Saturday Night Live (season 15)

Saturday Night Live (season 15)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	20
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 30, 1989 – May 19, 1990
Season chronology

The fifteenth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 30, 1989, and May 19, 1990.

Very few changes were made before and during the season. This is the first season to show StereoSurround where available captioning during the opening montage. Mike Myers was upgraded to repertory status mid-season. This was the final season for Nora Dunn and Jon Lovitz.

This season saw the first hosting gigs of three celebrities who would go on to be frequent SNL hosts: John Goodman, who auditioned to be a cast member on SNL during the 1980–81 season and frequently appeared on SNL in the mid-1990s as Linda Tripp; Christopher Walken, whose sketch "The Continental" had been a staple in six of the seven episodes hosted by Walken; and Alec Baldwin (who surpassed Steve Martin as the most frequent SNL host).

A live special commemorating the fifteen seasons of SNL was aired September 24, 1989, before the start of the season.

Cast

Repertory cast members;

Dana Carvey
Nora Dunn
Phil Hartman
Jan Hooks
Victoria Jackson
Jon Lovitz
Dennis Miller
Mike Myers (upgraded to repertory status: February 17, 1990)
Kevin Nealon

Featured cast members

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Host	Musical guest(s)	Original air date
267	1	Bruce Willis	Neil Young	September 30, 1989 (1989-09-30)
Young performs "Rockin' in the Free World", "The Needle and the Damage Done" and "No More".^[1]
268	2	Rick Moranis	Rickie Lee Jones	October 7, 1989 (1989-10-07)
Jones performs "Satellites" and "Ghetto of My Mind".^[1]
269	3	Kathleen Turner	Billy Joel	October 21, 1989 (1989-10-21)
Joel performs "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "The Downeaster Alexa".^[1] Guest appearance by show writer Conan O'Brien.
270	4	James Woods	Don Henley	October 28, 1989 (1989-10-28)
Henley performs "The Last Worthless Evening" and "The Boys of Summer".^[1]
271	5	Chris Evert	Eurythmics	November 11, 1989 (1989-11-11)
Eurythmics performs "Angel" and "(My My) Baby's Gonna Cry".^[1]
272	6	Woody Harrelson	David Byrne	November 18, 1989 (1989-11-18)
Byrne performs "Dirty Old Town" and "Loco de Amor".^[1]
273	7	John Goodman	k.d. lang	December 2, 1989 (1989-12-02)
k.d. lang & The Reclines performs "Pullin' Back the Reins" and "Johnny Get Angry".^[1]
274	8	Robert Wagner	Linda Ronstadt Aaron Neville	December 9, 1989 (1989-12-09)
Ronstadt and Neville perform "Don't Know Much" and "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby".^[1]
275	9	Andie MacDowell	Tracy Chapman	December 16, 1989 (1989-12-16)
Chapman performs "Give Me One Reason",^[1] which wouldn't be released until 1995, and "All That You Have".^[1] Al Franken's son Joe appears during Weekend Update in a take-off of Franken's "Al Franken Decade" bit, in which the 1990s are referred to as the "Joe Franken Decade". Jon Lovitz portrays Hanukkah Harry.^[2]
276	10	Ed O'Neill	Harry Connick, Jr.	January 13, 1990 (1990-01-13)
Maury Povich makes a cameo during the monologue Kirsten Dunst appears in this episode as a girl in the Bizilady commercial Connick Jr. performs "It Had to Be You" and "It's All Right with Me"^[1]
277	11	Christopher Walken	Bonnie Raitt	January 20, 1990 (1990-01-20)
The first appearance of "The Continental" series of sketches. Raitt performs "Have a Heart" and "Thing Called Love".^[1]
278	12	Quincy Jones	Tevin Campbell, Kool Moe Dee & Big Daddy Kane	February 10, 1990 (1990-02-10)
Quincy Jones' monologue consists of a performance of Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca" by an expanded SNL Band. Jones joins the musical guests in performing "Back on the Block" and "Wee B. Dooinit".^[1] Kool Moe Dee, Melle Mel, and Jones' son Quincy Jones III appear in the "Crown Heights" sketch.
279	13	Tom Hanks	Aerosmith	February 17, 1990 (1990-02-17)
Aerosmith performs "Janie's Got a Gun" and "Monkey on My Back".^[1] The band also appears in the "Wayne's World" sketch, in which they perform the theme song. Mike Myers is upgraded to repertory status starting with this episode.
280	14	Fred Savage	Technotronic	February 24, 1990 (1990-02-24)
Technotronic performs "Pump Up the Jam" and "Get Up! (Before the Night Is Over)".^[1] Rosie Perez made an appearance as one of the dancers in the second performance. Savage's mother Joanne appears during the monologue, and his sister Kala appears in the "Imaginary Friend" sketch.
281	15	Rob Lowe	The Pogues	March 17, 1990 (1990-03-17)
The Pogues performs "White City" and "Body".^[1] Chevy Chase appears during the goodnights.
282	16	Debra Winger	Eric Clapton	March 24, 1990 (1990-03-24)
Clapton performs "No Alibis", "Pretending" and "Wonderful Tonight".^[1]
283	17	Corbin Bernsen	The Smithereens	April 14, 1990 (1990-04-14)
The Smithereens performs "A Girl Like You" and "Blues Before and After".^[1]
284	18	Alec Baldwin	The B-52's	April 21, 1990 (1990-04-21)
The B-52's performs "Cosmic Thing" and "Channel Z".^[1] This episode features the first appearance of both David Spade and Rob Schneider.
285	19	Andrew Dice Clay	Julee Cruise & Spanic Boys	May 12, 1990 (1990-05-12)
Spanic Boys performs "Keep On Walking".^[1] Cruise performs "Falling".^[1] The show was broadcast on a seven second delay.^[3] Nora Dunn and scheduled musical guest Sinéad O'Connor boycotted this episode in protest of host Andrew Dice Clay's jokes about women. Julee Cruise and Spanic Boys both were quickly hired to replace O'Connor. Dunn was fired at the end of the season.
286	20	Candice Bergen	The Notting Hillbillies	May 19, 1990 (1990-05-19)
This is Nora Dunn and Jon Lovitz's final episode as cast members. The Notting Hillbillies performs "Railroad Worksong" and "Love You Too Much".^[1]

Special

Title	Original air date
"15th Anniversary Special"	September 24, 1989 (1989-09-24)
A special celebrating the 15th anniversary of the show. A long list of cast members, guest hosts, and other special people honor the show's anniversary. Chevy Chase and Garrett Morris appear in the cold open, debating about whether or not Chase is too old to open the show with a pratfall (as he had routinely done when he had been a cast member). Tom Hanks performed the opening monologue, which pokes fun at the cliches of SNL opening monologues in general. Prince^[4] and Paul Simon perform. Vintage musical clips include performances from David Bowie and Elvis Costello.^[4] John Belushi and Gilda Radner receive tributes in the special.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 124–127. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
↑ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. p. 120. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
↑ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. p. 264. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
1 2 "September 1989" Rolling Stone magazine, 14–28 December 1989, page 120

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[SNL-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 124–127. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.

[2] Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. p. 120. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.

[3] Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. p. 264. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.

[RSSep89-4] 1 2 "September 1989" Rolling Stone magazine, 14–28 December 1989, page 120