The twenty-third season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 27, 1997, and May9, 1998.
This season saw the deaths of two former cast members. Six weeks after hosting the October 25 episode and influenced by his idol John Belushi, Chris Farley died of a speedball overdose at the age of 33. Two weeks after the season finale, long-time performer Phil Hartman was murdered by his wife who then committed suicide. Following their deaths, NBC aired two SNL specials as tributes to Farley and Hartman in dedication to their respective legacies.
Before the season, Mark McKinney left the show after three seasons. Colin Quinn was promoted to repertory status. This season is one of the few to not include any featured players or new cast members.
During the season, a controversy arose in which Don Olymeyer (NBC West Coast president) made the decision to remove Weekend Update anchor Norm Macdonald from the desk because of ratings going down during the segment. Macdonald's final episode as Update anchor was on December 13, 1997. Quinn was then promoted to the job and anchored the segment in the next live episode, which aired January 10, 1998. Macdonald performed in sketches, but was angry about the change-up and ultimately quit the show; his final appearance was on March 14, 1998.
This was also the final season for Jim Breuer as he left the show at season's end to move on to other acting opportunities.
Repertory players
<small>bold denotes Weekend Update anchor</small>
Future cast member/head writer Tina Fey joins the writing staff in this season.
Adam McKay continues as the sole head writer, while Tim Herlihy is promoted to a producer alongside Steve Higgins.
Fellow regular writer Paula Pell is named as a creative consultant (nowadays a writing supervisor) this season.
With the Sarah Michelle Gellar-hosted episode, future Parks and Recreation/The Good Place creator Michael Schur joined the writing staff. Decades later, Schur explained that he initially applied for the job at the start of the season, but Fey was hired over him, and that he was hired over the show's winter break.
Longtime writer Jim Downey was fired. NBC West Coast president Don Ohlmeyer had grown irritated by the constant jokes regarding his friend, former football star, OJ Simpson. Downey was the primary source for the many jokes Norm Macdonald made at the expense of Simpson. After Downey was fired, Macdonald was informed he could no longer serve as Weekend Update host. Macdonald decided to leave following this revelation. Downey is still credited as a writer until the end of the season, and would return to the writing staff in 2000.
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