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 December 6, 1997
 Season 23 episode
Nathan Lane s23
Metallica
 Episode 434
 Season Episode 8
 Host Nathan Lane
 Musical Guest(s) Metallica
 Song(s) performed by
 Musical Guest(s)
"Fuel"
"The Memory Remains"
Previous Episode
November 22, 1997
Next Episode
December 13, 1997

The 8th episode of Season 23 and the 434th episode of Saturday Night Live premiered on December 6, 1997, hosted by actor Nathan Lane, with the legendary heavy metal rock band Metallica as the musical guest and special musical guest appearance by Marianne Faithfull.

This was Nathan Lane's only time hosting and the only musical guest appearance on SNL for Metallica.

Cast[]

Repertory Players[]

Cameos by Nathan's The Lion King's co-star Ernie Sabella and The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

Sketches and Musical Performances[]

 Cold Open   Sketch   Pre-recorded   Weekend Update   Music Performance   Other 

Title Image Summary
NBC News Special Report: Well Babies Tragedy An episode of “Jenny” is interrupted by an important — not to mention, cool — news report: Brian Williams (Will Ferrell) is psyched to announced that the McCaughey Septuplets (Jim Breuer and Molly Shannon) have all fallen down a well, and he’s ready to sit on this story all through the night. Also features Ana Gasteyer as Diane Carbonal, Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton, Chris Kattan as Geraldo Rivera and Cheri Oteri as Jessica McClure.
Monologue by Nathan Lane Actor Nathan Lane casually enters the stage in a bathrobe while reading the newspaper, free of worries and oblivious to his hosting duties for the night. Ana Gasteyer and Nathan’s “Lion King” co-star, Ernie Sabella, confront him. Nathan promptly bursts into a chorus of “Hakuna Matata”, and dances through the studio with everyone in tow.
Chess for Girls Because Chess is traditionally a boring boys’ game, Mattel has famed it up for the opposite sex with dolls, dresses, and bubbles.
Spartan Cheerleaders: Spartan Dreams Craig (Will Ferrell) and Arianna (Cheri Oteri) chat on the phone before bedtime to make their Christmas wishes. They both fall asleep and share the same dream, of being real Spartan Cheerleaders and dancing with the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.
The Quiet Storm While playing his groove music, Chris “Champagne” Garnett (Tim Meadows) is visited by easy listening morning host Larry Unhower (Nathan Lane), and the two begin an on-air turf war of competing hits.
Sister Wendy Beckett's Art Odyssey During a visit to a New York art museum, naughty Sister Wendy (Nathan Lane) tries to hide her love for erotic artwork.
Marianne Faithfull performs “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan”
History of Vaudeville The vaudeville act of Weber (Nathan Lane) & Rose (Chris Kattan) was one of the earliest to perform ethnic stereotyping.
Weekend Update with Norm Macdonald Norm MacDonald adopts the persona of Bud Abbott when he interviews Officer Lou Costello (Nathan Lane), who is frightened by a mummified corpse he discovered on a recent murder investigation.
Metallica performs “Fuel”
Songs That Ruined Everything Styx frontrunner Dennis DeYoung (Will Ferrell) promotes the songs that signaled artistic doom for various rock performers.
The Lost Deep Thoughts On the hypnotic effect of looking back between an old man and his younger photograph.
Miss Milo Broadway veteran Miss Milo (Nathan Lane) acts eccentric in front of her new dresser, theater major Vance Harris (Will Ferrell), as he gets her ready for her performance as Mrs. Christmas Tree.
Metallica, featuring Marianne Faithfull, performs “The Memory Remains”
Ex-Convict Santa Gene the ex-con (Colin Quinn) takes work as a cranky, kid-scaring Santa Claus.
The Lost Deep Thoughts Part 2 On a little boy’s desire to be an acrobat when he grows up.
Goodnights Nathan Lane thanked Metallica, Marianne Faithfull, The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, his compadre, Ernie Sabella, this brilliant cast, the great writers, the great crew here, for making this a tremendous week, Lorne Michaels and everybody, they've been a great audience.
Preceded by:
November 22, 1997
Saturday Night Live episode Followed by:
December 13, 1997
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