| Season Number: | 8 |
| Bgcolour: |
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| Image Alt: | The title card for the eighth season of Saturday Night Live. |
| Num Episodes: | 20 |
| Network: | NBC |
| Prev Season: | season 7 |
| Next Season: | season 9 |
| Episode List: | List of Saturday Night Live episodes |
The eighth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 25, 1982, and May 14, 1983.
For the season, Dick Ebersol brought back the show's opening phrase "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" and the monologues by the hosts. Ebersol also changed Weekend Updates name for the second time, to Saturday Night News.[1] Since Brian Doyle-Murray and Christine Ebersole had both been dropped, a new anchor was needed for the segment. Brad Hall got the gig and became the new anchor.[2]
Notable moments of this season included Drew Barrymore hosting the show—the youngest ever person to host. During the episode, the audience at home was given the chance to vote on whether or not Andy Kaufman should be banned from the show. The vote was conducted by a 1-900 number. At the end of the show, Kaufman was banned from ever performing on SNL again.
Another notable moment was when Eddie Murphy hosted the show. Murphy substituted for his 48 Hours co-star Nick Nolte. Murphy became the only person to have hosted the show while still a cast member. He announced "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy Show!"
Before the start of the season, Brian Doyle-Murray, Christine Ebersole and Tony Rosato were dropped from the cast. To fill the void, Dick Ebersol went to The Second City to look for performers; however, Second City was tired of losing their talent to network shows and instead directed him to The Practical Theatre Company,[3] where Ebersol discovered Brad Hall, Gary Kroeger and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The three were hired to the SNL cast on the spot.[4]
Repertory players
bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
Before the season, Paul Barrosse was added as a writer. This would be his only season on the writing staff.
This season's writers were Paul Barrosse, Barry W. Blaustein, Robin Duke, Ellen L. Fogle, Nate Herman, Tim Kazurinsky, Andy Kurtzman, Eddie Murphy, Pamela Norris, Margaret Oberman, Joe Piscopo, David Sheffield, Andrew Smith, Bob Tischler, Tracy Tormé and Eliot Wald. The head writer was Bob Tischler.
Among a few one-season writers, this would also be the final season for writers Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield, who both leave the show after three seasons.[5]
See main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes.