| Saturday Night Live | |
|---|---|
| Season 27 | |
 | |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 29, 2001 (2001-09-29) – May 18, 2002 (2002-05-18) |
| Season chronology | |
← Previous season 26 Next → season 28 | |
| List of episodes | |
Thetwenty-seventh season ofSaturday Night Live, an Americansketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States onNBC between September 29, 2001 and May 18, 2002.
Eighteen days before the season started, theSeptember 11 terrorist attacks took place inNew York. The season premiere (hosted byReese Witherspoon) went on as scheduled, with a specialcold open featuringRudy Giuliani, theMayor of New York City at the time, along with firefighters from theFDNY and police officers from theNYPD, declaring that despite the terrorist attack, New York City will run as normal andSaturday Night Live will go on as planned (withLorne Michaels asking Giuliani "Can we be funny?" and Giuliani replying "Why start now?").
Three weeks into the season the show faced another scare whenanthrax was found in theGE Building (from where the show is broadcast).[1] The scare caused most of the cast and crew, as well as that week's guest hostDrew Barrymore, to evacuate the building.
Before the start of the season, longtime cast memberMolly Shannon, who had been on the show for six years since 1995, departed midway through the previous season on her own terms,[2] and featured playerJerry Minor[3] and repertory cast memberChris Parnell were both let go from the show after the finale. However, Parnell was hired back to the show midseason in the episode hosted byJonny Moseley,[4][5] becoming the second cast member to be hired back to the show after being fired, the first person beingJim Belushi in1983.[6]
Four new cast members were hired to the show this season: stand-up comicDean Edwards, Chicago improviserSeth Meyers,Amy Poehler of theUpright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe,[7][8] and stand-up comic/impressionistJeff Richards, who was previously a cast member on the rival sketch showMADtv.[9]Rachel Dratch,Tina Fey, andMaya Rudolph were all upgraded to repertory status at the beginning of the season, and Poehler was promoted to repertory status mid-season.
Will Ferrell was absent from a number of episodes because he was filmingOld School. This would also be the final season for both Ferrell[10] andAna Gasteyer. After Gasteyer went on maternity leave at the end of the season, she decided not to return to the show.[11]
Repertory players
| Featured players
|
bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor
Emily Spivey,[12] Doug Abeles, andCharlie Grandy[13] join the writing staff with this season.[14]
This was also the final season for longtime writers Hugh Fink (who had been a writer since1995) and Matt Piedmont (who had written at the show since1996, and is called out by departing-cast memberWill Ferrell via a cue card for what was their last episode). Fink wrote for the show for seven years, while Piedmont was there for six.[15]
| No. overall | No. in season | Host | Musical guest(s) | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 506 | 1 | Reese Witherspoon | Alicia Keys | September 29, 2001 (2001-09-29) | |
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| 507 | 2 | Seann William Scott | Sum 41 | October 6, 2001 (2001-10-06) | |
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| 508 | 3 | Drew Barrymore | Macy Gray | October 13, 2001 (2001-10-13) | |
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| 509 | 4 | John Goodman | Ja Rule | November 3, 2001 (2001-11-03) | |
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| 510 | 5 | Gwyneth Paltrow | Ryan Adams | November 10, 2001 (2001-11-10) | |
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| 511 | 6 | Billy Bob Thornton | Creed | November 17, 2001 (2001-11-17) | |
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| 512 | 7 | Derek Jeter | Bubba Sparxxx Shakira | December 1, 2001 (2001-12-01) | |
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| 513 | 8 | Hugh Jackman | Mick Jagger | December 8, 2001 (2001-12-08) | |
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| 514 | 9 | Ellen DeGeneres | No Doubt | December 15, 2001 (2001-12-15) | |
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| 515 | 10 | Josh Hartnett | Pink | January 12, 2002 (2002-01-12) | |
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| 516 | 11 | Jack Black | The Strokes | January 19, 2002 (2002-01-19) | |
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| 517 | 12 | Britney Spears | Britney Spears | February 2, 2002 (2002-02-02) | |
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| 518 | 13 | Jonny Moseley | Outkast | March 2, 2002 (2002-03-02) | |
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| 519 | 14 | Jon Stewart | India.Arie | March 9, 2002 (2002-03-09) | |
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| 520 | 15 | Ian McKellen | Kylie Minogue | March 16, 2002 (2002-03-16) | |
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| 521 | 16 | Cameron Diaz | Jimmy Eat World | April 6, 2002 (2002-04-06) | |
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| 522 | 17 | The Rock | Andrew W.K. | April 13, 2002 (2002-04-13) | |
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| 523 | 18 | Alec Baldwin | P.O.D. | April 20, 2002 (2002-04-20) | |
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| 524 | 19 | Kirsten Dunst | Eminem | May 11, 2002 (2002-05-11) | |
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| 525 | 20 | Winona Ryder | Moby | May 18, 2002 (2002-05-18) | |
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| Title | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|
| "SNL Remembers John Belushi" | March 11, 2002 (2002-03-11) | |
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of John's death, Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey host this retrospective of some of his greatest sketches on SNL.Dan Aykroyd makes a cameo appearance in this special. | ||