# Saturday Night Live season 11

The eleventh season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between November 9, 1985, and May 24, 1986.
The season marked Lorne Michaels' return to SNL as showrunner after a five-year hiatus. Michaels hired new cast members, but instead of his usual approach of recruiting from comedy clubs and improv groups, he cast established names such as Randy Quaid, Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., and Joan Cusack. Due to their relative inexperience in comedy, the new cast failed to connect with audiences.
The show also featured a frustrated writing crew (including future Simpsons writers Jon Vitti, George Meyer and John Swartzwelder), who did not know how to write sketches for such an eclectic cast. The season was plagued by harsh criticism, low ratings, and rumors of a possible cancellation. NBC president Brandon Tartikoff planned to cancel SNL after its season finale in May 1986; Michaels, however, pleaded with Tartikoff to let the show go on. Most of the cast was let go for the following season, with only Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller along with featured player A. Whitney Brown returning, making it one of the more notable cast overhauls alongside season 6 and season 20.
The season was the subject of the fourth episode of the Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night entitled "Season 11: The Weird Year".

## Cast

With Dick Ebersol's cast and writers gone, Michaels hired Academy Award nominee Quaid, best known for his work in The Last Detail and National Lampoon's Vacation; as well as Cusack and Downey Jr. Part of the reasoning that Michaels chose younger performers was due to SNL's original audience, which comprised baby boomers, now nearing middle age, meaning that producers and NBC executives needed to appeal to a younger audience.
Chicago-based performance artist Danitra Vance was added along with stand-up comedians Miller and Damon Wayans, and improv comedians Dunn and Lovitz. Terry Sweeney, a comedic performer who had made a name for himself playing Nancy Reagan in Off-Broadway revues and who had been a writer on season 6 of SNL, was added to the cast, making him the first openly gay actor on network television. Don Novello returned as a featured player sporadically throughout the season, often reprising his popular Father Guido Sarducci character. Writer Brown was also added to the cast midway through the season, performing his "The Big Picture" segment on Weekend Update, and Al Franken returned in the finale. Miller became the new anchor for Weekend Update. Despite the season's negative reception, Lovitz would gain popularity with characters like the Pathological Liar and Master Thespian.
Chris Elliott, then a performer and writer on Late Night with David Letterman, auditioned for the cast this season and was offered the job. He turned it down in order to remain at Letterman, though he would later join the SNL cast for one season in 1994. According to a recent interview with short-term cast member Dan Vitale, actress Anjelica Huston was nearly hired as a cast member this season. Huston, a friend of Lorne's, was begged to join the show as a cast member; instead she co-hosted the season finale with Billy Martin.

### Controversy

When Chevy Chase hosted the show, there were reports of tension amongst the cast and crew. According to the book Live from New York: The Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, Chase pitched an idea for a sketch that featured openly gay cast member Sweeney as a person with AIDS who is weighed by a doctor to see how much weight he lost.

### Cast roster

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
Wayans is credited as a featured player for all of the first twelve episodes, except for episode 10. He exits the show after episode 12 but returns as a guest to do standup for the season finale. The rest of the featured players are not credited in many episodes: Novello is only credited for five, Brown only appears in six (though uncredited for three appearances, mostly due to him not having been made a featured player yet), Vitale is only credited for two, and Franken is only credited for the season finale.

## Writers

This season's writers were A. Whitney Brown, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Al Franken, Jack Handey, Lanier Laney, Carol Leifer, George Meyer, Lorne Michaels, Don Novello, Michael O'Donoghue, R. D. Rosen, Herb Sargent, Suzy Schneider, Robert Smigel, John Swartzwelder, Terry Sweeney, Mark McKinney and Bruce McCulloch. The head writer was Downey. Downey and Sargent were the only writers from the previous season to return to the show. Franken and Davis were also this season's co-producers.

## Special Guests

Penn & Teller and Sam Kinison are featured in the opening credits as special guests for many episodes this season, performing a segment of their own acts each time they appear. Penn & Teller did six episodes, while Kinison did four. Each act appears as a special guest once more in the 1986-87 season before this type of variety show performance is discontinued and the focus of the show becomes the cast. Steven Wright, who had been a special guest to do standup on four episodes of the previous season, returns for one episode of this season.

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Host(s) | Musical guest(s) | Original release date |
| 196 | 1 | Madonna | Simple Minds | November 9, 1985 (1985-11-9) |
| Simple Minds perform "Alive and Kicking" and "Sanctify Yourself". The episode's cold opening, in which Lorne Michaels and Brandon Tartikoff issue urine tests to check the new cast members for drug use, has been cut from nearly all reruns with the exception of Canada's Comedy Channel. Reruns also replace the opening sequence with the one that began later in the season. First appearance of "Limits of the Imagination," a Twilight Zone spoof that recurs throughout the season. Guest appearance by Penn & Teller. Don Novello appears as Father Guido Sarducci during the pretaped wedding video segment in the monologue. Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Nora Dunn, Anthony Michael Hall, Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, Randy Quaid, Terry Sweeney, Danitra Vance and Damon Wayans' first episode as cast members. Credited Featured Player: Damon Wayans Saturday Night News is retitled back to Weekend Update, the news segment's title during the first five seasons. Weekend Update is now hosted by Miller. Michaels returns as executive producer. |||||
| 197 | 2 | Chevy Chase | Sheila E | November 16, 1985 (1985-11-16) |
| Sheila E performs "Hollyrock" and "A Love Bizarre". First appearance of Tommy Flanagan, The Pathological Liar Credited Featured Player: Damon Wayans |||||
| 198 | 3 | Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman | Queen Ida & the Bon Temps Zydeco Band | November 23, 1985 (1985-11-23) |
| Queen Ida & the Bon Temps Zydeco Band performs "La Louisiane" and "Frisco Zydeco". Credited Featured Players: Don Novello, Dan Vitale, Damon Wayans Former cast member Robin Duke appears in the "Pee-Wee Herman Thanksgiving Special" sketch as one of the audience members during the performance by Diana Ross (Terry Sweeney). Don Novello rejoins the cast after a five year hiatus. Dan Vitale's first of two episodes as a featured player. According to Vitale, the show considered George C. Scott as a possible host for this episode, before selecting Reubens. |||||
| 199 | 4 | John Lithgow | Mr. Mister | December 7, 1985 (1985-12-7) |
| Mr. Mister performs "Broken Wings" and "Kyrie". Guest appearance by Sam Kinison. Credited Featured Player: Damon Wayans |||||
| 200 | 5 | Tom Hanks | Sade | December 14, 1985 (1985-12-14) |
| Sade performs "Is It A Crime" and "The Sweetest Taboo". The Entertainment Tonight opening sketch references Spying Isn't Cool, a fake public service ad with Brooke Shields that was mentioned as a joke on Weekend Update in the previous episode. Joan Cusack plays Shields, claiming that her movie career stalled after her mother turned down offers for her to play roles with Al Pacino (Scarface) and Robert De Niro (Once Upon a Time in America). Credited Featured Player: Damon Wayans Guest appearance by Steven Wright. First appearance of the limo ride through the city during the opening sequence, which will remain for the rest of this season. |||||
| 201 | 6 | Teri Garr | The Dream Academy The Cult | December 21, 1985 (1985-12-21) |
| The Dream Academy performs "Life in a Northern Town". The Cult performs "She Sells Sanctuary". Guest appearance by Penn & Teller. Credited Featured Players: Don Novello (credited in the opening as his character name, "Maurice"), Damon Wayans |||||
| 202 | 7 | Harry Dean Stanton | The Replacements | January 18, 1986 (1986-1-18) |
| The Replacements perform "Bastards of Young" and "Kiss Me On the Bus," both from the Tim album. The entire band was drunk during both their performances. As one reviewer succinctly observed, the band could quite often be "mouthing profanities into the camera, stumbling into each other, falling down, dropping their instruments, and generally behaving like the apathetic drunks they were." After this incident, they were banned permanently from SNL, although lead singer Paul Westerberg would return as a solo musical guest during the 19th season. Credited Featured Player: Damon Wayans Guest appearance by Sam Kinison. |||||
| 203 | 8 | Dudley Moore | Al Green | January 25, 1986 (1986-1-25) |
| Al Green performs "Going Away" and "True Love". Credited Featured Player: Damon Wayans Most reruns of this episode cut the Miss Pregnant Teen USA sketch (which featured Danitra Vance as Cabrini Green Jackson, Dudley Moore as Roman Polanski, and Lauren Tom [who worked as an extra in this episode] as Miss Hawaii) and replace it with a sketch that got cut after dress rehearsal and a repeat of the "Big Ball of Sports" sketch from the Harry Dean Stanton episode. |||||
| 204 | 9 | Ron Reagan | The Nelsons | February 8, 1986 (1986-2-8) |
| The Nelsons perform "Won't Walk Away" and "Do You Know What I Mean". Credited Featured Players: Dan Vitale, Damon Wayans Guest appearance by Penn & Teller. Writer A. Whitney Brown appears on Weekend Update to do "The Big Picture", although he is not officially made a featured player until later in the season. Dan Vitale's second of two episodes credited as a featured player. |||||
| 205 | 10 | Jerry Hall | Stevie Ray Vaughan Double Trouble | February 15, 1986 (1986-2-15) |
| Credited Featured Players: (none) Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble perform "Say What!" and "Change It". Jimmie Vaughan appears on "Change It". Mick Jagger appears in this episode's cold opening where Tommy Flanagan (Jon Lovitz) hits on the host at a bar — told by Hall that Flanagan claims to know him, Jagger "confirms" this and remarks that the two had been on a fishing trip during a recent weekend where Hall did not know where he was, telling Flanagan "I owe you for this one." Guest appearance by Sam Kinison. |||||
| 206 | 11 | Jay Leno | The Neville Brothers | February 22, 1986 (1986-2-22) |
| Credited Featured Player: Damon Wayans A. Whitney Brown performs "The Big Picture" on Weekend Update but is not credited as a featured player in the opening. The Neville Brothers perform "The Big Chief" and "The Midnight Key". The dog actor "Mike the Dog" is credited as a special guest in the opening. |||||
| 207 | 12 | Griffin Dunne | Rosanne Cash | March 15, 1986 (1986-3-15) |
| Credited Players: A. Whitney Brown, Don Novello, Damon Wayans Rosanne Cash performs "Hold On" and "I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me". Guest appearance by Penn & Teller. A. Whitney Brown's first episode as a featured player. Damon Wayans' final episode as a cast member. In the "Mr. Monopoly" sketch, Wayans plays a minor police officer character role as a gay stereotype (who sounds similar to his Blaine character from In Living Color's "Men on..." sketches). According to Wayans himself, an utterly furious Lorne Michaels chewed him out for his renegade move after the sketch finished, and proceeded to fire him from the show. Despite this, Wayans came back to perform stand-up on the last episode of the season and would return to host during the 1994-1995 season. |||||
| 208 | 13 | George Wendt Francis Ford Coppola | Philip Glass | March 22, 1986 (1986-3-22) |
| Credited Players: (none) The Philip Glass Ensemble performs "Rubric" from Glassworks and "Lightning" from Songs from Liquid Days. The show's opening theme song was replaced by "Façades," also from Glassworks. Francis Ford Coppola appears in between sketches in a running gag throughout the episode where he, Lorne Michaels, and Terry Sweeney try to improve SNL on the air to boost the show's sagging ratings. |||||
| 209 | 14 | Oprah Winfrey | Joe Jackson | April 12, 1986 (1986-4-12) |
| Credited Featured Players: A. Whitney Brown, Don Novello Joe Jackson performs "Right and Wrong" and "Soul Kiss". |||||
| 210 | 15 | Tony Danza | Laurie Anderson | April 19, 1986 (1986-4-19) |
| Credited Featured Players: (none) Laurie Anderson performs "Baby Doll" and "The Day the Devil". Guest appearance by Penn & Teller. |||||
| 211 | 16 | Catherine Oxenberg Paul Simon | Paul Simon Ladysmith Black Mambazo | May 10, 1986 (1986-5-10) |
| Credited Featured Players: (none) Paul Simon performs "Homeless," "Graceland" and "You Can Call Me Al"; Simon, in fact, performed the latter song to start the show in lieu of an opening sketch, and would be the one to deliver the "Live from New York, It's Saturday Night!" line afterwards. Ladysmith Black Mambazo play on "Homeless". Guest appearance by Penn & Teller. A. Whitney Brown performs "The Big Picture" on Weekend Update but is not credited as a featured player in the opening. |||||
| 212 | 17 | Jimmy Breslin | Level 42 E.G. Daily | May 17, 1986 (1986-5-17) |
| Credited Featured Players: (none) Level 42 perform "Something About You". E.G. Daily performs "Say It, Say It". Guest appearance by Sam Kinison and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. |||||
| 213 | 18 | Anjelica Huston Billy Martin | George Clinton Parliament-Funkadelic | May 24, 1986 (1986-5-24) |
| Credited Featured Players: A. Whitney Brown, Al Franken, Don Novello (credited under the name of his character Father Guido Sarducci). George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic perform "Let's Take It to the Stage" and "Do Fries Go with That Shake?". Damon Wayans returns to perform stand-up. Al Franken rejoins the cast after a six-year hiatus. This is also his only appearance as a cast member until season 14. Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Michael Hall, Don Novello, Randy Quaid, Terry Sweeney and Danitra Vance's final episode as cast members. All the cast members (except Lovitz, who Lorne Michaels purports was because he was the only cast member worth saving) were shown to be trapped in a room on fire as a parody of TV show cliffhangers; this is preceded by the last sketch of the night being interrupted by an "intoxicated" Martin being kicked off, and starting the fire in retaliation. During the end credits, all of the names are punctuated with question marks, in parody of the uncertainty of the future of the series. |||||