Saturday Night Live Wiki
Advertisement
 May 18, 1996
 Season 21 episode
Jim Carrey s21
Soundgarden
 Episode 406
 Season Episode 20
 Host Jim Carrey
 Musical Guest(s) Soundgarden
 Song(s) performed by
 Musical Guest(s)
"Pretty Noose"
"Burden in my Hand"
Previous Episode
May 11, 1996
Next Episode
September 28, 1996
(Season 22)

The season finale of Season 21 and the 406th episode of Saturday Night Live premiered on May 18, 1996, hosted by actor and comedian Jim Carrey, star of the hit films Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and its 2014 sequel Dumb and Dumber To, Batman Forever, The Cable Guy, Liar Liar, The Truman Show, Me, Myself & Irene, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Horton Hears a Who, Mr. Popper's Penguins, The Majestic, Bruce Almighty, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Fun with Dick and Jane, I Love You Phillip Morris, Disney's computer animated Christmas film A Christmas Carol, The Number 23, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Sonic the Hedgehog and the two sequels Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3, with musical guests Soundgarden, a rock band. This was Jim Carrey's hosting debut and the only musical guest appearance on SNL for Soundgarden.

This marked the final episode for longtime cast member David Spade (a cast member since 1990), as he left the show after six years. This would also be the last episode for first-year repertory players David Koechner and Nancy Walls, as they were both let go after just one season.

Jim Carrey's goodnights speech is "It’s Joe Dicso’s last night here, ladies and gentlemen! He’s been here for 21 years – he’s seen it all, I’d like to thank Soundgarden! Thank you! I had a wonderful time! It’s a great cast! Good night!". (Cheers and applause)

Cast[]

Repertory Players[]

Featured Players[]

† Credited, but did not appear in this episode

Sketches and Music Performances[]

 Cold Open   Sketch   Pre-recorded   Weekend Update   Music Performance   Other 

Title Image Summary
Nightline Cold Open
Bob Dole (Norm Macdonald) desperately tries to change his image in order to one-up President Clinton in the Fall election.
Opening Montage   David Spade, David Koechner, and Nancy Walls' final time being credited as cast members.
Monologue by Jim Carrey
Comedian and actor Jim Carrey speaks to the audience as a representative from a foreign planet, before appeasing them with his catchphrases, as he hosted for the first time.
Spartan Cheerleaders: Wrestling Tournament   Foreign exchange student, Lochmiel (Jim Carrey), joins Craig (Will Ferrell) and Arianna’s (Cheri Oteri) cheer squad.
The Roxbury Guys
A_Night_at_The_Roxbury_Orginal_Version_-_Jim_Carrey

A Night at The Roxbury Orginal Version - Jim Carrey

A new club hopper (Jim Carrey) joins Steve (Will Ferrell) and Doug Butabi (Chris Kattan) in a wild night crashing a club, a wedding, and a retirement home. This marked the last sketch appearance of David Koechner as a cast member.
Jacuzzi Lifeguard
An overprotective lifeguard (Jim Carrey) keeps an extremely close eye on a man in a jacuzzi (Will Ferrell).
Weekend Update with Norm Macdonald Maybe it’s because the writers wanted to use Jim Carrey in as much of the show as possible, but Norm Macdonald performs an abbreviated Weekend Update with no guest commentaries.
Soundgarden performs "Pretty Noose" Jim Carrey introduces Soundgarden's first performance while he's still in a costume.
I'll See You in Hell   Joe Pilson’s (Jim Carrey) nonstop use of the phrase “I’ll see you in Hell!’ at the office nullifies its impact.
Spade in America David Spade pokes fun at the new cast, then looks back on his favorite moments from the “Hollywood Minute.” This marked the final SNL sketch appearance of David Spade as a cast member.
The Joe Pesci Show
Jimmy Stewart (Jim Carrey) doesn’t approve of Jim Carrey’s (Mark McKinney) impression of him, nor Joe Pesci’s (Jim Breuer) violent behavior.
Soundgarden performs "Burden in my Hand"
Jimmy Tango’s Fat Busters   Jimmy Tango (Jim Carrey) shows how to burn pounds with heat beads and crystal meth. This marked the last sketch appearance of Nancy Walls as a cast member.
Goodnights and Closing Credits   Jim Carrey announces that its Joe Dicso’s last night and he’s been there for 21 years and seen it all. He also thanked Soundgarden and the great cast, he had a wonderful time. Also, in the goodnights, the cast share a goodbye hug to Joe, as he retired from the show as the stage manager and longtime cast member David Spade, since this is his final SNL show.

Trivia[]

  • As pointed out in the goodnights, this was also the last episode for longtime stage manager Joe Dicso (who had worked at the show since it's debut in 1975), as he retired from the show following this episode, after 21 years there.
  • This was also Steve Higgins and Fred Wolf's last episode, as head writers, after just one season.
    • Higgins would be promoted to producer, the next season, while still a regular writer, and continues in that role to this day.
    • Meanwhile, Wolf would leave the show 3 episodes into the next season.
  • Koechner and Walls were let go, due to meddling from NBC executives like Don Ohlmeyer.
    • Reportedly, according to Koechner, fellow castmate Mark McKinney was also on the chopping block, but McKinney returned the next season.[1][2]
  • Lastly, this was the final episode for writer Steve Koren (who previously joined the writing staff in 1992), as he left the show after 4½ years (Koren himself was one of only 5 writers to return from the previous season).

References[]

Preceded by:
May 11, 1996
Saturday Night Live episode Followed by:
September 28, 1996
(Season 22)
Advertisement