Saturday Night Live - Season 34
Description: The thirty-fourth season of the variety series Saturday Night Live began airing in 2008 and concluded in 2009 on NBC. This season of Saturday Night Live consisted of 22 episodes, in an attempt to compensate for episodes lost during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. This made it the longest season since the show's second season.
The season began on September 13, 2008 on NBC, with Olympic swimming gold medalist Michael Phelps as host and Tina Fey appearing as Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, alongside Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton, and rapper Lil Wayne as the musical guest. The show scored its highest-rated premiere since September 2001 and is the second most-watched SNL ever. The season premiere date of September 13 was earlier than the premiere date for previous seasons, which typically have started during the final weekend of September or in early October. However, a month later, the show drew its highest ratings in over 14 years when the real Sarah Palin appeared. SNL had 17 million viewers during its first half-hour.
Before the start of the season the cast remained mostly unchanged except for the addition of Bobby Moynihan. Moynihan came to SNL as a performer with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater; in season 33, Moynihan and Wilson were among the group of Upright Citizens Brigade performers SNL auditioned mid-season while the show was looking for a new cast member to join after the writers' strike in early 2008. Moynihan did not make the cut in his season 33 audition, but instead ended up being invited back for another audition shortly before this season started. Wilson remained a featured player.
Episodes
Michael Phelps/Lil Wayne
Aired: Sep 13, 2008
Live from New York, it's... Tina Fey and Amy Poehler! Sketches include "A Non-P...
James Franco/Kings of Leon
Aired: Sep 20, 2008
Live from New York, it's... Darrell Hammond! Sketches include "McCain Voiceovers...
Anna Faris/Duffy
Aired: Sep 27, 2008
Live from New York, it's... Tina Fey! Sketches include "Sarah Palin Interview,"...
Anne Hathaway/The Killers
Aired: Oct 4, 2008
Sketches include "The Vice Presidential Debate," "The Lawrence Welk Show," "The ...
Josh Brolin/Adele
Aired: Oct 18, 2008
Live from New York, it's... Gov. Sarah Palin! Sketches include "Palin on Palin,"...
Jon Hamm/Coldplay
Aired: Oct 25, 2008
Jon Hamm/Coldplay is the sixth episode of the thirty-fourth season of Saturday N...
Ben Affleck/David Cook
Aired: Nov 1, 2008
Ben Affleck Hosts, special guest John McCain, and your musical guest is Dave Coo...
Paul Rudd/Beyonce
Aired: Nov 15, 2008
Live from New York, it's... Jason Sudeikis! Sketches include "Vice President-ele...
Tim McGraw/Ludacris/T-Pain
Aired: Nov 22, 2008
Live from New York, it's... Fred Armisen! Sketches include "The Big Three Autom...
John Malkovich/T.I.
Aired: Dec 6, 2008
Live from New York, it's... Darrell Hammond and Amy Poehler! Sketches include "...
Hugh Laurie/Kanye West
Aired: Dec 13, 2008
Live from New York, it's... Jason Sudeikis! Sketches include "Blagojevich Testi...
Neil Patrick Harris/Taylor Swift
Aired: Jan 10, 2009
Actor Neil Patrick Harris hosts; Taylor Swift performs "Love Story" and "Forever...
Rosario Dawson/Fleet Foxes
Aired: Jan 17, 2009
Actress Rosario Dawson hosts; Fleet Foxes perform "Mykonos" and "Blue Ridge Moun...
Steve Martin/Jason Mraz
Aired: Jan 31, 2009
Bradley Cooper/TV on the Radio
Aired: Feb 7, 2009
Alec Baldwin/Jonas Brothers
Aired: Feb 14, 2009
Actor Alec Baldwin hosts; Jonas Brothers perform "Tonight" and "Video Girl." Sk...
Dwayne Johnson/Ray LaMontagne
Aired: Mar 7, 2009
Sketches include "1-800-IDEAS?," "MacGruber" (three parts), "The Rock Obama," "A...
Tracy Morgan/Kelly Clarkson
Aired: Mar 14, 2009
Seth Rogen/Phoenix
Aired: Apr 4, 2009
Zac Efron/Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Aired: Apr 11, 2009
Justin Timberlake/Ciara
Aired: May 9, 2009
Will Ferrell/Green Day
Aired: May 16, 2009
Host Will Ferrell; Green Day performs; Norm Macdonald, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler...