1980

▪️Kirk Douglas, Rodney Dangerfield, Burt Reynolds, Bob Newhart, Malcolm McDowell, Ellen Burstyn, Jamie Lee Curtis and David Carradine host for the first time.

▪️The B-52’s, Sam & Dave, Paul McCartney, Aretha Franklin and James Brown perform as musical guests for the first time.

▪️Peter Aykroyd, Jim Downey and Brian Doyle-Murray officially join the fifth season as cast members while Harry Shearer becomes the first person in the show’s history to go from featured player to main cast member.

▪️Season 5 Episode 17 “Strother Martin/The Specials” was the only episode to feature SNL writers Tom Schiller and Alan Zweibel as cast members.

▪️Al Franken makes fun of NBC’s president Fred Silverman in a Weekend Update segment called “A Limo for a Lame-O” and inadvertently ruins any chance of succeeding Lorne Michaels as the showrunner.

▪️The fifth season finale marks Buck Henry’s tenth and final time hosting SNL.

▪️At the end of the fifth season, creator Lorne Michaels leaves the show and associate producer Jean Doumanian takes over as showrunner of Season 6.

▪️Cast members Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray all leave the show after Season 5.

▪️Denny Dillon, Gilbert Gottfried, Gail Matthius, Joe Piscopo, Ann Risley and Charles Rocket join the cast at the beginning of Season 6. Matthew Laurance, Eddie Murphy and Patrick Weathers join the cast by Episode 4 and Yvonne Hudson joins the cast by Episode 5.

▪️Charles Rocket takes over as the anchor of Weekend Update.

▪️Joe Piscopo’s Saturday Night Sports segment makes its Weekend Update debut.

▪️Raheem Abdul Muhammed (Eddie Murphy) makes his first appearance.

▪️Presidential candidate John B. Anderson appears on the show.

▪️Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow, the actors who played Beaver and Wally Cleaver in Leave it to Beaver, appear on the show.

▪️A music video directed by Jonathan Demme for “Gidget Goes to Hell” by the band Suburban Laws makes its debut.

▪️The music video for Dr. Demento favorite “Fish Heads” by rock duo Barnes & Barnes makes its debut. It would enter regular rotation on MTV as well.

1981

▪️Bill Murray and Tim Curry host for the first time.

▪️Rod Stewart, Miles Davis, Rick James and the Go-Go’s perform as musical guests for the first time.

▪️Funky Four Plus One is the first hip hop act to perform on SNL and also the first hip hop act to appear on national television.

▪️Gail Matthius joins Weekend Update as Charles Rocket’s co-anchor.

▪️Eddie Murphy parodies Mister Rogers for the first time in Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood.

▪️Gilbert Gottfried, Yvonne Hudson, Matthew Laurance, Ann Risley, Charles Rocket and Patrick Weathers would all leave the cast by their 12th episode along with showrunner Jean Doumanian amidst negative reviews while Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo would remain in the cast. The 13th and final episode that season would be Dick Ebersol’s first episode as showrunner.

▪️Chevy Chase returned in the final episode of Season 6 to anchor Weekend Update. Al Franken, Mr. Bill, Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve would also appear in that episode.

▪️Denny Dillon and Gail Matthius would leave the cast after the final episode of Season 6 while Robin Duke, Tim Kazurinsky and Tony Rosato would join the cast that episode.

▪️Emily Prager and Laurie Metcalf are credited as featured players in the final episode of Season 6, but Metcalf only appeared in a pre-taped segment and Prager did not appear on screen at all. Due to the 1981 WGA strike, Season 6 ended early and neither Metcalf nor Prager would return for Season 7, which makes Metcalf and Prager the record holders to this day for shortest stint as SNL cast members.

▪️Christine Ebersole and Mary Gross join the cast during Season 7.

▪️Mel Brandt replaces Don Pardo as the announcer of Season 7.

▪️Weekend Update’s name changes to SNL NewsBreak during Season 7 with Brian Doyle-Murray as its anchor.

▪️The recurring sketch “I Married a Monkey” featuring Tim Kazurinsky interacting with a real chimpanzee makes its debut.

▪️Velvet Jones (Eddie Murphy) makes his first appearance.

▪️Eddie Murphy plays Buckwheat for the first time.

▪️Boxing promoter Don King appears on the show.

▪️Juggler Michael Davis performs on the show.

▪️Ron Howard and Regis Philbin appear as contestants on a fake game show together during the cold open.

▪️Beat generation writer William S. Burroughs appears on the show.

▪️Frank Nelson (aka the guy who always says “Eee-yeeeeeeeeees?” on The Jack Benny Program) appears on the show.

▪️Punk rock band Fear performs on the 1981 Halloween show at the suggestion of former SNL cast member and punk rock enthusiast John Belushi. The band moshed and stage-dived during their performance but it was the profanity that made NBC cut the telecast short. Unlike the network, Belushi fully approved of the chaos.

1982

▪️John Madden, Bruce Dern, Daniel J. Travanti, Johnny Cash, Danny DeVito, Olivia Newton-John, Louis Gossett Jr., Ron Howard, Michael Keaton, Drew Barrymore and the Smothers Brothers host for the first time.

▪️The Allman Brothers Band, Jennifer Holiday, Lindsey Buckingham, Hall & Oates, John Cougar Mellencamp, Elton John, The Clash, Men at Work, Kenny Loggins and Lionel Richie perform as musical guests for the first time.

▪️Brian Doyle-Murray, Christine Ebersole and Tony Rosato leave the cast after the final episode of Season 7.

▪️Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brad Hall and Gary Kroeger join the cast.

▪️Don Pardo returns as the announcer.

▪️SNL NewsBreak changes its name to Saturday Night News with Brad Hall as its anchor.

▪️Drew Barrymore, who was promoting E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, becomes the youngest person to ever host SNL at the age of 7.

▪️Host Robert Blake was difficult to work with and he reportedly got banned from ever hosting the show again after he threw a crumbled piece of paper into cast member Gary Kroeger’s face.

▪️Nick Nolte is set to host Season 8 Episode 9 but he falls ill, so his 48 Hrs. co-star Eddie Murphy fills in for him, making Murphy the only person to host SNL while being a cast member on SNL at the same time.

▪️Freddie Mercury and Queen make their musical guest debut in the Season 8 premiere and perform their final live performance in America.

▪️The Whiners (Joe Piscopo and Robin Duke) make their first appearance.

▪️Gumby (Eddie Murphy) makes his first appearance.

▪️Dr. Jack Badofsky (Tim Kazurinsky) makes his first appearance.

▪️Comedian and puppeteer Marc Weiner performs on the show (he would later be known as the creator of the Nickelodeon series Weinerville).

▪️Monty Python star Graham Chapman appears on the show.

▪️Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert make their first appearance on the show to review sketches.

▪️Mr. T appears on the show.

▪️Andy Griffith appears on the show during the episode hosted by Ron Howard.

▪️Merv Griffin appears on the show.

▪️SNL viewers at home vote to ban Andy Kaufman from ever performing on SNL again via a 1-900 number (it’s a long story).

1983

▪️Sid Caesar, Beau and Jeff Bridges, Robert Guillaume, Joan Rivers, Stevie Wonder, Mayor Ed Koch, Brandon Tartikoff, John Candy, Jerry Lewis and Flip Wilson host for the first time.

▪️Duran Duran, Eddy Grant, Stray Cats and Stevie Nicks perform as musical guests for the first time.

▪️Jim Belushi joins the cast.

▪️James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub Party makes its debut.

▪️Comedian Steven Wright performs on the show for the first time.

▪️Magician and future Mystery Science Theater 3000 creator Joel Hodgson performs on the show for the first time.

▪️Lloyd Bridges appears in the episode hosted by Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges.

▪️Basketball sportscaster Marv Albert appears on the show.

▪️Florence Henderson (the mom from The Brady Bunch) appears on the show.

▪️Pro boxer Larry Holmes, pro baseball umpire Ron Luciano and pro baseball pitcher Tom Seaver appear on the show.

▪️The McKenzie Brothers (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas) of SCTV fame appear on the show a week before Moranis and Thomas co-host.

1984

▪️Don Rickles, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Michael Douglas, George McGovern, Bob Uecker, Jesse Jackson, Michael McKean, Ed Asner, Ed Begley Jr. and Ringo Starr host for the first time.

▪️Huey Lewis and the News, Billy Idol, Kool & the Gang, Spinal Tap, The Cars, Chaka Khan, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Herbie Hancock perform as musical guests for the first time.

▪️Eddie Murphy, Robin Duke, Tim Kazurinsky and Joe Piscopo leave the cast after Season 9.

▪️Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Rich Hall, Martin Short and Pamela Stephenson join the cast at the beginning of Season 10 alongside Harry Shearer who rejoins the cast after a five-year hiatus.

▪️Larry David is hired as a writer (he of course hates it there).

▪️The episode hosted by Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) marks the first time a fictional character ever hosted SNL.

▪️Christopher Guest takes over as the anchor of Saturday Night News.

▪️Fernando (Billy Crystal) makes his first appearance.

▪️SCTV character Ed Grimley (Martin Short) makes his SNL debut.

▪️Willie and Frankie (Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest) make their first appearance.

▪️Tippi Turtle (featuring the voice of Christopher Guest) is SNL’s first animated short.

▪️Eddie Murphy goes undercover as a White man in the mockumentary short film “White Like Me.”

▪️The Folksmen, a fictitious folk music trio (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer) make their screen debut in Season 10 Episode 4 of SNL. They would later be known for their appearance in Christopher Guest’s 2003 mockumentary A Mighty Wind.

▪️Season 10 Episode 8 “Ringo Starr/Herbie Hancock” is the only episode of SNL not to feature a news segment.

▪️Season 10 Episode 9: “Eddie Murphy/ The Honeydrippers” would be Eddie Murphy’s last appearance on the show before returning to host in 2019.

▪️Comedian Paula Poundstone performs on the show.

▪️Clara Peller from the “Where’s the Beef?” commercial appears on the show.

▪️Soupy Sales appears on the show.

▪️Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra appears on the show.

▪️Dr. Joyce Brothers appears on the show.

1985

▪️Kathleen Turner, Roy Scheider, Alex Karras, Mr. T and Hulk Hogan, Christopher Reeve, Howard Cosell, Madonna, Pee-wee Herman, John Lithgow and Tom Hanks host for the first time.

▪️Billy Ocean, Tina Turner, The Commodores and Sheila E. perform as musical guests for the first time.

▪️Harry Shearer leaves the cast during Season 10.

▪️The writer’s strike cuts the season short, and as a result, an episode to be hosted by John Candy and Eugene Levy with musical guest Hall & Oates is cancelled.

▪️Jim Belushi, Billy Crystal, Mary Gross, Christopher Guest, Rich Hall, Gary Kroeger, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Martin Short and Pamela Stephenson all leave the cast after the final episode of Season 10, along with showrunner Dick Ebersol.

▪️Lorne Michaels returns as executive producer and showrunner at the beginning of Season 11.

▪️Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Nora Dunn, Anthony Michael Hall, Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, Randy Quaid, Terry Sweeney, Danitra Vance and Damon Wayans join the cast at the beginning of Season 11. Dan Vitale joins the cast in the third episode that season while Don Novello would return as a featured player sporadically throughout the season.

▪️Robert Smigel, Mark McKinney, Bruce McCulloch and Carol Leifer are hired as writers.

▪️Saturday Night News is retitled Weekend Update with Dennis Miller as its anchor.

▪️Twilight Zone spoof “Limits of the Imagination” makes its debut and recurs throughout the season.

▪️Tommy Flanagan the Pathological Liar (Jon Lovitz) makes his first appearance (“Yeah! That’s the ticket!”)

▪️Talk show host Pat Stevens (Nora Dunn) makes her first appearance.

▪️The Master Thespian (Jon Lovitz) makes his first appearance.

▪️Penn & Teller perform magic on the show for the first time.

▪️Comedian Sam Kinison performs on the show for the first time.

▪️Ann-Margret, Morgan Fairchild, Teri Garr, Susan Lucci and Lynn Swann appear in the show.

▪️Steven Landesberg, Liberace and pro wrestlers Rowdy Roddy Piper and Bob Orton Jr. all appear in the episode hosted by Mr. T and Hulk Hogan.

1986

▪️Harry Dean Stanton, Ron Reagan, Jerry Hall, Jay Leno, George Wendt, Oprah Winfrey, Tony Danza, Jimmy Breslin, Angelica Huston and Billy Martin, Sigourney Weaver, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Sam Kinison, the Three Amigos (Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short), Steve Guttenberg and William Shatner host for the first time.

▪️Philip Glass, Joe Jackson, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, George Clinton, Parliament-Funkadelic and Run-DMC perform as musical guests for the first time.

▪️Al Franken rejoins the cast after a six-year hiatus.

▪️Rock band The Replacements get banned from SNL after their performance in Season 11 Episode 7 because they appear drunk on the air. Although lead singer Paul Westerberg would return as a solo artist in Season 19.

▪️Damon Wayans is fired from the cast after Season 11 Episode 12 when he turned what was supposed to be a minor police officer role into a gay stereotype live on the air without warning. He knew going rogue on live television would get him fired but he was not happy on the show because they underutilized his talents (the stereotypical gay voice Wayans does will definitely sound familiar to In Living Color fans).

▪️Francis Ford Coppola guest directs Season 11 Episode 13 with host George Wendt and musical guest Philip Glass and he makes a recurring appearance in a running gag where Coppola tries to improve the show’s ratings.

▪️Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Michael Hall, Randy Quaid, Terry Sweeney and Danitra Vance all leave the cast after the finale of Season 11.

▪️Madonna appears in the cold open of the Season 12 premiere and parodies the soap opera Dallas by saying the previous season was all a “horrible, horrible dream.”

▪️Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson and Kevin Nealon join the cast at the beginning of Season 12. A. Whitney Brown would join the cast as a featured player later that year after appearing on Weekend Update a couple of times.

▪️Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner are hired as writers.

▪️The Church Lady (Dana Carvey) makes her first appearance.

▪️Mr. Subliminal (Kevin Nealon) makes his first appearance.

▪️The Sweeney Sisters (Jan Hooks and Nora Dunn) make their first appearance.

▪️Ronald Reagan, Mastermind (Phil Hartman) makes his first appearance.

▪️The Big Picture makes its debut on Weekend Update.

▪️William Shatner tells Star Trek fans to get a life in a now famous sketch written by Robert Smigel.

▪️Buster Poindexter (David Johansen) performs on the show for the first time.

▪️Comedian Kevin Meaney performs on the show.

▪️Pro boxer Marvelous Marvin Hagler appears on the show.

▪️Absurdist playwright Christopher Durang appears on the show.

▪️Spike Lee introduces Run-DMC’s performance in character as Mars Blackmon from She’s Gotta Have It.

▪️Porn star Seka appears on the show.

▪️Whoopi Goldberg appears on the show.

1987

▪️Joe Montana and Walter Payton, Paul Shaffer, Willie Nelson, Valerie Bertinelli, Charlton Heston, John Larroquette, Mark Harmon, Garry Shandling, Dennis Hopper, Sean Penn, Dabney Coleman and Robert Mitchum host for the first time.

▪️Percy Sledge, Anita Baker, Roy Orbison, Sting, LL Cool J, Simply Red and Cher perform as musical guests for the first time.

▪️Bob Odenkirk is hired as a writer.

▪️Hans and Franz (Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon) make their first appearance.

▪️Tonto, Tarzan and Frankenstein’s Monster make their first appearance together.

▪️Dana Carvey impersonates Dennis Miller on Weekend Update for the first time.

▪️Dana Carvey impersonates George H. W. Bush for the first time.

▪️The first short film by future cast member Ben Stiller airs.

▪️Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Paulina Porizkova appears on the show.

▪️Tracey Ullman appears on the show.

▪️Presidential candidates Bruce Babbitt and Senator Paul Simon appear on the show.

▪️Elvira appears on the show.

▪️Mick Fleetwood, Heather Locklear and William Schallert make cameo appearances in the short film “Ed’s Secret Life (An Unauthorized Biography)” which was about Mister Ed.

▪️NBC newscaster Edwin Newman appears on the show. That same year, he would retire as a newscaster after a 23-year career.

1988

▪️Carl Weathers, Justine Bateman, Judge Reinhold, Matthew Broderick, Matthew Modine, Demi Moore, Kevin Kline and Melanie Griffith host for the first time.

▪️Robbie Robertson, Keith Richards and The Bangles perform as musical guests for the first time.

▪️Conan O’Brien and Greg Daniels are hired as writers.

▪️Infamous nude beach sketch in which the word “penis” is uttered 43 times airs.

▪️The 1988 WGA strike cuts Season 13 short at only 13 episodes. As a result, a planned episode to be hosted by former cast member Gilda Radner with musical guest U2 was cancelled. Radner would never get a chance to host again because she died a year later. Although U2 would finally get a chance to perform as a musical guest again in 2000.

▪️Arnold Schwarzenegger appears on the show alongside Hans and Franz. His then-wife Maria Shriver appears in the same episode.

▪️Morton Downey Jr. appears on the show.

▪️Miami Vice star Don Johnson appears on the show.

1989

▪️John Malkovich, Ted Danson, Leslie Nielsen, Glenn Close, Mary Tyler Moore, Mel Gibson, Dolly Parton, Geena Davis, Wayne Gretzky, Bruce Willis, Rick Moranis, James Woods, Chris Evert, Woody Harrelson, John Goodman, Robert Wagner and Andie MacDowell host for the first time.

▪️Fine Young Cannibals, Neil Young, K.D. Lang and Tracy Chapman perform as musical guests for the time.

▪️Mike Myers joins the cast.

▪️Ben Stiller joins the cast beginning in Season 14 Episode 15. He leaves the cast three episodes later.

▪️Wayne’s World starring Mike Myers as Wayne and Dana Carvey as Garth makes its debut.

▪️Mike Myers makes his first appearance as Dieter in “Sprockets,” a parody of German art culture.

▪️Jon Lovitz makes his first appearance as Hanukkah Harry, Hanukkah’s equivalent to Santa Claus.

▪️Annoying Man (Jon Lovitz) makes his first appearance.

▪️The Anal Retentive Chef (Phil Hartman) makes his first appearance.

▪️Dana Carvey impersonates Johnny Carson for the first time.

▪️Toonces the Cat Who Could Drive a Car makes his first appearance.

▪️Supermodels Kim Alexis, Beverly Johnson and Cheryl Tiegs appear on the show.

▪️William Hurt appears on the show during Glenn Close’s monologue.

▪️Danny Glover appears on the show during Mel Gibson’s “Lethal Weapon VI” sketch.

▪️Thirtysomething star Timothy Busfield appears on the show.

▪️Season 14 Episode 20 airs on the same day that Gilda Radner dies of cancer and host Steve Martin struggles to hold back tears during his opening monologue. Steve Martin and Gilda Radner’s famous 1978 sketch “Dancing in the Dark” is shown as a tribute.