Saturday Night Live had its thirtieth season on the 2004-2005 television season on NBC. The thirtieth season began on October 2, 2004 and ended on May 21, 2005 with 20 episodes in all. Before the start of this season, Jimmy Fallon left the show. In the wake of his departure, Fred Armisen was promoted to repertory status, while Finesse Mitchell and Kenan Thompson remained feature players. New cast members this season include Rob Riggle, an improv comedian (at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater) and U.S. Marine. This would be Riggle's only season on the show. In addition, SNL writer Jason Sudeikis (who appeared in many bit roles prior to joining the cast) joined the cast as a featured player for the last three episodes of the season. With Fallon gone, Amy Poehler became Tina Fey's co-anchor on Weekend Update, making Fey and Poehler the first (and, so far, only) two-woman anchor team. This season was also notable for Ashlee Simpson's infamous lip-syncing gaffe during her second performance (on the episode hosted by Jude Law). This season was also home to many sketches focused on the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, but, unlike the 2000 election (and later the 2008 election), there was little to no media coverage about the sketches. This season was also, like seasons 6, 11, and 20 before it, lambasted for its relative poor quality. Many of the sketches were seen as "boring" and "fashionable".

Saturday Night Live (abbreviated as SNL) is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show.

周六夜现场是一个每周六播出的美国深夜节目，每一周都会有嘉宾主持以及音乐人参加，他们和固定卡司一起现场表演节目。

Saturday Night Live (abbreviated as SNL) is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show.

《周六夜现场》（Saturday Night Live）是一个每周六深夜播出、60多分钟的美国综艺节目，以纽约市为拍摄地，自1975年10月11日由NBC播出，是美国电视史上最长寿的节目之一。每周都有不同的客座主持人与音乐来宾加入，与该节目的固定卡司一同演出。表演嘉宾会参与到小品的表演中，往往能让人看到该嘉宾不同的一面，并且这样的喜剧表演也是其演技的试金石。而音乐嘉宾通常是当下当红的歌星，会进行现场表演。它最大的特点是结合当下最热点话题，用恶搞的小品来针砭时事，可以视其为流行文化的一面镜子。由于播出时间段较晚，所以尺度相对一般美剧会稍微大一点，恶搞的笑料从来不缺乏话题。2013年12月23日，《周六夜现场》开播39年来首度登陆内地，搜狐视频同步美国NBC独家播出。每周一9:00推出原版（无字幕）节目全程，周六晚10:00更新中字版。更多精彩，敬请锁定搜狐视频。

《周六夜现场》是美国一档于周六深夜时段直播的喜剧小品类综艺节目。节目由洛恩·迈克尔斯创立，并由迪克·埃伯索尔发展。节目于1975年10月11日在全国广播公司首播，原名《NBC的周末夜》。节目由一系列讽刺恶搞当下政治和文化的喜剧小品组成，每期一位主持及一组音乐嘉宾，与固定卡司共同出演小品，固定卡司众多且不断更新。

Saturday Night Live aired its thirty-third season, during the 2007–2008 television season on NBC. Because of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, there were only 12 episodes produced in this season instead of the usual 20 (with 4 consecutive episodes made between February 23 and March 15), making this the shortest season in the series run and beating out both the sixth (1980–1981) season and the thirteenth (1987–1988) season, which had thirteen episodes. This is also the only season in SNL history not to have a new Christmas episode, since the WGA strike spanned from November 2007 to February 2008. No changes to the cast happened over the summer and everyone from last season returned. During the strike, long-time castmember Maya Rudolph left the show, as she had no contract with SNL that year. Casey Wilson, an actress and writer who frequently performs at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, was hired in January 2008 to fill the void, but due to the strike, did not appear on the show until they returned on February 23, 2008. On November 5, 2007, after the episode hosted by Brian Williams, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. It was announced that SNL would air its next episode on November 10, 2007 (with host The Rock and musical guest Amy Winehouse), live on air, with a future episode to follow, featuring Jonah Hill and musical guest Kid Rock. However, on November 7, 2007, SNL's official website confirmed that those episodes were canceled and reruns would be seen beginning November 10, and would continue during the duration of the strike. The Rock/Winehouse show was canceled, along with the Jonah Hill/Kid Rock episode (though Jonah Hill would get a second opportunity, when he hosted the March 15 episode, with musical guest Mariah Carey [filling in for a flu-stricken Janet Jackson] and The Rock would host next season, with musical guest Ray LaMontagne. Amy Winehouse would never get the chance to be a musical guest, host, or even cameo due to her death in 2011). During the strike on November 17, 2007, the cast of the show, along with host Michael Cera and musical guest Yo La Tengo performed an "episode" of the show entitled Saturday Night Live - On Strike! at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (co-founded by cast member Amy Poehler) in New York City. Every cast member except for Maya Rudolph appeared, with former cast members Horatio Sanz and Rachel Dratch and musician Norah Jones making cameo appearances.[1] On February 12, 2008, the strike was announced to be officially over with a 92.5% vote. Production continued on February 18, 2008 for the February 23, 2008 episode, hosted by former SNL cast member Tina Fey with musical guest Carrie Underwood. This season also saw the death of the show's very first host: comedian/actor George Carlin. A scheduled rerun of the episode hosted by Ellen Page was replaced with a rerun of the show's very first episode, which had Carlin as host and Janis Ian and Billy Preston as musical guests.

Saturday Night Live aired its thirty-second season during the 2006-2007 television season. This season began on September 30, 2006 and ended on May 19, 2007 with 20 episodes produced. Before the start of the season, the show suffered massive budget cuts. Finesse Mitchell, Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz were all fired from the show because of the cuts. This was the second time Parnell had been fired from the show due to budget cuts, the first being after season 26 ended. In addition, Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey left the show on their own terms to begin to work on 30 Rock. Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, and Kristen Wiig were all promoted to repertory status. Due to budget cuts from the network, this is the first time since the 23rd season to have no featured players or new members of the repertory cast (besides the ones that were promoted from being featured players during the previous season). With Fey's departure, Saturday Night Live returned to having one male and one female anchor on Weekend Update with the inclusion of Seth Meyers as Amy Poehler's co-anchor. Don Roy King was hired as SNL's newest director. As in season 31, The Lonely Island created another popular SNL Digital Short that aired around Christmas time; this time, it was the risque, R&B video spoof "Dick in a Box" (on the episode with Justin Timberlake as host and musical guest). The short won a Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics.

Saturday Night Live aired its thirty-first season in the 2005-06 television season on NBC. The season began on October 1, 2005, and ended on May 20, 2006, with 19 episodes in all. The season was cut one episode short due to the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. A 30th anniversary special for the show was planned, but the plan was scrapped due to budget cuts. Before the start of the season, featured player Rob Riggle was let go from the show. Finesse Mitchell and Kenan Thompson were both promoted to repertory status while Jason Sudeikis remained a featured player. The show then added three new cast members to the show. They included: Los Angeles-based sketch comedian Bill Hader, Andy Samberg (the show also hired his two friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone to the writing staff, all members of the The Lonely Island sketch group) and Kristen Wiig of The Groundlings. Wiig debuted on the show in November, in the episode hosted by Jason Lee. Samberg, Schaffer and Taccone would be a notable force for creating SNL Digital Shorts. One such short was "Lazy Sunday"; after it aired during the Jack Black episode it became an Internet phenomenon. Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph missed a few episodes in this season due to both of them being pregnant and on maternity leave. Fey's place on Weekend Update was briefly taken over by Horatio Sanz until her return in the episode hosted by Catherine Zeta-Jones, making Sanz the first (and so far only) Hispanic Weekend Update anchor. Fey returned to the show before her maternity leave time was up. Maya Rudolph, however, appeared on the first episode of the new season, and then went on maternity leave and returned in February, in the episode hosted by Steve Martin. This season is also notable for the people who hosted the show. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, an SNL cast member from 1982 to 1985 under Dick Ebersol, became the first former female cast member to come back and host the show (and also the third cast member from Seinfeld to host). It is worth noting that Gilda Radner was originally supposed to host in 1988, but was not due to the Writer's Guild of America Strike and then Radner's death the following year. This season is also known for the return of such frequent hosts as Alec Baldwin (who last hosted in season 29 with musical guest Missy Elliott in 2003), Tom Hanks (who last hosted the first episode of season 22 with musical guest Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1996), and Steve Martin (who last hosted the first episode of the 20th season with musical guest, Eric Clapton in 1994). This season saw the seventh death of a former cast member when Charles Rocket committed suicide by slashing his throat with a box cutter. This season also became the first to broadcast the show in high-definition, after thirty years of broadcasting in analog. This would also be the final season for cast members Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Finesse Mitchell, Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz, as well as the last season for longtime director, Beth McCarthy-Miller. Dratch and Fey both left the show to focus on 30 Rock and McCarthy-Miller left the show on her own terms. Parnell, Mitchell, and Sanz, however, were let go after Lorne Michaels was given the choice to either cut back on episode production or get rid of long-standing and/or poor-performing cast members due to NBC budget cuts.