“Saturday Night Live” has always been a huge influence to pop culture, since it’s creation 50 years ago. With the new season coming out, loyal fans and interested youth can expect changes to this beloved show. What is it? When is it? And what will happen next?
SNL debuts its 51st season!
Just this past weekend, SNL launched the first episode of the season with host Bad Bunny and musical guest Doja Cat. The show introduced new cast members as well as returning veterans to the show. New cast members, Tommy Brennen, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, Veronika Slowikowska, and “Please Don’t Destroy”‘s own Ben Marshall joined the cast for this season with major returning members such as Colin Jost, Chloe Fineman, and Kenan Thompson. For Thompson, this will be his 23rd season at SNL.
The cast is promising despite losing long term players like Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardener and newer cast members Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, and Emil Wakim. All members left the show on good terms; however, SNL definitely won’t be the same.
What to look forward too…
Regardless of its well-received 50th anniversary special last year, the show’s true 50th birthday happens tomorrow, October 11th, 2025. Beloved past cast member Amy Poehler will return to the show to celebrate this important milestone. As well as its true 50th anniversary, the new episode also marks the 990th episode, gearing up for SNL’s next huge achievement: it’s 1000th episode!
Many surprises are likely up Lorne Michaels’ sleeve for the 12th episode of season 51.
The show has evolved so much over the years, it’s almost hard to keep track of just how vastly this show affected the timeline of sketch-comedy.
The story behind the show…
Let’s go back in time. SNL has been here a while. Who are some of the most influential members of its varied cast and how has the show adapted to the new media?
When SNL originally started in 1975, Lorne Michaels was challenged to launch a sketch comedy show directed to the 18–34-year-old demographic. The show featured a host and musical guest like it does today. The cast had major players like Gilda Radner, Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, and many more. They went on to become well know actors and comedians beyond their time at “Saturday Night Live” or at that time, “NBC’s Saturday Night.” Seth Meyers made his start here before he went off to become his own writer and comedian.
The show included recurring bits and characters that were a huge part of popular culture at the time. Dana Carvey’s church lady was a popular character that recently made a comeback on SNL50.
The show was known for its edgy comedy that pushed the boundaries of what sketch comedy could be. The 90 minute program was full of social commentary, impersonations, satire, and parodies.
The show has a huge political influence that has become more apparent in the recent political environment. In the past people like Dana Carvey have impersonated presidents like George H. W. Bush. More recently Donald Trump was played by Alec Baldwin and James Austin Johnson. Many cast members have played Joe Biden. The show’s cold open often centers around a political event of the past week.
With recent movements in the shut down of satirical comedians, SNL might need to alter its focus to stay relevant. However, the show itself is a huge NBC project, taking it off the air would be a major action by its executives.
What comes next?
With its vastly shaken-up cast, the show might need to readjust its frontrunners. They dropped 5 cast members and picked up 5 new ones, who’s to say which will be most successful on the show.
Since its inception, SNL was angled at 18–34-year-olds, which worked then. However, now those 18-year-olds are 68 years old. In order to remain a huge part of the youth media intake, some changes might be vital.
With so much news and topics to go through from over the summer season and upcoming political agenda, SNL will have no loss for content to use.
The show has lasted a long time, spanning generations, we can only expect this next season to be full of surprises and comedy suited for the world we live in.
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Brian Donnelly • Oct 10, 2025 at 9:23 am
I have loved SNL sign I can remember watching it with my parents in high school. Will Ferrel was my favorite and his characters always had me dying laughing. It is always so interesting to see how comics, sketches and the show changes with the times. Great Article!