History of Saturday Night Live (1995–2000)

The late nineties

1995-1996 season

The 1995-1996 season is a milestone for "SNL", marking the last season for David Spade, but also the debuts of a strong batch of new recruits: Jim Breuer, Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, David Koechner, Cheri Oteri, Nancy Walls, Chris Kattan and Colin Quinn. Ferrell, Hammond, Oteri, Kattan and Molly Shannon, who had been a feature player since midway through the preceding season, become mainstays of the show for the rest of the decade and beyond.

Ana Gasteyer

Ex-Groundling Ana Gasteyer joined in 1996-1997, bringing an excellent singing voice and considerable musical skills to the cast, as well as creating some memorable characters was Margeret Jo McCullen, co-host of tedious public radio cooking show “The Delicious Dish”, ultra-square middle school music teacher “Bobbi Moughan-Culp”, her hatchet-faced impersonation of home-economics guru Martha Stewart; and, in one of the most popular segments of the late 1990s, her often-scathing impression of Céline Dion hosting a talk show.

Darrell Hammond

Darrell Hammond proved to be a great find, being the most gifted impressionist in the show's history. He built up a repertoire of popular impersonations, including Bill Clinton and Tim Russert, taking the show's political satire to new heights.

Will Ferrell

Will Ferrell was undoubtedly the keystone of this new cast. He performed superbly in all his partnerships, with Oteri, Shannon, Gasteyer and Kattan, as well as creating some devastatingly funny solo characters. One of his most popular impressions was his bellowing, belligerent parody of former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. Like Carvey's Bush, Macdonald's Bob Dole, and later, Amy Poehler's Hillary Clinton, Ferrell's Reno continued the tradition of having the real-life target of the satire appear on the show to confront their satirist. Ferrell stepped out as the star of the cast during the last show of the 1995-1996 season, where he appeared alongside guest Jim Carrey in nearly every sketch.

Noteworthy recurring sketches and characters

This period featured many classic recurring sketches and characters, with radio and TV parodies featured prominently. They included the NPR parody “The Delicious Dish” (Shannon and Gasteyer), “The Ladies Man” (Tim Meadows), the geeky Spartan Cheerleaders (Ferrell and Oteri), Ferrell and Gasteyer's starchy, husband-and-wife music teacher duo Marty Culp and Bobbi Mohan-Culp, Kattan's campy “Mango”, the brain-dead, disco-loving “Roxbury Guys” (Ferrell and Kattan), Shannon and Kattan's delightful “Goth Talk”, Celebrity Jeopardy! (Ferrell, Macdonald and Hammond), and Molly Shannon's star-struck, accident-prone Catholic schoolgirl, Mary Katherine Gallagher. These recurring sketches and characters are noteworthy for their lack of imagination and innovation; rather than ring changes on the established characters or situations, they simply re-presented the same gags the audience had seen before, prompting a laugh (when laughs there were) of recognition rather than humour.

Cast additions and surprise departures from 1997-1999

This ensemble remained substantially unchanged for the 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 seasons, although the later series introduced new cast members — Jimmy Fallon, Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz. The only surprise departure was Norm Macdonald who left the series in March 1998 and was replaced by Colin Quinn as Update anchor. It was reported that Macdonald was fired on the order of Don Ohlmeyer, who claimed the actor was “unpopular and unfunny” but it was widely thought that Macdonald had been fired because the executive — a close friend of O.J. Simpson, a regular "Weekend Update" target — had taken offense at Macdonald's persistent attacks on Simpson.

1999-2000 season

1999-2000 was the last season for Colin Quinn, Cheri Oteri, and Tim Meadows, but it also marked the arrival of two strong new female cast members, Rachel Dratch and Maya Rudolph (daughter of the late singer Minnie Riperton).

Season breakdown

1995-1996 season

Opening montage:

Along with a virtually all new cast, this season also came with an all new opener. With G.E. Smith gone as bandleader (having been fired by Don Ohlmeyer, who would later - and more famously - go on to fire Norm MacDonald,) Lenny Pickett takes over. This montage has a theme similar to that of the NBC studios where "SNL" is broadcast, and consists of black and white images of the cast at a party, with purple and green titling. The "SNL" logo introduced here is used through the 2005-2006 season.

Cast

* Jim Breuer
* Will Ferrell
* Darrell Hammond
* David Koechner
* Norm Macdonald
* Mark McKinney
* Tim Meadows
* Cheri Oteri
* Molly Shannon
* David Spade
* Nancy Walls"Featuring"
* Chris Kattan (debut: March 16, 1996)
* Colin Quinn
* Fred Wolf (debut: October 28, 1995)

Notes

* The only holdouts from the previous season were Meadows, Spade, Shannon, Macdonald and McKinney, and of the five only Meadows and Spade were "SNL" veterans. The latter three were still brand new to "SNL" (Macdonald had a few bit parts in 1993, but nothing notable; Shannon arrived in early 1995 as a featured performer; McKinney began in early 1995 as well, but as a contract player, having gained much experience in televised sketch comedy as a five-season veteran of the Canadian variety show "Kids in the Hall," also produced by Lorne Michaels). Spade only stayed one final year to help bridge the gap between old and new casts. Meadows was allegedly kept mainly because NBC did not want be seen as eliminating all of their African-American performers in one fell swoop.
* Koechner and Walls were fired at the end of the season. Most of the other new regulars went on to become quite popular.
* Chris Kattan was added to the cast at midseason and made an immediate impact on the show, thus making Koechner expendable.

1996-1997 season

Opening montage:

This montage also uses a "30 Rock" theme, and is virtually identical to the 1995 montage, but with brand new cast photos, and slight change in font.

Cast

* Jim Breuer
* Will Ferrell
* Ana Gasteyer (debut: September 28, 1996)
* Darrell Hammond
* Chris Kattan
* Norm Macdonald
* Mark McKinney
* Tim Meadows
* Tracy Morgan (debut: September 28, 1996)
* Cheri Oteri
* Molly Shannon"Featuring"
* Colin Quinn
* Fred Wolf (final: October 19, 1996)

Notes

* Fred Wolf was a writer for the show since 1991, and he served a brief run as a featured player in 1995-1996 and the first few weeks of 1996-1997.
* McKinney left at the end of the season.
* Tracy Morgan and Ana Gasteyer both join the cast, the latter taking the place of Nancy Walls.

1997-1998 season

Opening montage

This opener is the only montage in "SNL"'s history that did not feature any images of New York City. Instead, it featured colored bars that spun and revealed each cast member photo, along with mention of a "TV Funhouse" cartoon appearing on some episodes and/or a special guest.

Cast

This season is the first since 1984-1985 to have no featured players.
* Jim Breuer
* Will Ferrell
* Ana Gasteyer
* Darrell Hammond
* Chris Kattan
* Norm Macdonald (final: March 14, 1998)
* Tim Meadows
* Tracy Morgan
* Cheri Oteri
* Colin Quinn
* Molly Shannon

Notes:

*Tina Fey joins the writing staff.
* Norm Macdonald's exit was widely publicized, with Macdonald appearing on such shows as "Late Show with David Letterman" and Howard Stern's radio show to discuss the ordeal. Both hosts comment that Macdonald was the show's sole funny aspect. Additionally, television ads for Macdonald's June 1998 film "Dirty Work" were initially not shown on any NBC broadcast. Adding to the publicity was Colin Quinn's takeover of "Weekend Update" in January 1998.
* Jim Breuer is fired at the end of the season after a three year run. Rumors say he was fired for doing a show for MTV during the summer of 1998, which was a breach of his contract with NBC.

1998-1999 season

Opening montage:

This montage was used for two seasons, including "SNL's" 25th Anniversary season. It is similar to the 1997 montage in that various colored bars. There are various striking differences between the two montages. Whereas the first one had all bars moved sideways in a vertical positions, this one including bars moving from different directions in horizontal positions. Also, unlike the previous montage, shots of New York City were featured within the moving bars. Finally, as opposed to the cast members/musical guest/host photos occupying the entire screen, they were represented in a small box in a beige color.

Cast

* Will Ferrell
* Ana Gasteyer
* Darrell Hammond
* Chris Kattan
* Tim Meadows
* Tracy Morgan
* Cheri Oteri
* Colin Quinn
* Molly Shannon"Featuring"
* Jimmy Fallon
* Chris Parnell
* Horatio Sanz

Notes

* The changing of the guard begins yet again as Parnell, Sanz and Fallon are groomed for stardom, replacing several reliable players who will leave over the next couple of years.

1999-2000 season

Opening montage:

This montage is the same as the 1998 season with little-to-no changes. One difference is that the "SNL" logo now has a small "25" superscript after it to commemorate its 25th Anniversary and Season 24 featured players, Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, and Chris Parnell are now added to the main cast while Rachel Dratch (and later Maya Rudolph for the last 3 episodes of the season) would be added in the featured player credits.

Cast

* Jimmy Fallon
* Will Ferrell
* Ana Gasteyer
* Darrell Hammond
* Chris Kattan
* Tim Meadows
* Tracy Morgan
* Cheri Oteri
* Chris Parnell
* Colin Quinn
* Horatio Sanz
* Molly Shannon"Featuring"
* Rachel Dratch (debut: October 23, 1999)
* Maya Rudolph (debut: May 6, 2000)

Notes

* Quinn and Oteri leave at the end of the season, as does Meadows after nearly a decade on "SNL".
* The season was preceded by a live primetime broadcast commemorating the show's 25-year history. Over three hours in length, the Emmy-winning special included appearances by not only current and former cast members, but also from a wide variety of past guest hosts and musical acts. Pre-recorded segments were interspliced into the live broadcast; some of these did not make it to air and were shown on later 1999-2000 season episodes. Chris Rock performed the monologue. The featured musical acts were Elvis Costello featuring the Beastie Boys, Al Green and the Eurythmics. Former "SNL" band leader G.E. Smith played with the current house band during the special. According to the IMDb, each and every living host and musical guest was invited to the show, except for O.J. Simpson.