Season 38 is the thirty-eighth season of Saturday Night Live premiered on September 15, 2012, hosted by actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer Seth MacFarlane, with musical guest Frank Ocean and concluded on May 18, 2013, hosted by actor Ben Affleck, with musical guest Kanye West.
Prior to the start of the season, longtime cast members Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg, both of whom had been on the show for seven seasons since 2005, decided not to return following the end of the previous season.[3][4] Following Samberg and Wiig's departures, Abby Elliott was let go after four seasons on the show since 2008.[5] Vanessa Bayer, Taran Killam, and Jay Pharoah were all upgraded to repertory status, while Kate McKinnon remained a featured player.
To fill the void, the show hired three new cast members – Chicago improvisers Aidy Bryant, Tim Robinson, and Cecily Strong – as the replacements for Wiig, Samberg, and Elliott. According to the official press release, "Bryant trained at the iO Chicago, Annoyance Theatre and she was also part of the ensemble that performed on the Second City E.T.C Stage. Robinson also trained at the Second City, he performed on their Mainstage and was also part of their National Touring Company. Like Robinson, Strong had also performed as part of the National Touring Company and trained at the iO Theater".[6]
This was the final season for longtime cast members Fred Armisen,[7] Bill Hader,[8] and Jason Sudeikis.[9] Armisen had been on the show for 11 seasons since 2002, Sudeikis had been on for nine since 2005, and Hader had been on for eight since 2005. This would also be the only season for featured player Tim Robinson, who would leave his spot in the cast to instead join the writing staff the following season.[10]
This was also the final season longtime writer Jim Downey.[1] Downey had written for the show for 30 seasons, on-and-off since 1977, during the second half of the show's second season.
Cast[]
Repertory Players[]
Featured Players[]
Episodes[]
Trivia[]
- Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers Josh Patten and Neil Casey joined the writing staff.
- Two election-themed episodes of the spin-off Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday, which aired on September 20, 2012 and September 27, 2012.
- Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck become the newest members of the Five-Timers Club, with the former being the youngest member of the club, as of 2013.
- Christoph Waltz was the first German-speaking host on Saturday Night Live.
Opening montage[]
S38
The departures of Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig, and the promotions of three cast members called for a refreshed opening montage. The opening montage changed the Saturday Night Live logo to blue and featured a plethora of New York City b-roll along with geometrical transitions into photos of the cast - a change from the montage sequence used from Season 35 to Season 37 which used video clips.
The intro had gone through changes throughout the first few episodes of the season. This included: tweaking the title animation, cast photo retakes, a swap of the b-roll used behind the musical guest and host, a new ending transition shot of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the removal and reorder of b-roll, and cleaner animations. These changes had been made between the first and second episodes of the season with a musical tempo adjustment being made subsequently for the third episode.
For three episodes in this season, longtime announcer Don Pardo would be unable to make new musical guest and host announcements as he had sustained an injury. For the first episode without Pardo (February 16, 2013), cast member Bill Hader would impersonate him for the musical guest and host announcements, while pre-recorded announcements were used for cast members. Later, former cast member Darrell Hammond would be invited to replace Bill Hader for the remaining two episodes (March 2, 2013 and March 9, 2013). For these episodes, Hammond also made cast announcements. For Season 40, Hammond would be hired as the full-time announcer for SNL in response to Pardo's death over the 2014 summer hiatus.
Gallery[]
References[]
Deaths[]
Tom Davis (July 19, 2012)
[]
| Preceded by: Season 37 |
Season 38 (2012— 2013) |
Followed by: Season 39 |
| Seasons | |
|---|---|