Saturday Night Live season 5

Saturday Night Live aired its fifth season during the 1979 - 1980 television season on NBC. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd left the show at the end of the fourth season, leaving a void in the cast that most fans thought would be the beginning of the end for the late-night sketch show. Harry Shearer, as well as many of SNL's writers (see "Featured Cast Members" list below), were hired to be replacements. By 1980, all of the cast and writers, including Lorne Michaels, grew tired of the show and planned on ending it in May. NBC, on the other hand, wasn't about to let the successful series slip through their fingers and planned on keeping the show going with a new cast, new writers, and a new executive producer (a practice that initially spelled doom for the show, but has since become the secret to the show's longevity). Al Franken was originally considered to be season six's executive producer, but after a scathing "Weekend Update" commentary about Fred Silverman ("A Limo for the Lame-O"), Franken was dropped.

The fifth season started on October 13, 1979 and ended on May 24, 1980.

Cast

Repertory cast members

• Jane Curtin
• Garrett Morris
• Bill Murray
• Laraine Newman
• Gilda Radner
• Harry Shearer

Featured cast members

• Peter Aykroyd (First episode: November 17, 1979)
• Tom Davis
• Jim Downey
• Brian Doyle-Murray (First Episode: December 15, 1979)
• Al Franken
• Don Novello
• Tom Schiller (First Episode: December 15, 1979)
• Paul Shaffer
• Alan Zweibel (First Episode: December 15, 1979)

Episodes

Episode Number	Date	Host(s)	Musical Guest(s)	Remarks
87	October 13, 1979	Steve Martin	Blondie	Blondie performed "Dreaming" Until at least 1994, this episode was the highest-rated according to the Nielsen ratings. Harry Shearer's first episode as a cast member Though they appeared on the show earlier this is the first time that Jim Downey and Paul Shaffer are credited as cast members
88	October 20, 1979	Eric Idle	Bob Dylan	Eric Idle performed with a fever (which explains why he was in a stretcher during the monologue). Buck Henry was brought in just in case Idle was too sick to perform.
89	November 3, 1979	Bill Russell	Chicago
90	November 10, 1979	Buck Henry	Tom Petty
91	November 17, 1979	Bea Arthur	The Roches	Peter Aykroyd's first episode as a cast member
92	December 8, 1979	Howard Hesseman	Randy Newman
93	December 15, 1979	Martin Sheen	David Bowie	Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias made appearances; they sang backup for Bowie. Brian Doyle-Murray, Alan Zweibel and Tom Schillers' first episode as cast members
94	December 22, 1979	Ted Knight†	Desmond Child & Rouge
95	January 26, 1980	Teri Garr	The B-52's
96	February 9, 1980	Chevy Chase	Marianne Faithfull
97	February 16, 1980	Elliott Gould	Gary Numan
98	February 23, 1980	Kirk Douglas	Sam & Dave
99	March 8, 1980	Rodney Dangerfield†	The J. Geils Band
100	March 15, 1980		James Taylor Paul Simon David Sanborn	The show went hostless to celebrate their 100th episode. John Belushi and Michael O'Donoghue made return appearances in the cold opening. Bill Murray turned the monologue into a musical tribute to New York City. During the sketch "The Minstrels of Newcastle", Paul Shaffer inadvertently said "fuckin'" on the air. Paul Simon and James Taylor performed a duet version of "Take Me to the Mardi Gras".
101	April 5, 1980	Richard Benjamin Paula Prentiss	The Grateful Dead
102	April 12, 1980	Burt Reynolds	Anne Murray
103	April 19, 1980	Strother Martin†	The Specials	Martin died the following August, causing a repeat to have aired August 9, 1980 to be pulled.
104	May 10, 1980	Bob Newhart	Amazing Rhythm Aces with Bill Murray Bruce Cockburn
105	May 17, 1980	Steve Martin	3-D Paul McCartney Linda McCartney
106	May 24, 1980	Buck Henry	Andrew Gold Andrae Crouch Voices of Unity	This is the final program produced by Lorne Michaels until his return in the 11th season. Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Garrett Morris, Peter Aykroyd, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Tom Schiller, Paul Shaffer and Alan Zweibel's final episode as cast members Final appearance of Harry Shearer as a cast member until the 10th season. Final appearance of Al Franken as a cast member until the 11th season. Final appearance of Brian Doyle-Murray as a cast member until the 7th season. Final appearance of Don Novello as a cast member until the 11th season.