Saturday Night Live season 27

• The episode premiered less than 3 weeks following the terrorist attacks of September 11. New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, along with members of the New York Fire Department appear in the cold opening to encourage New York and Saturday Night Live to carry on in the face of adversity. When asked by Lorne Michaels "can we be funny?", Giuliani replied "why start now?" In addition to appearances by Giuliani and the NYFD, Paul Simon played The Boxer during the cold opening.
• This marks the first time that Michaels (or any other executive producer) approved the use of the word fuck on air. Instead of "I'm freezing my balls off," the original punchline to Reese's joke in the monologue was "I'm fucking freezing!" Michaels wanted her to swear (promising he'd pay the fine) since he wanted to show that New York was back up and running. She decided not to at the last minute since she has so many young fans.
• On the original airing of this episode and the next, Chris Parnell's voice-over remained for the Weekend Update opening sequence (even though he had been fired from the show). It was subsequently re-recorded by Amy Poehler.
• Amy Poehler, Dean Edwards, Jeff Richards and Seth Meyers' first episode as cast members

• Former castmember Ben Stiller was asked to host the episode, but backed out due to the 9/11 attacks stating "It's impossible to be funny at this time.". SNL crew member Rosie Shuster said in the "Live from New York" book that "Ben is from New York, he should be fucking showing up with bells on to help the city through this". She was also displeased that while he disagreed to promote his film Zoolander by hosting SNL, he was appearing on Today, The View, and various other programs.
• Seann William Scott was originally booked to host the following episode, but he was bumped up when Ben Stiller canceled.

• Drew Barrymore nearly backed out of hosting, citing fear of flying after the 9/11 attacks. After agreeing to host, rehearsals for this week's episode were interrupted when an NBC employee tested positive for anthrax in the same building where SNL is broadcast. The show went on that Saturday as scheduled.

• Former castmember and special guest Dan Aykroyd revises his recurring character, Leonard Pinth-Garnell, for the sketch "Bad Conceptual Theater".
• Dan Aykroyd was brought in to pad sketches during rehearsals when John Goodman was too sick to come in.

• The original version of this episode has a TV Funhouse cartoon about Michael Jackson proving to his weird entourage that he doesn't lust after boys anymore. On the NBC rerun, this was replaced with another TV Funhouse cartoon, a "Fun With Real Audio" about Pat Robertson promoting stem cells which turns into a cartoon about Britney Spears that played on the West Coast airing of this episode (the syndicated reruns don't air either cartoon).

• Future host Ashton Kutcher makes a cameo appearance during the monologue.

Shakira

• Bubba Sparxxx's performance is cut out in the 60-minute versions of the episode.

• On December 31, 2006, this became the final Classic SNL aired. The timeslot went to Poker After Dark starting on January 5, 2007.

• Chris Parnell makes a vocal cameo appearance as Tom Brokaw during the "Narrator Who Ruined Christmas" cartoon. Robert Smigel did not agree with Parnell's firing and pushed for him to reprise his impression. Smigel notes on the "Best of TV Funhouse" DVD commentary that Parnell had nothing but good things to say about the show that had fired him when he came in to record his lines. Parnell will subsequently rejoin the cast a few episodes later.

• Cameron Diaz and Outkast were scheduled to be host and musical guest respectively in this episode. Both backed out at the last minute, but would appear in episodes later in the season.
• Will Ferrell does not appear in this episode since he was off filming the movie "Old School." He was removed from the opening credit sequence, which caused many fans to fear that he had permanently left the show.

• Will Ferrell was prominently featured in the promos for this episode to assure viewers that he had not left the show (after being absent for the previous episode).

• Britney Spears is the only female to pull double-duty (Hosting & Performing on the same episode) twice. Former cast member Dan Aykroyd cameos in two sketches (the Mormon skiers cold opening and Jimmy Fallon's Leather Man sketch)
• Future host Justin Timberlake makes a cameo appearance during Britney's monologue.

• Chris Parnell rejoins the cast after being fired at the end of last season for budgetary reasons. His return was not known about until this episode aired, and it was not actually mentioned on-air by anyone (although a mention was cut after dress rehearsal). Parnell appeared in a number of sketches in this episode an attempt to reintegrate him back into the cast.
• Darrell Hammond does not appear in this episode since he was in rehab for his alcohol addiction. Will Ferrell, who was originally not supposed to appear in this episode, was flown in from the set of "Old School" at the last minute to make up for Hammond's absence. Hammond's absence also contributed to Chris Parnell's return.
• Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes was originally supposed to make an appearance on this episode, but she backed out when her managers did not approve of the material that had been written for her.

• Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill, appears in the TV Funhouse "Fun With Real Audio" providing the voices for Beavis and Butthead.
• Chris Parnell is again featured in a number of sketches in an effort to reintegrate him back into the cast.
• Will Ferrell did not appear in this episode since he was off filming "Old School."
• Darrell Hammond returns from rehab with this episode.

• According to the book, "Live From New York: The Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live", the kiss between Maggie Smith (Ian McKellen) and Jimmy Fallon on Weekend Update was real and planned for the show, but McKellen slipping his tongue in Fallon's mouth, Jimmy's disgusted reaction, and Jimmy's lines "Maggie Smith should shave" and "Does this mean I'm knighted? Or did I just get queened" were not planned/scripted.
• This episode won an Emmy for writing, the show's first since 1989 (for the Alec Baldwin/B-52's episode)
• Will Ferrell did not appear in this episode since he was off filming "Old School."

• With the filming of his scenes from "Old School" complete, Will Ferrell returns to full-time duty.

• The NBC rerun of this episode featured a tribute to SNL director Dave Wilson. The tribute consisted of behind-the-scenes footage of Wilson directing the beginning of the cold opening of his final show.

• Elvis Costello was originally asked to be the musical guest, but declined. Alanis Morrissette was also asked, and declined as well.
• NBC never reran this episode, and it has never aired in syndication for unknown reasons. However, sketches from this episode were included on the "Best of Alec Baldwin" DVD.

• In the monologue, when Horatio Sanz throws up, he was originally supposed to vomit in a bucket, but the stage hand missed his cue. All NBC reruns and one-hour syndicated versions replace this with a dress rehearsal version where the stage hand doesn't miss his cue.

• The real Alex Trebek appears in Will Ferrell's last Celebrity Jeopardy sketch; in fact, this was Ferrell's final regular show appearance as he left the series to focus on his film career.
• Producers originally asked Ewan McGregor to host, but he declined.
• According to the "Live From New York" autobiography, Winona Ryder was chosen to host as a way to appear in public again after getting caught shoplifting at Saks Fifth Avenue.
• Musical guest Moby appears in a Mango sketch parodying Winona Ryder's infamous shoplifting experience wearing a T-shirt that reads, "I Heart Eminem", an ironic and humorous reaction to Eminem's slandering of Moby in his song "Without Me".
• The real Neil Diamond appears in the live show version of Weekend Update, but not the dress rehearsal.
• Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer's final episode as cast members.