from 1995-2009.[9]

This is the only season for Luke Null, who was let go after the season's end.[10]

Cast roster

bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

Crew

Writers
Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers § season 43 (2017–18)

Prior to the start of the season, the show added Steven Castillo, Andrew Dismukes, Claire Friedman, Sam Jay, Erik Marino, Nimesh Patel, and Gary Richardson to the writing staff.[5] Also prior to the season, head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider departed the show.[11] On December 12, 2017, Jost and Che were named co-head writers, making Che the first African American head writer.[12] Jost was previously the head writer for 3 years from 2012 to 2015.

Episodes
Main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		HostMusical guestOriginal air dateRatings/
Share
8301Ryan GoslingJay-ZSeptember 30, 2017 (2017-09-30)4.5[13]

8312Gal GadotSam SmithOctober 7, 2017 (2017-10-07)4.4[13]

  • Sam Smith performs "Too Good at Goodbyes" and "Pray".
  • Jason Aldean performs "I Won't Back Down" in the cold open as a tribute to the victims of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting and to Tom Petty, who died earlier in the week.
  • As mentioned by Gadot during the monologue, this was the first episode to be broadcast live in Israel; until this night, it took a week for episodes aired in the US to appear on Israeli TV. During the monologue, Gadot speaks a few sentences in Hebrew for the Israeli audience. The Hebrew sentences are subtitled in English.
  • "Safelite AutoGlass" was subsequently pulled from rebroadcasts and the Internet after Safelite complained on Twitter that the sketch was offensive (and the humor in it would be considered in bad taste due to the influx of news at the time about male celebrities being outed as sexual offenders). Rebroadcasts of the show replaced the segment with a previously unaired, but released to the Internet, music video sketch called "The Last Fry".[14][15] As of 2019, Hulu has the original Safelite sketch and "The Last Fry" is no longer shown.
  • When the episode was rerun on August 18, 2018, a photograph of Aretha Franklin, who had died two days earlier, was shown in silence before the goodnights.
8323Kumail NanjianiP!nkOctober 14, 2017 (2017-10-14)4.6/11[16]

8334Larry DavidMiley CyrusNovember 4, 2017 (2017-11-04)4.7/11[17]

8345Tiffany HaddishTaylor SwiftNovember 11, 2017 (2017-11-11)4.3/10[19]

  • Taylor Swift performs "... Ready for It?" and an acoustic version of "Call It What You Want."
  • Larry David and Jason Sudeikis appear as Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, respectively, in "DNC Commercial". David, while in character, references the controversy that his monologue from the previous week generated, saying that any guy who makes jokes about concentration camps (himself) "should rot in hell".
  • A photo of SNL sound man George Corrado is shown in silence before the goodnights.
  • Haddish won an Emmy in 2018 for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for hosting.[20]
8356Chance the RapperEminemNovember 18, 2017 (2017-11-18)4.3/10[21]

  • Contrary to the usual format in which the musical guest perform two songs at two different segments, Eminem performs a single medley of "Walk on Water", "Stan",[n 1] and "Love the Way You Lie." Skylar Grey performs the entire medley with Eminem, but is not credited as a musical guest.
  • Writer Gary Richardson appears in "Family Feud" as Steve Harvey’s fictional brother Ricky.
  • Questlove and Common appear in the pre-recorded "Rap History".
8367Saoirse RonanU2December 2, 2017 (2017-12-02)4.3/10[22]

  • U2 performs "American Soul" and "Get Out of Your Own Way."
  • Alec Baldwin appears as Donald Trump in the cold open.
  • Greta Gerwig appears in the pre-recorded "Office Race".
  • John McEnroe appears in "Bachelor Auction".
  • "Aer Lingus" generated controversy for portraying Irish people in a stereotypical manner. Ronan defended the sketch, saying that it was written with her input.[23]
8378James FrancoSZADecember 9, 2017 (2017-12-09)4.5/10[24]

8389Kevin HartFoo FightersDecember 16, 2017 (2017-12-16)4.6/11[25]

83910Sam RockwellHalseyJanuary 13, 2018 (2018-01-13)4.6/10[26]

  • Halsey performs "Bad at Love" and "Him & I" with G-Eazy.
  • Fred Armisen and Bill Murray appear as Michael Wolff and Steve Bannon, respectively, in the cold open.
  • Stanley Tucci appears in the pre-recorded "Tucci Gang".[27]
  • Rockwell accidentally said "fucking" during "Science Room with Mr. Science" (when he tells the kid assistants played by Mikey Day and Cecily Strong "You can't be this fucking stupid"). During Weekend Update, both Colin Jost and Michael Che said "shithole" while discussing a comment President Trump made using that word and how NBC wanted them to tone it down, but openly defied it. All instances were censored for the West Coast feed, which is delayed by a few seconds. While the program airs during the safe harbor period in the Eastern and Central time zones, SNL has aired live coast to coast since the spring of 2017, meaning that in the Mountain and Pacific time zones, Rockwell's comment would have been heard between 9:30 and 10:00 PM or 8:30 and 9:00 PM, respectively, potentially subjecting network affiliates in those regions to FCC fines for indecency if it had not been censored.[28]
84011Jessica ChastainTroye SivanJanuary 20, 2018 (2018-01-20)4.3/10[29]

84112Will FerrellChris StapletonJanuary 27, 2018 (2018-01-27)4.9/11[30]

  • Chris Stapleton performs "Midnight Train to Memphis" and "Hard Livin'", both with Sturgill Simpson.
  • Tracy Morgan appears in the pre-recorded "The House".
84213Natalie PortmanDua LipaFebruary 3, 2018 (2018-02-03)4.6/12[31]

84314Charles BarkleyMigosMarch 3, 2018 (2018-03-03)4.2/10[32]

84415Sterling K. BrownJames BayMarch 10, 2018 (2018-03-10)4.1/10[33]

  • James Bay performs "Pink Lemonade" and "Wild Love."
  • Vanessa Bayer appears as Dawn Lazarus on Weekend Update.
84516Bill HaderArcade FireMarch 17, 2018 (2018-03-17)4.5/10[34]

84617Chadwick BosemanCardi BApril 7, 2018 (2018-04-07)4.6/11[35]

  • Cardi B performs a medley of "Bodak Yellow" and "Bartier Cardi" for her first set and "Be Careful" for her second. She also appears in the pre-recorded "Aidy B".
    • During her performance of "Be Careful", Cardi B revealed her pregnancy for the first time by displaying her pregnant belly in a Christian Siriano dress.[36]
  • This episode re-aired on September 5, 2020 in tribute to Chadwick Boseman following his August 28 death.
  • Alec Baldwin appears as Donald Trump in the cold open.
84718John MulaneyJack WhiteApril 14, 2018 (2018-04-14)3.9/9[37]

84819Donald GloverChildish GambinoMay 5, 2018 (2018-05-05)4.1/10[38]

84920Amy SchumerKacey MusgravesMay 12, 2018 (2018-05-12)4.3/10[39]

  • Kacey Musgraves performs "High Horse" and "Slow Burn" and appears in the pre-recorded "Spirituality Rap", unaired during the episode though subsequently released online.
  • The mothers of Beck Bennett (Sarah), Aidy Bryant (Georgianne), Pete Davidson (Amy), Mikey Day (Sylvia), Colin Jost (Kerry), Kyle Mooney (Linda), Luke Null (Cindy), Chris Redd (Margaret), Kenan Thompson (Elizabeth), and Melissa Villaseñor (Lupe) appear in the cold open.
  • Melissa McCarthy appears as Michael Che's stepmother on Weekend Update.
85021Tina FeyNicki MinajMay 19, 2018 (2018-05-19)4.5/11[40]

Specials
TitleOriginal air dateRatings/
Share
"The David S. Pumpkins Halloween Special"October 28, 2017 (2017-10-28)3.4/8[41]
21-minute animated special where David S. Pumpkins teaches a pair of siblings the true meaning of Halloween. Starring Tom Hanks as David S. Pumpkins, Mikey Day, Bobby Moynihan, and Streeter Seidell. Narrated by Peter Dinklage.
"SNL Presents: Halloween"October 28, 2017 (2017-10-28)3.1/9[41]

A collection of Halloween- and horror-themed sketches, including:

Notes
  1. Eminem has previously performed "Stan" with Dido on October 7, 2000, the season premiere of the show's 26th season.

References
  1. Littleton, Cynthia (April 18, 2018). "'Saturday Night Live' Sets Amy Schumer, Tina Fey as Hosts for Final Episodes of Season 43". Variety. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  2. Keveney, Bill (September 19, 2017). "'Saturday Night Live' will stay live in all time zones in Season 43". USA Today. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  3. Abramson, Alana (May 21, 2017). "SNL Bids Farewell to These Two Cast Members in Season Finale". Time Magazine. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  4. Shanley, Desantis (May 21, 2017). "Sasheer Zamata will not return to 'Saturday Night Live' following season finale". NY Daily News. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  5. Andreeva, Nellie (September 26, 2017). "'Saturday Night Live' Taps Heidi Gardner, Luke Null & Chris Redd As New Cast Members, Adds 7 Writers For Season 43". Deadline. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  6. O'Keefe, Meghan (September 9, 2016). "'Saturday Night Live' Reportedly Adds 2 New Castmembers: Chris Redd & Mikey Day". Decider. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
  7. Keveney, Bill; Ryan, Patrick (September 26, 2017). "'Saturday Night Live' adds three to cast for Season 43". USA Today. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
  8. Melas, Chloe (June 26, 2017). "Alec Baldwin will return to 'SNL' as Donald Trump". CNN. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  9. Park, Andrea (August 25, 2017). "Kenan Thompson on "SNL" record and new kids' sketch comedy project". CBS News. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  10. "Luke Null Will Not Return to Saturday Night Live Next Season". Vulture. August 15, 2018. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  11. "'Saturday Night Live' head writers Chris Kelly, Sarah Schneider exit show". Entertainment Weekly.
  12. Otterson, Joe (December 12, 2017). "'SNL' Names Michael Che, Colin Jost Co-Head Writers". Variety. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  13. Andreeva, Nellie (October 15, 2017). "'Saturday Night Live' Ratings Rise To Season Highs With Host Kumail Nanjiani, Donald Trump & Harvey Weinstein Skits". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  14. "SNL Pulls Creepy Safelite AutoGlass Sketch From Reruns and YouTube". Vulture. November 27, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  15. Hughes, William (October 10, 2017). "Gal Gadot steals "The Last Fry" in an unaired SNL rap parody". The A.V. Club.
  16. ""Saturday Night Live" Generates Season Highs & the Show's 2nd Strongest Week 3 Metered-Market Rating in 6 Years". The Futon Critic. October 15, 2017. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  17. Littleton, Cynthia (November 5, 2017). "'Saturday Night Live' Hits Season High in Overnight Ratings". Variety. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  18. Reed, Anika (November 5, 2017). "Larry David gets slammed for concentration camp joke about picking up women on 'SNL'". USA Today.
  19. "Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: ABC Pulls Back in Front with College Football". The Futon Critic. November 12, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  20. Stacy Lambe (September 8, 2018). "Tiffany Haddish Wins First Emmy for 'Saturday Night Live'". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  21. Porter, Rick (November 19, 2017). "TV Ratings Saturday: 'Saturday Night Live' rises, ABC leads primetime". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 19, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  22. "Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: College Football Pushes FOX to Top Spot". The Futon Critic. December 3, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  23. Rosenberg, Adam (December 9, 2017). "Saoirse Ronan isn't having the backlash around that Aer Lingus sketch on 'SNL'". Mashable.
  24. "Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: CBS Edges Competition with Holiday Mix". The Futon Critic. December 10, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  25. "Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: FOX, NBC Top Demos; CBS Leads Viewers". The Futon Critic. December 17, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  26. "Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: CBS Rides NFL Playoffs to Victory". The Futon Critic. January 14, 2018. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  27. Anderton, Ethan (January 22, 2018). "The Morning Watch: In Defense of 'Alien: Covenant', The Making of 'Tucci Gang' on 'SNL' & More". /Film. Retrieved May 21, 2022. ... Stanley Tucci was in London and couldn't make an appearance other than via video.
  28. Steinberg, Brian (January 14, 2018). "Sam Rockwell Drops Surprise 'F-Bomb' on 'SNL'". Variety. Variety Media, LLC. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  29. "Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: NBA Primetime Return Puts ABC on Top". The Futon Critic. January 21, 2018. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  30. Porter, Rick (January 28, 2018). "TV Ratings Saturday: 'Saturday Night Live' hits season highs, NBA leads primetime". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on January 28, 2018. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  31. "Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: ABC, NBC Split Adults 18-49 Crown". The Futon Critic. February 4, 2018. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  32. "Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: ABC, NBA Reclaim Demo Crown". The Futon Critic. March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  33. Porter, Rick (March 11, 2018). "TV ratings Saturday: 'Saturday Night Live' down a little, 'Dateline' leads primetime". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on March 12, 2018. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  34. "Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: CBS, NCAA Continue Win Streak". The Futon Critic. March 18, 2018. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  35. "Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: ABC, NBA Top Demos; CBS Leads Total Viewers". The Futon Critic. April 8, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  36. "Cardi B Reveals Pregnancy in 'SNL' Performance". Billboard. April 8, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
  37. "Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: NBC Tops Demos with NHL Playoffs". The Futon Critic. April 15, 2018. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  38. Porter, Rick (May 6, 2018). "TV ratings Saturday: 'Saturday Night Live' rises, NBA rules primetime". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 6, 2018. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  39. Hayes, Dade; Haring, Bruce (May 13, 2018). "'SNL' Ratings Boosted By Amy Schumer Star Power In Pre-Mother's Day Airing". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
  40. Porter, Rick (May 20, 2018). "TV ratings Saturday: 'Saturday Night Live' finale rises, NHL and royal wedding lead primetime". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 21, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  41. ""David S. Pumpkins" Is the #1 Non-World Series Broadcast of the Night in the Metered Markets". The Futon Critic. October 29, 2017. Retrieved October 29, 2017.
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