| Saturday Night Live | |
|---|---|
| Season 41 | |
 | |
| No. of episodes | 21 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | October 3, 2015 (2015-10-03) – May 21, 2016 (2016-05-21) |
| Season chronology | |
← Previous season 40 Next → season 42 | |
| List of episodes | |
Theforty-first season of theNBC comedy seriesSaturday Night Live premiered on October 3, 2015, during the2015–2016 television season.[1] The season premiered on October 3, 2015, with host & musical guestMiley Cyrus and concluded on May 21, 2016 with hostFred Armisen and musical guestCourtney Barnett.
Kate McKinnon won thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in this season.
After two consecutive seasons with higher-than-average levels of cast turnover, no major changes occurred prior to this season. The entire cast of theprevious season returned, withBeck Bennett,Colin Jost,Kyle Mooney andSasheer Zamata being promoted to repertory status, whileMichael Che,Pete Davidson andLeslie Jones remained featured players.[2]
Prior to the start of the season, comedianJon Rudnitsky ofthe Groundlings joined the show as a featured player.[3][4]
This would be the final season for longtime cast membersTaran Killam andJay Pharoah, who had both been on the show since2010, and the only season for Rudnitsky.[5]
Repertory players | Featured players
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bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor
Before the beginning of the season, six new writers joined the staff:Upright Citizens Brigade performers Fran Gillespie, Sudi Green, and Will Stephen; formerLate Show with David Letterman writers Paul Masella and Chris Belair; and stand-up comedianDave Sirus.[6]
Colin Jost, a cast member on the show and anchor of Weekend Update, who has also served as a writer since2005 (and as co-head writer in2012), stepped down as co-head writer, although he remained on the writing staff. Rob Klein andBryan Tucker continued as co-head writers.[7]
This would be the final season for writersZach Kanin andTim Robinson (Kanin had been with the show for five years since2011; while Robinson lasted three seasons as a writer, initially starting in2013, and overall was with the show for four years, as having briefly been joined the cast for the2012-13 season).[8]
This was also Klein's final season as head writer (a role he held for three seasons, previously beginning in 2013), but would return to the show thenext season as a regular writer.[8] This was also the only season for Sirus, Masella, and Belair in the writing staff.[8]
| No. overall | No. in season | Host(s) | Musical guest(s) | Original release date | Ratings/ Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 788 | 1 | Miley Cyrus | Miley Cyrus | October 3, 2015 (2015-10-03) | 4.5/11[9] | |
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| 789 | 2 | Amy Schumer | The Weeknd | October 10, 2015 (2015-10-10) | 3.9/10[10] | |
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| 790 | 3 | Tracy Morgan | Demi Lovato | October 17, 2015 (2015-10-17) | 4.2/11[13] | |
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| 791 | 4 | Donald Trump | Sia | November 7, 2015 (2015-11-07) | 6.6/16[16] | |
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| 792 | 5 | Elizabeth Banks | Disclosure | November 14, 2015 (2015-11-14) | 4.0/10[17] | |
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| 793 | 6 | Matthew McConaughey | Adele | November 21, 2015 (2015-11-21) | 4.6/12[18] | |
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| 794 | 7 | Ryan Gosling | Leon Bridges | December 5, 2015 (2015-12-05) | 4.1/10[19] | |
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| 795 | 8 | Chris Hemsworth | Chance the Rapper | December 12, 2015 (2015-12-12) | 3.8/10[20] | |
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| 796 | 9 | Tina Fey &Amy Poehler | Bruce Springsteen & theE Street Band | December 19, 2015 (2015-12-19) | 5.1/13[23] | |
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| 797 | 10 | Adam Driver | Chris Stapleton | January 16, 2016 (2016-01-16) | 3.0/15 in 18-49 (approximately 5.7 overall)[25][26] | |
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| 798 | 11 | Ronda Rousey | Selena Gomez | January 23, 2016 (2016-01-23) | 5.0/12[27] | |
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| 799 | 12 | Larry David | The 1975 | February 6, 2016 (2016-02-06) | 5.1/12[28] | |
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| 800 | 13 | Melissa McCarthy | Kanye West | February 13, 2016 (2016-02-13) | 4.4/11[29] | |
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| 801 | 14 | Jonah Hill | Future | March 5, 2016 (2016-03-05) | 4.0/10[30] | |
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| 802 | 15 | Ariana Grande | Ariana Grande | March 12, 2016 (2016-03-12) | 4.0/10[31] | |
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| 803 | 16 | Peter Dinklage | Gwen Stefani | April 2, 2016 (2016-04-02) | 4.0/10[32] | |
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| 804 | 17 | Russell Crowe | Margo Price | April 9, 2016 (2016-04-09) | 4.0/10[33] | |
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| 805 | 18 | Julia Louis-Dreyfus | Nick Jonas | April 16, 2016 (2016-04-16) | 3.9/10[34] | |
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| 806 | 19 | Brie Larson | Alicia Keys | May 7, 2016 (2016-05-07) | 4.1/10[35] | |
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| 807 | 20 | Drake | Drake | May 14, 2016 (2016-05-14) | 3.9/10[36] | |
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| 808 | 21 | Fred Armisen | Courtney Barnett | May 21, 2016 (2016-05-21) | 3.7/10[40] | |
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| Title | Original release date | US viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| "SNL Goodnight Sweet Prince" | April 23, 2016 (2016-04-23) | 4.5/11[42] | |
A selection ofPrince's performances on the show were shown in honor of his death earlier that week.[41] Included were his performances during theseason 6 episode hosted byCharlene Tilton, the15th Anniversary Special, theseason 31 episode hosted bySteve Martin, and theseason 40 episode hosted byChris Rock, as well as a performance of "Let's Go Crazy" during the after-party for the40th Anniversary Special, which has not been aired on television before. It also included replays of the recurring sketch "The Prince Show", whereFred Armisen played Prince andMaya Rudolph playedBeyoncé. Included were sketches from theseason 30 episodes hosted byQueen Latifah andRobert De Niro, the season 31 episode hosted by Steve Martin, and theseason 32 episode hosted byShia LaBeouf. The performances were introduced byJimmy Fallon who hosted this special. | |||