| Season Number: | 15 |
| Bgcolour: |
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| Image Alt: | The title card for the fifteenth season of Saturday Night Live. |
| Num Episodes: | 20 |
| Network: | NBC |
| Prev Season: | season 14 |
| Next Season: | season 16 |
| Episode List: | List of Saturday Night Live episodes |
The fifteenth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 30, 1989 and May 19, 1990.[1]
This season saw the first appearances of three frequent SNL hosts: John Goodman,[2] who auditioned to be a cast member on SNL during the 1980–81 season[3] and frequently appeared on SNL in the mid-1990s as Linda Tripp; Christopher Walken;[4] and Alec Baldwin[5] (who later surpassed Steve Martin as the most frequent SNL host).[6]
A live special commemorating fifteen seasons of SNL was aired on September 24, 1989, before the start of the season.[7]
The season would be the final for Jon Lovitz and Nora Dunn. Dunn, in protest of the Andrew Dice Clay-hosted episode due to the comedian's misogynistic content, decided to boycott the episode in the hopes that Lorne Michaels and other producers would rescind Clay's invite.[8] However, in the days leading up to the episode, press reports announced that Dunn would not be returning for the next season, which Dunn saw as a preemptive move by the show in response to her boycott. After the incident, she left the show in earnest, with Michaels describing it as Dunn's choice.[9] Lovitz had wanted to return for next season, but the filming of his movie Mom and Dad Save the World meant he would have to miss the first few episodes of season 16. Michaels gave Lovitz the ultimatum of filming the movie or remaining in the cast, with Lovitz choosing the film.
Repertory players
Featured players
bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
See main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes.