Saturday Night Live season 5

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Saturday Night Live aired its fifth season during the 1979 - 1980 television season on NBC. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd left the show at the end of the fourth season, leaving a void in the cast that most fans thought would be the beginning of the end for the late-night sketch show. Harry Shearer, as well as many of SNL's writers (see "Featured Cast Members" list below), were hired to be replacements. By 1980, all of the cast and writers, including Lorne Michaels, grew tired of the show and planned on ending it in May. NBC, on the other hand, wasn't about to let the successful series slip through their fingers and planned on keeping the show going with a new cast, new writers, and a new executive producer. Al Franken was originally considered to be season six's executive producer, but after a scathing "Weekend Update" commentary about Fred Silverman ("A Limo for the Lame-O"), Franken was dropped.

The fifth season started on October 13, 1979 and ended on May 24, 1980.

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Repertory cast members

[edit] Featured cast members

[edit] Episodes

Episode
Number		 Date Host(s) Musical Guest(s) Remarks
87 October 13, 1979 Steve Martin Blondie
  • Blondie performed "Dreaming"
  • Until at least 1994, this episode was the highest-rated according to the Nielsen ratings.
  • Harry Shearer's first episode as a cast member
  • Though they appeared on the show earlier this is the first time that Jim Downey and Paul Shaffer are credited as cast members
  
88 October 20, 1979 Eric Idle Bob Dylan
  • Eric Idle performed with a fever (which explains why he was in a stretcher during the monologue). Buck Henry was brought in just in case Idle was too sick to perform.
  
89 November 3, 1979 Bill Russell Chicago  
90 November 10, 1979 Buck Henry Tom Petty  
91 November 17, 1979 Bea Arthur The Roches
92 December 8, 1979 Howard Hesseman Randy Newman  
93 December 15, 1979 Martin Sheen David Bowie  
94 December 22, 1979 Ted Knight Desmond Child & Rouge  
95 January 26, 1980 Teri Garr The B-52's  
96 February 9, 1980 Chevy Chase Marianne Faithfull  
97 February 16, 1980 Elliott Gould Gary Numan  
98 February 23, 1980 Kirk Douglas Sam & Dave  
99 March 8, 1980 Rodney Dangerfield The J. Geils Band  
100 March 15, 1980   James Taylor
Paul Simon
David Sanborn
  • The show went hostless to celebrate their 100th episode. John Belushi and Michael O'Donoghue made return appearances in the cold opening. Bill Murray turned the monologue into a musical tribute to New York City.
  • During the sketch "The Minstrels of Newcastle", Paul Shaffer inadvertently said "fuckin'" on the air.
  • Paul Simon and James Taylor performed a duet version of "Take Me to the Mardi Gras".
101 April 5, 1980 Richard Benjamin
Paula Prentiss		 The Grateful Dead  
102 April 12, 1980 Burt Reynolds Anne Murray  
103 April 19, 1980 Strother Martin The Specials
  • Martin died the following August, causing a repeat to have aired August 9, 1980 to be pulled.
104 May 10, 1980 Bob Newhart Amazing Rhythm Aces with Bill Murray
Bruce Cockburn		  
105 May 17, 1980 Steve Martin 3-D
Paul McCartney
Linda McCartney		  
106 May 24, 1980 Buck Henry Andrew Gold
Andrae Crouch
Voices of Unity
Preceded by
Season 4		 Saturday Night Live
Season 5		 Succeeded by
Season 6