The thirty-sixth season of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'', an American

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 25, 2010, and May 21, 2011. This season also debuted a new animated feature voiced by former ''SNL'' cast members, called "Greetings from American America", created by former ''SNL'' head writer Fred Wolf. Long-time announcer Don Pardo announced that he would pre-record his parts from his home in Arizona rather than perform live in New York City.

Cast

Before the start of the season, Will Forte left the show after a total of eight seasons from

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. Featured player Jenny Slate was let go from the show after one season. Abby Elliott and

Bobby Moynihan Bobby Moynihan (born January 31, 1977) is an American actor, comedian and writer who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2008 until 2017. He also voiced Louie Duck on Disney's ''DuckTales'' from 2017 to 2021, Panda in ''We Bare Be ...

were upgraded to repertory status while Nasim Pedrad remained a featured player. The show hired four new cast members: improvisers Vanessa Bayer and Paul Brittain from ImprovOlympic, stand-up comic/impressionist Jay Pharoah, and comedic actor Taran Killam of

The Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques ...

. Killam is the second cast member after Kenan Thompson to be a cast member on a

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

kids' sketch show ('' The Amanda Show'') and the second cast member after Jeff Richards to be a cast member on '' MADtv''.

Cast roster

Repertory players *

Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series ''Portlandia''. He ...

* Abby Elliott * Bill Hader *

Seth Meyers Seth Adam Meyers (born December 28, 1973) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, and television host. He hosts ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'', a late-night talk show on NBC. Prior to that, he was a cast member and head writer for NBC ...

Andy Samberg Andy Samberg (born David A. J. Samberg; August 18, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer and screenwriter. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island and was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2005 ...

Jason Sudeikis Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 200 ...

* Kenan Thompson * Kristen Wiig Featured players * Vanessa Bayer * Paul Brittain * Taran Killam * Nasim Pedrad * Jay Pharoah bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

In August 2010, Michaels hired Second City Theater writers Tom Flanigan and Shelly Gossman.

Heather Anne Campbell Heather Anne Campbell is an American writer, comedian, podcast host, and actress. Life and career Born in Chicago, Illinois, Campbell began studying improvisational comedy at iO Theater at the age of fifteen, under the tutelage of Del Close. F ...

, a performer from the

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. Prior to ...

in Los Angeles, was also added to the writing staff. Sarah Schneider, a regular writer and performer for CollegeHumor, was a guest writer for the last five episodes of the season before joining full-time for season 37.

Episodes

Specials

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saturday Night Live (season 36) 36 Saturday Night Live in the 2010s 2010 American television seasons 2011 American television seasons Television shows directed by Don Roy King