Saturday Night Live season 26

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Saturday Night Live aired its twenty-sixth season during the 2000-2001 television season on NBC. Five year veterans Cheri Oteri and Colin Quinn left the show that year. Tim Meadows, who had been on the show for nine and a half years, also left, making him the longest-serving African-American castmember on SNL. With Colin Quinn's seat on Weekend Update empty, Lorne Michaels decided to revamp Weekend Update by bringing back the idea of having two anchors instead of one just as SNL had had in the 1970s with Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd (later replaced by Bill Murray). Chris Parnell and Ana Gasteyer auditioned for the roles of Weekend Update anchors, but the parts went to Jimmy Fallon and female head writer, Tina Fey. During what would be her six-season tenure, Tina Fey appeared very rarely outside of Weekend Update. Maya Rudolph was upgraded to repertory castmember while a new, African-American male castmember, Jerry Minor, joined the cast to replace Tim Meadows. Molly Shannon, who beat Victoria Jackson's record as longest-serving female castmember on SNL, left the show midseason (on the episode hosted by Sean Hayes from the NBC sitcom Will & Grace)

This season also had two primetime specials parodying the CBS reality show "Survivor" that aired in February. The season started on October 7, 2000 and ended on May 19, 2001.

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Repertory players

[edit] Featured players

[edit] Episodes

Episode # Air Date Host(s) Musical Guest(s) Remarks
486 (26.1) October 7, 2000 Rob Lowe Eminem
  • Consumer advocate, former SNL host, and 2000 Presidential nominee Ralph Nader has a cameo appearance during the monologue.
  • As of this episode, Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey became the new anchors of Weekend Update.
  • Tina Fey and Jerry Minor's first episode as cast members
487 (26.2) October 14, 2000 Kate Hudson Radiohead
  • Kevin Spacey was producers first choice to host this episode, but filming for his movie K-Pax prevented him from doing so.
  • Nomar Garciaparra appears as himself during a Sully and Denise sketch.
  • Radiohead performed The National Anthem with an accompaning horn section live for only the second time ever.
488 (26.3) October 21, 2000 Dana Carvey The Wallflowers
  • Robert DeNiro appears as himself during Weekend Update to discuss Jimmy Fallon's negative review of Meet the Parents, which was discussed on the previous episode.
489 (26.4) November 4, 2000 Charlize Theron Paul Simon
490 (26.5) November 11, 2000 Calista Flockhart Ricky Martin
  • Chris Kattan impersonates Ricky Martin right before the real Ricky Martin performs "Loaded."
491 (26.6) November 18, 2000 Tom Green David Gray
  • Drew Barrymore was in the audience, and mentioned in the monologue by Tom Green, who said he would like to marry her during the show. Barrymore declined.
  • According to the book "Live From New York, The Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live", Tom Green brought in his own writers for this episode, which didn't please the cast.
  • The TV Funhouse cartoon, a Fun With Real Audio called Sex and the Country, was replaced in the NBC rerun with the TV Funhouse cartoon about Mr. T auditioning for a tampon commercial due to its depiction of humans having sex with animals. This was also cut on Comedy Central when they aired 60-minute reruns of SNL, but the version currently airing on E! has shown this cartoon.
492 (26.7) December 9, 2000 Val Kilmer U2
  • During U2's performance of "Elevation", Bono jumped off the stage and continued singing while playing with the camera and wandering around the studio. The unplanned move was parodied during the following week's "Weekend Update" segment.
493 (26.8) December 16, 2000 Lucy Liu Jay-Z
  • Jimmy Fallon parodies Bono's antics during his performance of Elevation on the previous episode during Weekend Update.
  • Jay-Z cameos in the Robert Goulet Rap Album sketch. In that sketch, Jay-Z mutters the word, "Shit!" when the ashes off his marijuana joint fall off. This was not censored when it aired in reruns on NBC (the syndicated version of this episode doesn't air the sketch at all).
494 (26.9) January 13, 2001 Charlie Sheen Nelly Furtado
495 (26.10) January 20, 2001 Mena Suvari Lenny Kravitz
  • Janet Reno makes a special appearance in the cold opening, where she confronts the "Janet Reno" portrayed by Will Ferrell. She later appears herself in Janet Reno's Dance Party.
  • Lenny Kravitz appears in two live sketches as himself; one as holding auditions for Kyle and Sean DeMarco (Chris Kattan and Chris Parnell) and another going through airport security.
Special February 1, 2001 Primetime Extra 1
Special February 8, 2001 Primetime Extra 2
496 (26.11) February 10, 2001 Jennifer Lopez
  • This episode was delayed due to coverage of the XFL games. Lorne Michaels was so upset over this that he demanded that the episode be rerun in its entirety three weeks after the original air date.
497 (26.12) February 17, 2001 Sean Hayes Shaggy
  • Molly Shannon's final episode as a castmember.
498 (26.13) February 24, 2001 Katie Holmes Dave Matthews Band
  • Dave Matthews Band's second song, The Space Between, was its world premiere, other than the album version leaking on the internet.
499 (26.14) March 10, 2001 Conan O'Brien Don Henley
  • Conan O'Brien served as a staff writer on the show from 1988-1991, making him the first non-castmember writer to return as host.
  • Ben Affleck's appearance at the end of the Boston Teens at the Liquor Store sketch was not in the dress rehearsal version.
  • Max Weinberg, drummer on the Conan O'Brien show, appears in O'Brien's opening monologue. This woman who appears with him is his actual wife Becky Weinberg
500 (26.15) March 17, 2001 Julia Stiles Aerosmith
501 (26.16) April 7, 2001 Alec Baldwin Coldplay
  • David Spade makes a cameo appearance on Weekend Update to plug his movie Joe Dirt. Co-star and rocker Kid Rock also makes an appearance and does a couple "Hollywood Minute" jokes.
502 (26.17) April 14, 2001 Renée Zellweger Eve
  • During the week of this episode, the cast including the recently departed Molly Shannon would film the Mother's Day special that would air in May. As a favor, the writers wrote her into the crazy doctor sketch that aired during this episode.
503 (26.18) May 5, 2001 Pierce Brosnan Destiny's Child
  • Julia Stiles made a cameo appearance in the cold opening, as George W. Bush's daughter, Jenna.
504 (26.19) May 12, 2001 Lara Flynn Boyle Bon Jovi
505 (26.20) May 19, 2001 Christopher Walken Weezer
  • An April Fool's joke that got out of control stated that Drew Carey would host this episode and that he had convinced Lorne Michaels to let him do an all-improv show. Many wire services even picked up on the rumor, but it was debunked a few days later by Drew Carey's publicist.
  • Former castmember Kevin Nealon appears during Weekend Update to tell viewers that he's not on SNL anymore and that viewers who do see him are watching reruns from the 1990s that used to air on Comedy Central.
  • Winona Ryder, who would later host the last episode of season 27, appears during The Weekend Update Cliffhanger.
  • Jerry Minor's final episode as a cast member
Preceded by
Season 25		 Saturday Night Live
Season 26		 Succeeded by
Season 27