Season 31 of Saturday Night Live premiered on October 1, 2005, with host Steve Carell and musical guest Kanye West and concluded its 19-episode season on May 20, 2006, with host Kevin Spacey and musical guest Nelly Furtado.
Before the start of the season, featured player Rob Riggle was let go from the show in order to make way for new cast members. Finesse Mitchell and Kenan Thompson were both promoted to repertory status, while Jason Sudeikis remained as a featured player.
The show added three new cast members: Los Angeles-based sketch comedian Bill Hader, Andy Samberg (the show also hired his two friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone were also hired to the writing staff, all members of The Lonely Island group), and Kristen Wiig of The Groundlings. Wiig debuted on the show in November, in the episode hosted by Jason Lee. Samberg, Schaffer and Taccone would be a notable force for creating SNL Digital Shorts. One such short was "Lazy Sunday".
The Lonely Island would be responsible for bringing about the SNL Digital Shorts, debuting on the December 17, 2005 episode. The short would go on to become an internet phenomenon and would bring popularity to Andy Samberg and The Lonely Island.
Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph would both miss many episodes this season due to being on maternity leave. Fey missed the first 2 episodes, while Rudolph appeared in the season premiere and then missed the next ten episodes. Rudolph would then miss another two episodes for undisclosed reasons. She returned to SNL for the February 4, 2006 episode, hosted by Steve Martin. Other cast members who missed episodes this season would be Darrell Hammond, Seth Meyers, Finesse Mitchell, Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz.
This would be the final season for longtime cast members: Fey, Rachel Dratch, Mitchell, Chris Parnell, and Horatio Sanz, as well as the final season for longtime director Beth McCarthy-Miller, who left at the end of the season because she felt like she couldn't bring the show into HD properly. Fey and Dratch both departed the cast at the end of the season to work on Fey's new sitcom 30 Rock, while Mitchell, Parnell and Sanz were all let go due to budget cuts.
This season saw the seventh death of a former cast member when Charles Rocket (a cast member during the notoriously lackluster 1980–1981 season) committed suicide in 2005; a still of him was shown during the October 22, 2005 episode to honor his memory. Rocket's suicide is the first death of an SNL cast member who never worked under Lorne Michaels (another cast member who never worked under Michaels wouldn't come until Tony Rosato died in 2017) and is the first death of a Weekend Update anchor, until Norm Macdonald in 2021.
This is also the first season to be broadcast in HDTV (high-definition), after 30 years of broadcasting in standard definition.
History[]
This season is notable for the people who hosted the show. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, an SNL cast member from 1982 to 1985 under Dick Ebersol, became the first former female cast member to come back and host the show (and also the third cast member from Seinfeld to host). Gilda Radner was originally supposed to host in 1988, but could not due to the Writers Guild of America strike and then Radner's death the following year. This season is also known for the return of such frequent hosts as Alec Baldwin (who last hosted in season 29 with musical guest Missy Elliott in 2003), Tom Hanks (who last hosted the first episode of season 22 with musical guest Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1996), and Steve Martin (who last hosted the first episode of season 20 with musical guest Eric Clapton in 1994).
Cast[]
Repertory Players[]
Featured Players[]
Changes[]
- Kristen Wiig: First November 12
Episodes[]
Aired Scheduled
Trivia[]
- With this season, Rachel Dratch surpasses Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon as the longest serving female cast member.
- With this season, Tina Fey surpasses Dennis Miller as the longest serving Weekend Update anchor.
- She is also the longest serving female Update anchor.
- Some milestones this season include:
- This season is notable for the people who hosted the show. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, an SNL cast member from 1982 to 1985 under Dick Ebersol, became the first former female cast member to come back and host the show (and also the third cast member from Seinfeld to host).
- This season is also known for the return of such frequent hosts as Alec Baldwin (who last hosted in season 29 with musical guest Missy Elliott in 2003), Tom Hanks (who last hosted the first episode of season 22 with musical guest Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1996), and Steve Martin (who last hosted the first episode of season 20 with musical guest, Eric Clapton in 1994).
Deaths[]
- Charles Rocket (October 7, 2005)
Opening montage[]
Saturday Night Live - Season 31 (2005-06) intro
The first opening montage to be in high-definition.
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| Preceded by: Season 30 |
Season 31 (2005— 2006) |
Followed by: Season 32 |
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