# Saturday Night Live season 15

The fifteenth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 30, 1989 and May 19, 1990.
This season saw the first appearances of three frequent SNL hosts: John Goodman, who auditioned to be a cast member on SNL during the 1980–81 season and frequently appeared on SNL in the mid-1990s as Linda Tripp; Christopher Walken; and Alec Baldwin (who later surpassed Steve Martin as the most frequent SNL host).
A live special commemorating fifteen seasons of SNL was aired on September 24, 1989, before the start of the season.

## Cast

The season would be the final for Jon Lovitz and Nora Dunn. Dunn, in protest of the Andrew Dice Clay-hosted episode due to the comedian's misogynistic content, decided to boycott the episode in the hopes that Lorne Michaels and other producers would rescind Clay's invite. However, in the days leading up to the episode, press reports announced that Dunn would not be returning for the next season, which Dunn saw as a preemptive move by the show in response to her boycott. After the incident, she left the show in earnest, with Michaels describing it as Dunn's choice. Lovitz had wanted to return for next season, but the filming of his movie Mom and Dad Save the World meant he would have to miss the first few episodes of season 16. Michaels gave Lovitz the ultimatum of filming the movie or remaining in the cast, with Lovitz choosing the film.

### Cast roster

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
Mike Myers is credited as a featured player in the opening montage for all of the first 11 episodes before being bumped up to repertory status in the 12th episode. A. Whitney Brown and Al Franken are credited as featured players for six episodes each sporadically throughout the season.

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Host | Musical guest(s) | Original release date |
| 267 | 1 | Bruce Willis | Neil Young | September 30, 1989 (1989-09-30) |
| Credited Featured Players: A. Whitney Brown, Mike Myers Neil Young performs "Rockin' in the Free World", "The Needle and the Damage Done" and "No More". |||||
| 268 | 2 | Rick Moranis | Rickie Lee Jones | October 7, 1989 (1989-10-07) |
| Credited Featured Players: Mike Myers Rickie Lee Jones performs "Satellites" and "Ghetto of My Mind". Mr Subliminal debuts on Weekend Update. |||||
| 269 | 3 | Kathleen Turner | Billy Joel | October 21, 1989 (1989-10-21) |
| Credited Featured Players: A. Whitney Brown, Al Franken, Mike Myers Billy Joel performs "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "The Downeaster Alexa". He also appears in the "Die Squaren öst Berliner" sketch, where he plays the glockenspiel. Guest appearance by show writer Conan O'Brien |||||
| 270 | 4 | James Woods | Don Henley | October 28, 1989 (1989-10-28) |
| Credited Featured Players: A. Whitney Brown, Mike Myers Don Henley performs "The Last Worthless Evening" and "The Boys of Summer". Dana Carvey appears as Dennis Miller on Weekend Update. |||||
| 271 | 5 | Chris Evert | Eurythmics | November 11, 1989 (1989-11-11) |
| Credited Featured Players: Mike Myers Eurythmics perform "Angel" and "(My My) Baby's Gonna Cry". |||||
| 272 | 6 | Woody Harrelson | David Byrne | November 18, 1989 (1989-11-18) |
| Credited Featured Players: Mike Myers David Byrne performs "Dirty Old Town" and "Loco de Amor". |||||
| 273 | 7 | John Goodman | k.d. lang | December 2, 1989 (1989-12-02) |
| Credited Featured Players: Mike Myers k.d. lang & The Reclines perform "Pullin' Back the Reins" and "Johnny Get Angry". |||||
| 274 | 8 | Robert Wagner | Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville | December 9, 1989 (1989-12-09) |
| Credited Featured Players: Al Franken, Mike Myers Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville perform "Don't Know Much" and "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby". |||||
| 275 | 9 | Andie MacDowell | Tracy Chapman | December 16, 1989 (1989-12-16) |
| Credited Featured Players: Al Franken, Mike Myers Tracy Chapman performs "Give Me One Reason", which wouldn't be released until 1995, and "All That You Have". Al Franken's son Joe appears during Weekend Update in a take-off of Franken's "Al Franken Decade" bit, in which the 1990s are referred to as the "Joe Franken Decade". Jon Lovitz portrays Hanukkah Harry. |||||
| 276 | 10 | Ed O'Neill | Harry Connick, Jr. | January 13, 1990 (1990-01-13) |
| Credited Featured Players: Al Franken, Mike Myers Harry Connick, Jr. performs "It Had to Be You" and "It's All Right with Me". Maury Povich makes a cameo during the monologue. Kirsten Dunst appears in this episode as a girl in the Bizilady commercial. |||||
| 277 | 11 | Christopher Walken | Bonnie Raitt | January 20, 1990 (1990-01-20) |
| Credited Featured Players: Mike Myers Bonnie Raitt performs "Have a Heart" and "Thing Called Love". The first appearance of "The Continental" series of sketches |||||
| 278 | 12 | Quincy Jones | Quincy Jones Tevin Campbell Kool Moe Dee Big Daddy Kane | February 10, 1990 (1990-02-10) |
| Credited Featured Players: Al Franken Quincy Jones' monologue consists of a performance of Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca" by an expanded SNL Band. Jones dedicated the performance to Nelson Mandela, who was released from prison in South Africa the next day after having been imprisoned for 27 years. Jones joins the musical guests in performing "Back on the Block" and "Wee B. Dooinit". Kool Moe Dee, Melle Mel, and Jones' son Quincy Jones III appear in the "Crown Heights" sketch. This episode contains the largest number of musical guests in an episode, with a total of ten: Tevin Campbell, Kool Moe Dee, Big Daddy Kane, Melle Mel, Quincy Jones III, Andraé & Sandra Crouch, Siedah Garrett, Al Jarreau, and Take 6. |||||
| 279 | 13 | Tom Hanks | Aerosmith | February 17, 1990 (1990-02-17) |
| Credited Featured Players: Al Franken Aerosmith performs "Janie's Got a Gun" and "Monkey on My Back". The band also appears in the "Wayne's World" sketch, in which they perform the theme song. Mike Myers is upgraded to repertory status starting with this episode. |||||
| 280 | 14 | Fred Savage | Technotronic | February 24, 1990 (1990-02-24) |
| Credited Featured Players: (none) Technotronic performs "Pump Up the Jam" and "Get Up! (Before the Night Is Over)". Savage's mother Joanne appears during the monologue, and his sister Kala appears in the "Imaginary Friend" sketch. Rosie Perez made an appearance as one of the dancers in the second performance. Neil Patrick Harris was nearly chosen to host this episode, as mentioned in his monologue in 2009. |||||
| 281 | 15 | Rob Lowe | The Pogues | March 17, 1990 (1990-03-17) |
| Credited Featured Players: A. Whitney Brown The Pogues performs "White City" and "The Body of an American". Chevy Chase appears during the goodnights. |||||
| 282 | 16 | Debra Winger | Eric Clapton | March 24, 1990 (1990-03-24) |
| Credited Featured Players: (none) Eric Clapton performs "No Alibis", "Pretending" and "Wonderful Tonight". |||||
| 283 | 17 | Corbin Bernsen | The Smithereens | April 14, 1990 (1990-04-14) |
| Credited Featured Players: (none) The Smithereens performs "A Girl Like You" and "Blues Before and After". |||||
| 284 | 18 | Alec Baldwin | The B-52's | April 21, 1990 (1990-04-21) |
| Credited Featured Players: A. Whitney Brown The B-52's performs "Cosmic Thing" and "Channel Z". SNL writers and future cast members Rob Schneider and David Spade appears in "The Environmentally Conscious One" sketch; Rob Schneider also appears in "The Garbo I Knew" sketch. Writer Conan O'Brien appears in the "Nude Talk Show" sketch. |||||
| 285 | 19 | Andrew Dice Clay | Julee Cruise Spanic Boys | May 12, 1990 (1990-05-12) |
| Credited Featured Players: (none) Julee Cruise performs "Falling". Spanic Boys performs "Keep On Walking". The show was broadcast on a seven second delay. Nora Dunn and scheduled musical guest Sinéad O'Connor boycotted this episode in protest of host Andrew Dice Clay's jokes about women. Julee Cruise and Spanic Boys both were quickly booked to replace Sinéad O'Connor. Nora Dunn's contract was not renewed at the end of the season. |||||
| 286 | 20 | Candice Bergen | The Notting Hillbillies | May 19, 1990 (1990-05-19) |
| Credited Featured Players: A. Whitney Brown The Notting Hillbillies performs "Railroad Worksong" and "Love You Too Much". Nora Dunn and Jon Lovitz's final episode as cast members. |||||

## Special

| Title | Original release date |
| "15th Anniversary Special" | September 24, 1989 (1989-09-24) |
| A special celebrating the 15th anniversary of the show. A long list of cast members, guest hosts, and other special people honor the show's anniversary. Chevy Chase and Garrett Morris appear in the cold open, debating about whether or not Chase is too old to open the show with a pratfall (as he had routinely done when he had been a cast member). Tom Hanks performed the opening monologue, which pokes fun at the cliches of SNL opening monologues in general. Prince and Paul Simon perform. Vintage musical clips include performances from David Bowie and Elvis Costello. John Belushi and Gilda Radner receive tributes in the special. Among the guest hosts was Robin Williams, Mary Tyler Moore and O. J. Simpson. This was the final appearance of Buck Henry on SNL, who was the most frequent host during the original 70s run of the show. ||