| Season Number: | 41 |
| Bgcolour: |
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| Image Alt: | The title card for Saturday Night Live – season 40, showing New York skyscrapers. |
| Num Episodes: | 21 |
| Network: | NBC |
| Prev Season: | season 40 |
| Next Season: | season 42 |
| Episode List: | List of Saturday Night Live episodes |
The forty-first season of the NBC comedy series Saturday Night Live premiered on October 3, 2015, during the 2015–2016 television season.[1] The season premiered on October 3, 2015, with host & musical guest Miley Cyrus and concluded on May 21, 2016 with host Fred Armisen and musical guest Courtney Barnett.
Kate McKinnon won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in this season.
After two consecutive seasons with higher-than-average levels of cast turnover, no major changes occurred prior to this season. The entire cast of the previous season returned, with Beck Bennett, Colin Jost, Kyle Mooney and Sasheer Zamata being promoted to repertory status, while Michael Che, Pete Davidson and Leslie Jones remained featured players.[2]
Prior to the start of the season, comedian Jon Rudnitsky of the Groundlings joined the show as a featured player.[3] [4]
This would be the final season for longtime cast members Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah, who had both been on the show since 2010, and the only season for Rudnitsky.[5]
Repertory players
Featured players
bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor
Before the beginning of the season, six new writers joined the staff: Upright Citizens Brigade performers Fran Gillespie, Sudi Green, and Will Stephen; former Late Show with David Letterman writers Paul Masella and Chris Belair; and stand-up comedian Dave Sirus.[6]
Colin Jost, a cast member on the show and anchor of Weekend Update, who has also served as a writer since 2005 (and as co-head writer in 2012), was relieved of his position as co-head writer, although he remains on the writing staff. Rob Klein and Bryan Tucker continue as co-head writers.[7]
See main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes.