The 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. Michaels currently serves ...

'', 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 ...

series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 13, 1979, and May 24, 1980.

Cast

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, musician and writer. He was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1979). During his tenure on ''SNL'' ...

and

John Belushi John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known for being one of the seven original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Throughout his c ...

left the show at the end of season 4, leaving a void in the cast that most fans thought would be the beginning of the end of the late-night sketch comedy show. To keep the show going,

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 ...

upgraded many of the show's writers to featured cast member status: Peter Aykroyd (Dan's brother), Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray (Bill's brother),

Don Novello Donald Andrew Novello (born January 1, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, singer, writer, film director and producer. He is best known for his work on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1978 to 1980, and again from 1985 to 1986, often as the ...

(also credited as

Father Guido Sarducci Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character created by American comedian Don Novello. Sarducci is a chain-smoking priest with tinted glasses, who works in the United States as gossip columnist and rock critic for the Vatican newspaper '' L'Oss ...

Tom Schiller Tom Schiller is an American writer best known for his eleven-year stint writing and directing short films for ''Saturday Night Live'' (following the show's original short film makers Albert Brooks and Gary Weis). His films, often featuring member ...

and

Alan Zweibel Alan Zweibel (born May 20, 1950) is an American television writer, author, playwright, and screenwriter whom ''The'' ''New York Times'' says has “earned a place in the pantheon of American pop culture." An original ''Saturday Night Live'' ...

. Band leader

Paul Shaffer Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, composer, actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both ''Late Ni ...

also joined the cast, becoming the first person from the ''SNL'' band to become a cast member.

Harry Shearer Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, writer, musician, radio host, director and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a member ...

joined the show as a featured cast member and was promoted to repertory status during the season. This season was the first to have two members of the same family as cast members (

Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on '' Saturday Nig ...

and Brian Doyle-Murray). This would be the final season for everyone in the cast. Tom Davis and Jim Downey would return to the show in future seasons as writers.

Al Franken Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He gained fame as a writer and performer on the television comed ...

, Brian Doyle-Murray,

and

would rejoin the cast in future seasons (Al Franken would also return as a writer).

Cast roster

Repertory players * Jane Curtin *

Garrett Morris Garrett Isaac Morris (born February 1, 1937) is an American actor, comedian and singer. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program ''Saturday Night Live'', appearing from 1975 to 1980, and played Jimmy on ''The Jeffersons'' ...

Laraine Newman Laraine Newman (born March 2, 1952) is an American actress, writer and comedian. She was part of the original cast of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''. She took an interest at improv in high school. After graduating, she studied mime with Marcel ...

Gilda Radner Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian, and one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). In h ...

(first episode: October 20, 1979; upgraded to repertory status: February 9, 1980) Featured players * Peter Aykroyd (first episode: January 26, 1980) * Tom Davis * Jim Downey (first episode: January 26, 1980) * Brian Doyle-Murray (first episode: January 26, 1980) *

(first episode: April 19, 1980) *

(first episode: November 17, 1979) *

(first episode: April 19, 1980) bold denotes Weekend Update anchor Featured cast members announced and shown during the "Opening Introductions" varied from week to week, as noted below in each episode's description.

Writers

As previously mentioned, Michaels upgraded many of the show's writers to cast member status, including Aykroyd, Downey, Doyle-Murray, Novello, Schiller and Zweibel. Doyle-Murray would be the only one to return, as a writer, in the following season. This season's writers were Peter Aykroyd, Anne Beatts, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray, Al Franken, Tom Gammill, Lorne Michaels, Matt Neuman, Don Novello, Sarah Paley, Max Pross, Herb Sargent, Tom Schiller, Harry Shearer, Rosie Shuster and Alan Zweibel. The head writer was Herb Sargent.

Episodes

Home media

''SNL'''s fifth season was released on DVD on December 1, 2009. There are no plans to release any further seasons.

References

{{Saturday Night Live 05 Saturday Night Live in the 1970s Saturday Night Live in the 1980s 1979 American television seasons 1980 American television seasons