The 46th season of Saturday Night Live premiered on October 3, 2020, hosted by former cast member Chris Rock with musical guest Megan Thee Stallion and concluded on May 22, 2021, hosted by actress Anya Taylor-Joy with musical guest Lil Nas X.
After the string of three Saturday Night Live At Home episodes, the season premiere marked the return to Studio 8H since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic.
On September 15, 2020, it was announced that the entire cast from the previous season returned, with Ego Nwodim, who had been a featured player since 2018, being promoted to repertory status, while Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang, both of whom had been hired in 2019 for the previous season, remained as featured players. This also marked the eighth season without any budget cuts to the cast between the premiere of the season and the previous season's finale— there have been no cast departures since Season 41,
On September 16, 2020, prior to the start of the season, SNL staff writer Andrew Dismukes (promoted to the cast from the writers' room and the fifth youngest cast member; as well as the fifth male cast member to be born in the 1990s), UCB alumn Lauren Holt (the first female cast member to be born in the 1990s and the sixth youngest female cast member; this would also be Holt's only season in the cast), and stand-up comedian Punkie Johnson (the second Black lesbian cast member, after Danitra Vance in the 1985-86 season and she became the eighth African-American female cast member) are added to the cast as featured players.
The same day of Dismukes, Johnson, and Holt's additions to the cast, it was announced that Alec Baldwin and longtime former cast member Maya Rudolph would reprise their respective roles as Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, while actor and comedian Jim Carrey took over the impersonating role of Joe Biden. Biden had been impersonated by longtime former cast member Jason Sudeikis, while he was vice president and portrayed by Woody Harrelson, John Mulaney, and Sudeikis in the previous season. His performance proved unpopular among fans, however, and he departed the role before the mid-season break. On December 19, Carrey announced he would step down from playing Biden, stating it was the original intention that he would play Biden for only six weeks. Then-current cast member Alex Moffat succeeded Carrey as Biden for the December 19, 2020 episode, hosted by longtime former cast member Kristen Wiig, with musical guest Dua Lipa.
Longtime cast members Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong were mostly absent from the season's early episodes, because COVID-related rescheduling caused their other projects (Bryant's Shrill for the third and final season and Strong's Schmigadoon) to conflict with SNL's dates. Both Strong and Bryant were still credited as cast members throughout the season. Strong returned to SNL for the December 5, 2020 episode, hosted by actor Jason Bateman, with musical guest Morgan Wallen and Bryant returned for the January 30, 2021 episode, hosted by actor John Krasinski, with musical guest Machine Gun Kelly.
It was also announced that six episodes would premiere in a row, a first. The fifth would fall on October 31, 2020, making it the first time that a new episode would premiere on Halloween since 1992.
On October 7th, 2020, it was announced that Morgan Wallen's appearance as musical guest on October 10, 2020, the second episode of this season, hosted by stand-up comedian, actor, filmmaker and podcaster Bill Burr was dropped due to many videos surfacing of Wallen partying without a mask and not social distancing; Jack White was rushed in as a replacement. Wallen was instead rescheduled for the December 5, 2020 episode, hosted by actor Jason Bateman.
This is the final season for longtime cast member Beck Bennett, who had been on the show since 2013, a total of 8 seasons. It was also Lauren Holt's only season on the show, as she would let go after the finale.
This would be also marked the first season to have had 20 episodes in it, since Season 32, though this season had only 20 episodes, due to COVID concerns.
This season debuted a new opening montage with new title cards, replacing the previous videos and block lettering with script over still photos.
Cast[]
Changes[]
| Promoted | New |
|---|---|
Repertory Players[]
Featured Players[]
Episodes[]
Deaths[]
- Norm Macdonald (September 14, 2021)
Opening montage[]
References[]
| Preceded by: Season 45 |
Season 46 (2020— 2021) |
Followed by: Season 47 |
| Seasons | |
|---|---|