Saturday Night Live (season 18)

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Saturday Night Live
Season 18
The title card for the eighteenth season of Saturday Night Live.
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes20
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseSeptember 26, 1992 (1992-09-26) –
May 15, 1993 (1993-05-15)
Season chronology
← Previous
season 17
Next →
season 19
List of episodes

The eighteenth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 26, 1992, and May 15, 1993.

Cast[]

Many changes happened before the start of the season. Long-term cast member Victoria Jackson left the show after six seasons. Newer cast members Beth Cahill and Siobhan Fallon were both fired. Lorne Michaels did not hire any new cast members. Rob Schneider was upgraded to repertory status. Ellen Cleghorne, Tim Meadows, Adam Sandler and David Spade remained in the middle category. Melanie Hutsell was promoted to the middle category. Robert Smigel stayed a featured player.

Long-term cast member Dana Carvey would leave mid-season. This would also be the final season for Chris Rock and Robert Smigel.

After three years with the show, Chris Rock decided to quit the show at the end of the season (he had become frustrated with never quite finding a voice on the show and wanted to instead focus on his stand-up career). Writer and featured player Robert Smigel left to become the head writer for Late Night with Conan O'Brien, but would later return to the show in 1996 to write and produce the "TV Funhouse" cartoons.

This was also the last season to feature three separate categories for cast members. Starting next season, the show returned to the original "repertory" and "featured" cast lists.

This season was also home to one of SNL's most infamous moments: Sinéad O'Connor tore a photograph of Pope John Paul II at the end of her second performance on the episode hosted by Tim Robbins.

Due to the success of the film Wayne's World, Lorne Michaels decided it was a good idea to jump onto the popularity of the film and make more movies based on SNL characters. However, none would prove to be as successful as Wayne's World, critically or commercially.

Cast roster[]

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers[]

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers § season 18

Episodes[]

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		HostMusical guest(s)Original air date
3271Nicolas CageBobby BrownSeptember 26, 1992 (1992-09-26)

  • Bobby Brown performs "Humpin' Around" and "Good Enough".[1][2] Bobby Brown also appeared in the "Queen Shenequa Show" sketch.
  • Jan Hooks appears in the cold open and the "Nightline" sketch.
  • Cher appears during "Weekend Update".
  • One of the final sketches of the night is a satire of the famous Murphy Brown episode that aired that week responding to Dan Quayle's comments. Lorne Michaels does a cold open to the camera explaining that Dan Quayle had, during their summer hiatus, criticized the Rob Schneider running character "Mr. Casual Sex", and they would now like to respond – the joke being that this character had never existed until that moment, though he has an introductory theme song. This is followed by a sketch of Mr. Casual Sex being criticized for his morality, followed by endless pedantic jokes about the spelling of potato, and culminating in Mr. Casual Sex being joined by an array of men who like casual sex to proudly stand up to Dan Quayle (a la the ending of the Murphy Brown episode).
3282Tim RobbinsSinéad O'ConnorOctober 3, 1992 (1992-10-03)

  • Sinéad O'Connor performs "Success Has Made a Failure of Our Home" and the Bob Marley song "War".[1][3]
  • After four minutes of a capella during Sinéad O'Connor's second song, "War", she exclaims "child abuse" several times and then holds up a picture of Pope John Paul II, and says, "Fight the real enemy," tearing the picture to pieces. During the earlier rehearsal taping, Sinéad O'Connor held up a picture of a starving African child before leaving the stage. Director Dave Wilson gave the order to not light up the audience applause light following "War," as he felt she had "railroaded" the crew and producers.[4] The segment, which aired nearly a decade before the world became fully aware of the prolific sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church, marked one of only a few times that a sketch or performance ended with a quiet studio.[4] NBC received 4,484 complaints about O'Connor, and 725 calls supporting her.[5]
  • Susan Sarandon appears during the goodnights.
3293Joe PesciThe Spin DoctorsOctober 10, 1992 (1992-10-10)

  • The Spin Doctors performs "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" and "Jimmy Olsen's Blues".[1]
  • Presidential debate opening sketch, featuring Dana Carvey portraying George Bush and Ross Perot simultaneously (as Perot on tape)
  • During his monologue, Joe Pesci displays the photo of Pope John Paul II that Sinéad O'Connor had infamously destroyed during the previous week's episode, now taped back together and then says, with unknowing irony, "She was very lucky it wasn't my show, because if it was my show, I would have gave her such a smack."
  • Joe Pesci's frequent collaborators, Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, appear in the "Backstage" sketch.
3304Christopher WalkenArrested DevelopmentOctober 24, 1992 (1992-10-24)

  • Arrested Development performs "Tennessee" and "People Everyday".[1]
  • Jan Hooks appears during the monologue, the "Stalk Talk" sketch, and portrays Sinéad O'Connor in two sketches.
3315Catherine O'Hara10,000 ManiacsOctober 31, 1992 (1992-10-31)

  • 10,000 Maniacs performs "These Are Days" and "Candy Everybody Wants".[1]
3326Michael KeatonMorrisseyNovember 14, 1992 (1992-11-14)

  • Morrissey performs "Glamorous Glue" and "Suedehead".[1]
3337SinbadSadeNovember 21, 1992 (1992-11-21)

  • Sade performs "No Ordinary Love" and "Cherish the Day".[1]
  • Adam Sandler debuts "The Thanksgiving Song" during the Weekend Update segment.
3348Tom ArnoldNeil YoungDecember 5, 1992 (1992-12-05)

  • Neil Young performs "From Hank to Hendrix" and "Harvest Moon" from Harvest Moon.[1][6]
  • Roseanne Barr appears during "Weekend Update".
  • Dick Butkus and George Wendt appear during the "Bill Swerski's Super Fans" sketch.
  • Mike Myers returns from hiatus in this episode.
  • Gary Oldman was scheduled to host this episode but dropped out for unknown reasons.
3359Glenn CloseThe Black CrowesDecember 12, 1992 (1992-12-12)

  • The Black Crowes performs "Sometimes Salvation" and "Non-Fiction".[1]
  • Jon Lovitz cameos during "Weekend Update".
  • Mary Beth Hurt appears in the "Lesbian Christmas Party" sketch.
33610Danny DeVitoBon JoviJanuary 9, 1993 (1993-01-09)

  • Bon Jovi performs "Bed of Roses" and "Wanted Dead or Alive".[1] Jon Bon Jovi also appears in the "Adults Living at Home" sketch.
  • Mike Ditka, Joe Mantegna and George Wendt appears in the cold open.
  • Jan Hooks appears in the "House of Buttafuoco" sketch and the "Unbelievable New Breakthroughs" sketch.
33711Harvey KeitelMadonnaJanuary 16, 1993 (1993-01-16)

  • Madonna performs "Fever" and "Bad Girl".[1] During "Bad Girl," she imitated Sinéad O'Connor's actions from earlier in the season by ripping a photo of Joey Buttafuoco and yelling "Fight the real enemy". She additionally appeared in the cold open.
  • Jan Hooks appears as Hillary Clinton in the cold open.
33812Luke PerryMick JaggerFebruary 6, 1993 (1993-02-06)

  • Mick Jagger performs "Sweet Thing" and "Don't Tear Me Up".[1] He also appears on "Point/Counterpoint" on "Weekend Update" as Keith Richards (with Mike Myers playing Jagger), and during the "Tampon Prince" sketch.
  • Guest appearances by Jan Hooks (as Hillary Clinton) and Giorgio Armani in the cold open.
  • Dana Carvey's final episode as a cast member.
  • This episode re-aired on March 9th, 2019 as a tribute to Luke Perry who had died five days earlier on March 4th.
33913Alec BaldwinPaul McCartneyFebruary 13, 1993 (1993-02-13)

  • Paul McCartney performs "Get Out of My Way" and "Biker Like an Icon" from Off the Ground, as well as The Beatles song "Hey Jude".[1] Paul McCartney appears during the monologue, the "Mimic" sketch, "The Chris Farley Show" sketch, and "Weekend Update".
  • Linda McCartney performs alongside Paul McCartney during the musical segments and appears during "Weekend Update".
34014Bill MurrayStingFebruary 20, 1993 (1993-02-20)

  • Sting performs "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You", "Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven)", and "Every Breath You Take".[1] He also appears as Rod Stewart during the cold open.
  • Steve Martin makes a cameo appearance during "Weekend Update," specifically during "Hollywood Minute" as David Spade criticizes Martin's current movie at the time, Leap of Faith. David Spade leaves and Steve Martin takes over, criticizing Spade's lack of film career.
  • Don Novello appears as Father Guido Sarducci during "Weekend Update", giving a movie review of Murray's just-released Groundhog Day.
34115John GoodmanMary J. BligeMarch 13, 1993 (1993-03-13)

  • Mary J. Blige performs "Reminisce" and "Sweet Thing".[1]
  • Mary J. Blige's mother Cora appears during the goodnights.
  • The Bravados appear during the monologue.
34216Miranda RichardsonSoul AsylumMarch 20, 1993 (1993-03-20)

  • Soul Asylum performs "Somebody to Shove" and "Black Gold".[1]
  • Miranda Richardson's The Crying Game co-star Stephen Rea appears during the cold open.
  • Marv Albert appears during the pre-recorded "Dieter's Dream" sketch.
34317Jason AlexanderPeter GabrielApril 10, 1993 (1993-04-10)

  • Peter Gabriel performs "Steam" and "In Your Eyes".[1]
  • Writer Warren Hutcherson appears in "Black Co-Workers" sketch as African Tribal Representative
34418Kirstie AlleyLenny KravitzApril 17, 1993 (1993-04-17)

  • Lenny Kravitz performs "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and "Always on the Run".[1]
34519Christina ApplegateMidnight OilMay 8, 1993 (1993-05-08)

  • Midnight Oil performs "Truganini" and "My Country".[1]
  • This episode features the first Matt Foley sketch.
34620Kevin KlineWillie Nelson & Paul SimonMay 15, 1993 (1993-05-15)

  • Willie Nelson and Paul Simon performs "Graceland" and "Still Is Still Moving To Me".[1][7]
  • Jan Hooks appears as Hillary Clinton and Dan Aykroyd appears as Bob Dole during the cold open.
  • Chris Rock and Robert Smigel's final episode as cast members.

Specials[]

TitleOriginal air date
"SNL Presidential Bash"November 1, 1992 (1992-11-01)
This special featured some of SNL's best political sketches throughout its 18-year run. Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman hosted the special as George Bush, Ross Perot and Bill Clinton, respectively. Sketches include "The Pepsi Syndrome", "Ask President Carter", "Debate '92", and "Stockdale's Joyride".
"2nd Annual Saturday Night Live Mother's Day Special"May 9, 1993 (1993-05-09)
A Mother's Day special featuring the SNL ensemble with their real-life mothers as well as a compilation of sketches from the 1992-93 season.[8] Includes guest appearances by David Dinkins, George Steinbrenner, Regis Philbin, Kathie Lee Gifford, Larry Gatlin, and Donald Trump.[9]

Coneheads film[]

Coneheads, a film based on the popular Coneheads sketches that appeared on the show in the 1970s, was released on July 23, 1993. Cast members Dan Aykroyd, Peter Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Chris Farley, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Jon Lovitz, Michael McKean, Tim Meadows, Garret Morris, Kevin Nealon, Laraine Newman, Adam Sandler, David Spade, and Julia Sweeney all appear in the film. The film did not do well at the box office and was largely panned by critics.[citation needed]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 124–127. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
  2. ^ "Season 18: Episode 1". Saturday Night Live Transcripts. September 26, 1992.
  3. ^ Saturday Night Live: Season 18, Episode 2 – Tim Robbins/Sinéad O'Connor at IMDb
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, pp. 369-371.
  5. ^ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 264. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
  6. ^ "Air Date: December 5th, 1992". SNL Transcripts.
  7. ^ "Season 18: Episode 20". Saturday Night Live Transcripts.
  8. ^ "2nd Annual Saturday Night Live Mother's Day Special". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
  9. ^ https://newspaperarchive.com/wilson-daily-times-may-11-1993-p-20/
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