Saturday Night Live (season 8)

Saturday Night Live Season 8

The Saturday Night Live title card as seen in the opening credits of the 8th season.
Country of origin  United States
No. of episodes 20
Broadcast
Original channel NBC
Original run September 25, 1982 – May 14, 1983
Season chronology
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9

Saturday Night Live aired its eighth season during the 1982–1983 season on NBC. The 8th season started on September 25, 1982 and ended on May 14, 1983. This was the third season to air since Lorne Michaels had left his first tenure as executive producer.

Many changes happened before the start of the season. Brian Doyle-Murray, Christine Ebersole and Tony Rosato were dropped from the show to make room for new cast members.

Hired in their places were Brad Hall, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Hall's future wife and future Seinfeld cast member), and Gary Kroeger.

Dick Ebersol brought back the show's cold openings that ended with "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" and the monologues by the host. Ebersol also changed Weekend Update's name for the second; this time, it was changed to Saturday Night News. Since Doyle-Murray and Ebersole were both dropped a new anchor was needed for the segment. Hall got the gig and became the new anchor.

Don Pardo returned as SNL's announcer in this season.

Notable moments of this season included Drew Barrymore hosting the show—the youngest person ever to host the show, at 7 years, 8 months and 29 days.

During the episode hosted by Barrymore, the audience at home was given the chance to vote on whether or not Andy Kaufman, should be banned from the show. The vote was conducted by a 1-900 number. At the end of the show Kaufman was banned from ever performing on SNL again.

Another notable moment was when Eddie Murphy hosted the show. Murphy substituted for his 48 Hours co-star Nick Nolte after Nolte fell ill (Nolte became hung over following a night of partying at Studio 54). Murphy became the only person to have hosted the show while still a cast member. He controversially announced "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy Show!" Murphy's hosting gig angered most of the cast and crew, particularly Joe Piscopo.

Contents

Cast

Repertory cast members
Featured cast members

(none)

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers#Season 8

Episodes

Episode
Number		 Date Host(s) Musical Guest(s) Remarks
140 September 25, 1982 Chevy Chase Queen
141 October 2, 1982 Louis Gossett, Jr. George Thorogood & the Destroyers
  • Guest appearance by Mr. T
142 October 9, 1982 Ron Howard The Clash
  • Howard hosts less than three months after the release of his film Night Shift; The Clash perform "Straight to Hell" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go", two songs from their recently released album Combat Rock.
  • Harry Anderson makes a guest appearance.
  • The cold opening for this episode, a public service announcement from the Department of Weights and Balances, is cut in all NBC reruns and one-hour syndicated versions.
  • In the "Mayberry 1982" sketch, Ron Howard's character accidentally calls Floyd (played by Eddie Murphy) "Otis". Murphy corrects him and Howard's character ad-libs, "I told you I couldn't recognize you!"
  • Andy Griffith cameos in the "Mayberry 1982" sketch, reprising his character Andy Taylor.
143 October 23, 1982 Howard Hesseman Men at Work  
144 October 30, 1982 Michael Keaton The New Joe Jackson Band
145 November 13, 1982 Robert Blake Kenny Loggins
146 November 20, 1982 Drew Barrymore Squeeze
  • During this episode, the audience at home was given the chance to vote on whether or not Andy Kaufman, a regular cameo on SNL, should be banned from the show. The vote was conducted by a 1-900 number. At the end of the night, the people had spoken, and Kaufman was banned from ever performing on SNL again.
  • With this episode, Drew Barrymore becomes the youngest person ever to host Saturday Night Live, at 7 years, 8 months and 29 days.
147 December 4, 1982 The Smothers Brothers Laura Branigan  
  • First episode to have two brothers co-host. Jeff and Beau Bridges would co-host six episodes later.
148 December 11, 1982 Eddie Murphy Lionel Richie
  • Eddie Murphy substituted for his 48 Hours co-star Nick Nolte after Nolte fell ill (Nolte became hung over following a night of partying at Studio 54), the only person to have hosted the show while still a cast member. He controversially announced "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy Show!" Steve Martin appeared near the end to chastise Eddie Murphy for being a second choice. This was Steve Martin's only appearance on SNL which was not produced by Lorne Michaels.
  • Guest appearance by Harry Anderson
149 January 22, 1983 Lily Tomlin Tomlin as Pervis Hawkins
  • Lily Tomlin acted as both host and musical guest for this episode, though she was only credited for being the host. She opened the show "Live from New York, it's the Lily Tomlin Show!" in reference to Murphy's opening the previous week.
  • Andy Kaufman makes a guest appearance in a pre-taped segment ostensibly as "bought commercial time" since this is the only way that he can still get to appear on SNL
  • Guest appearance by Bob and Doug Mackenzie to promote next week's show
150 January 29, 1983 Rick Moranis
Dave Thomas		 The Bus Boys  
151 February 5, 1983 Sid Caesar Joe Cocker
Jennifer Warnes
152 February 19, 1983 Howard Hesseman Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers  
  • Tom Petty performed "The Waiting" and "Change of Heart"
  • Tim Kazurinski had multiple wardrobe malfunctions during the SNL News segment including forgetting to remove his fake mustache from a scene moments before he reappears only to catch the error moments after the camera moves in on him.
  • Howard Hesseman invites the TV audience to take pictures of themselves mooning a picture of President Ronald Regean and send them into SNL to be tallied and submitted to the president himself. While the TV audience does this he also moons the picture off screen.
  • Hesseman presents a film tribute to the late John Belushi prepared by Belushi's wife.
153 February 26, 1983 Beau Bridges
Jeff Bridges		 Randy Newman  
  • The Bridges' father makes a cameo during the monologue, in which he tells his sons who he prefers more.
154 March 12, 1983 Bruce Dern Leon Redbone  
  • This show also featured the death of Buckwheat which will carry on to next week's episode.
155 March 19, 1983 Robert Guillaume Duran Duran
156 April 9, 1983 Joan Rivers Musical Youth  
157 April 16, 1983 Susan Saint James Michael McDonald
158 May 7, 1983 Stevie Wonder
  • Featured two Wonder appearances alongside Eddie Murphy: the Kannon Camera sketch and "The Stevie Wonder Experience", in which Murphy (playing a music executive) trades impressions of Wonder with Wonder himself.
  • Wonder performs a rare version of "Overjoyed" which will later be released as a single in 1986
159 May 14, 1983 Ed Koch Kevin Rowland
Dexys Midnight Runners

References

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