The twenty-fifth 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 (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'', an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

between October 2, 1999 and May 20, 2000.

Cast

The entire cast from last season returned for another year. Jimmy Fallon, Chris Parnell and

Horatio Sanz Horacio Sanz (born June 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Horatio Sanz, is a Chilean-born American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on '' Saturday Night Live'' from 1998 to 2006. Early life Sanz was born on June 4, 1969 in Sant ...

were all promoted to repertory status, with the cast otherwise unchanged at the start of the season. As the season progressed, the show added two new cast members.

Rachel Dratch Rachel Susan Dratch (born February 22, 1966) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. After she graduated from Dartmouth College she moved to Chicago to study improvisational theatre at The Second City and ImprovOlympic. Her breakthrough r ...

, recruited from Chicago's

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...

, where she was head writer

Tina Fey Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the ...

's comedy partner, joined the show in the episode hosted by former cast member

Norm Macdonald Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...

. Towards the end of the season, Maya Rudolph 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 techniqu ...

joined the show, starting with the episode hosted by

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC comedy series ''Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he rec ...

. This would be the final season for cast members

Tim Meadows Timothy Meadows (born February 5, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the longest-running cast members on ''Saturday Night Live'', where he appeared for ten seasons and for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emm ...

Cheri Oteri Cheryl Ann Oteri () is an American actress and comedian. A nominee of a Primetime Emmy Award, Oteri is best known for her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2000. Early life The daughte ...

and

Colin Quinn Colin Edward Quinn (born June 6, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Quinn first gained widespread attention for his work as a cast member and writer for the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2 ...

. Meadows's tenure at Saturday Night Live lasted 10 seasons, having joined the cast in 1991 (at the time of his departure, he was the longest-tenured performer on the show). He decided to leave the show after the season for other acting opportunities.

Cast roster

Repertory players * Jimmy Fallon *

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show '' Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 2 ...

Ana Gasteyer Ana Kristina Gasteyer (born May 4, 1967) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1996 to 2002. She has since starred in such sitcoms as ABC's '' Suburgatory,'' TBS's ''People of Earth'', NBC's ...

Darrell Hammond Darrell Clayton Hammond (born October 8, 1955) is an American actor, stand-up comedian and impressionist. He was a regular cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2009, and has been its announcer since 2014. Upon his departure, Hammo ...

* Chris Kattan *

Tracy Morgan Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor best known for his television work as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1996–2003) and for his role as Tracy Jordan in the sitcom ''30 Rock'' (2006 ...

* Chris Parnell *

Molly Shannon Molly Helen Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress and comedian who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2001. In 2017, she won the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ...

Featured players *

(first episode: October 23, 1999) * Maya Rudolph (first episode: May 6, 2000) bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Contract for new cast members

In July 1999, when executive producer Lorne Michaels held auditions for the season, NBC introduced a new contract for first-year cast members, replacing the five- or six-year deals they had used in the past. The terms were established by NBC executives Scott Sassa and

Garth Ancier Garth Ancier (born September 3, 1957, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey) is an American television producer and media executive. Early life Ancier graduated from the Lawrenceville School in 1975 and Princeton University in 1979. He began his broadca ...

. According to

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. One of the " New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on ...

, the new contract came with the following terms: *NBC can take a ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member off the show any time after their second year on the program and put them in an NBC sitcom. *A cast member has the option of saying no to the first two shows proposed by NBC, but must accept the third deal. *NBC dictates the length of the sitcom contract, which can run as long as six years. * SNL Films, co-owned by Paramount Pictures, NBC and

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

, has a three-movie option that would pay the star a set $75,000 for the first film, $150,000 for the second and $300,000 for the third, rates that used to be negotiable. *NBC has the option of paying those same amounts to force a cast member to say no to a film deal offered to them by another studio. The starting salary remained $5,000 per episode.

Writers

Starting this season

is credited as the writing supervisor.

Episodes

Specials

''Superstar'' film

A ''

Superstar A superstar is someone who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent, or successful in their field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, musicians, athletes, and other media-based profe ...

'' film, based on the

Mary Katherine Gallagher Mary Katherine Gallagher is a fictional character invented and portrayed by ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member Molly Shannon from 1995 to 2001. She was considered the first breakout character from the new 1995 cast and a significant marker of th ...

sketches, was released on October 8, 1999. Cast members

Mark McKinney Mark Douglas Brown McKinney (born June 26, 1959) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known as a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall, which includes starring in the 1989 to 1995 TV series ''The Kids in the Hall'' and 1 ...

and

appear in the film. The film did modestly well at the box office but was panned by critics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saturday Night Live (season 25) 25 Saturday Night Live in the 1990s Saturday Night Live in the 2000s 1999 American television seasons 2000 American television seasons Television shows directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller