Saturday Night Live (season 41)


The forty-first season of the NBC comedy series Saturday Night Live premiered on October 3, 2015, during the 2015–2016 television season. 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.

Cast

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 2014–2015 season returned.
Prior the start of the season, comedian Jon Rudnitsky joined the cast as a featured player. Beck Bennett, Colin Jost, Kyle Mooney and Sasheer Zamata were upgraded to repertory status, while Michael Che, Pete Davidson, and Leslie Jones remained as featured players.
Announcer Darrell Hammond appeared in several episodes. He played Bill Clinton in three episodes and Donald Trump in most of the episodes of this season.
This would be the final season for Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah, both cast members since 2010, as well as the only season for Jon Rudnitsky.

Cast roster

Repertory players
Featured players
bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

Writers

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.
Colin Jost, a cast member on the show and anchor of Weekend Update, who served as a writer since 2005, 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.

Episodes

Specials