September 30, 2017

September 30, 2017 Season 43 episode


Episode	830
Season Episode	1
Host	Ryan Gosling
Musical Guest(s)	Jay-Z
Song(s) performed by Musical Guest(s)	"Bam" "4:44"

Previous Episode
May 20, 2017
(Season 42)

Next Episode
October 7, 2017

The season premiere of Season 43 and the 830th episode of Saturday Night Live premiered on September 30, 2017, hosted by Canadian actor Ryan Gosling, star of the hit films The Big Short, La La Land, Song to Song, Blue Valentine, Only God Forgives, and Blade Runner 2049, with musical guest Jay-Z, a rapper. Gosling previously hosting SNL on the December 5, 2015 episode, the seventh episode of SNL's 41st season, with musical guest Leon Bridges. This is Ryan Gosling's 2nd time as host and the 4th musical guest appearance was made on SNL for Jay-Z.

The last time Jay-Z was the musical guest on May 8, 2010, the twenty-first and penultimate episode of SNL's 35th season, hosted by the legendary actress and NBC's classic hit series Golder Girls star Betty White.

This marked the first episode with Heidi Gardner, Luke Null, and Chris Redd as cast members.

Cast[]

Repertory Players[]

Featured Players[]

Mikey Day
Heidi Gardner (First Appearance)
Alex Moffat
Luke Null+ (First Appearance)
Chris Redd (First Appearance)
Melissa Villaseñor

+ Credited but did not appear; he only appeared in the goodnights.

Cameos by Alec Baldwin and Emma Stone Guest musical appearance by Damian Marley

Sketches and Musical Performances[]

Cold Open Sketch Pre-recorded Weekend Update Music Performance Other

Title	Image	Summary
The Chaos President Cold Open		President Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) speaks with Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Aidy Bryant), Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz (Melissa Villaseñor) of San Juan, Jeff Sessions (Kate McKinnon) and Senator Chuck Schumer (Alex Moffat).
Opening Montage		The opening montage is exactly the same as in the previous three seasons, additionally, 3 longtime cast members Bobby Moynihan, Vanessa Bayer and Sasheer Zamata are gone from the intro, since they left the show prior to this season. First credits for Heidi Gardner, Luke Null, and Chris Redd, who were all hired as featured players to replace the departing trio.
Ryan Gosling Save Jazz Monologue		Returning to host SNL for the second time, Canadian actor Ryan Gosling explains how he saved jazz to Kenan Thompson and Emma Stone.
Another Close Encounter		Three alien abductees (Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, and Cecily Strong) are again questioned by the CIA (Aidy Bryant and Mikey Day).
Levi’s Wokes		Introducing Wokes, sizeless, style-neutral, gender non-conforming denim for a generation that defies labels. With Ryan Gosling, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson and Cecily Strong plays the announcer. First appearances of Heidi Gardner and Chirs Redd.
The Fliplets		Brothers Pete (Mikey Day), Zeke (Alex Moffat) and Tristan (Ryan Gosling) love renovating houses and refusing to face their demons.
Jay-Z performs "Bam" with Damian Marley
Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che		Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, including President Donald Trump’s poor response to Hurricane Maria and the latest Republican healthcare bill. With guests, Angela Merkel (Kate McKinnon), Guy Who Just Bought a Boat (Alex Moffat), and Guy Who Just Joined Soho House (Ryan Gosling).
Henrietta & The Fugitive		After falling in love with a fugitive (Ryan Gosling), Henrietta (Aidy Bryant) helps him hide from the cops (Beck Bennett, Alex Moffat). Also Features Kenan Thompson as the farmer.
Italian Restaurant		Two customers (Ryan Gosling, Cecily Strong) do not react well to learning the food they've been eating is actually from Pizza Hut. Also Features Beck Bennett as Chef Claude, Mikey Day as the moderator, Chris Redd as Mark, Heidi Gardner, Kyle Mooney as Melissa Villaseñor as the customers.
Jay-Z performs "4:44".
Papyrus		Years after Avatar's release, there's one thing Steven (Ryan Gosling) just can't get over. With Heidi Gardner, Kate McKinnon, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd and Cecily Strong.
Dive Bar		The drama with Treece Henderson (Kenan Thompson), Raj (Kyle Mooney) and the band's flute player (Ryan Gosling) ends up being way more interesting than the music they're playing. Also features Beck Bennett and Heidi Gardner as the audience members and Leslie Jones as Dutricia.
In Memoriam		Before the goodnights, a photograph of Hugh Hefner, who hosted on October 15, 1977, during the show's 3rd season, had died the previous week, is shown in silence.
Goodnights and Closing Credits		Ryan Gosling thanked Jay-Z, Damian Marley, Alec Baldwin, Emma Stone, Lorne Michaels, and the cast, his partner Eva Mendes and his two daughters Esmeeralda and Amanda, that he loved them. First appearance of Luke Null. Some of the cast point to Heidi Gardner, Luke Null and Chris Redd, as this is their first episode in the cast of the season. Also, in the goodnights, Gosling wore a T-shirt in honor of his beloved 16-year-old dog, George.

Trivia[]

Kenan Thompson return for his 15th season on the show making him the longest tenured cast member in the show's history, surpassing the previous record of fourteenth seasons, which he had held jointly with Darrell Hammond.
A photograph of the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner, who hosted the show on October 29, 1977 during season 3, who had died the previous week, is shown in silence before the goodnights.
This is Andrew Dismukes' first episode as a writer.
This also even marked the first episode for Steven Castillo, Claire Friedman, Sam Jay, Erik Marino, Nimesh Patel and Gary Richardson joining the writing staff on SNL.
Starting with this episode, Streeter Seidell (who started writing for the show back in 2014) is named as a writing supervisor this season.
Additionally, starting with this episode, the writers for Weekend Update are listed in a separate section from the rest of the writers in the credits.

Preceded by: May 20, 2017 (Season 42)	Saturday Night Live episode	Followed by: October 7, 2017