Saturday Night Live/Season Thirty-Four

Season Thirty-Four
Saturday Night Live
Season Premiere	September 13, 2008
Season Finale	May 16, 2009
Episode Count	22 + 7
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Season Thirty-Four of Saturday Night Live premiered on September 13, 2008.

In October 2008, leading up to the US Presidential election, three half-hour specials were aired entitled Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday. The specials essentially extended Weekend Update to thirty minutes with a focus on political satire timed to the presidential election.

In addition to the specials, the season premiered two weeks earlier than usual, allowing them to squeeze in two extra regular episodes before the election and start the season with four consecutive episodes as they did when they returned post strike in the previous season. As a result, the season will have 22 total episodes—the most since the second season. The extra episodes together with the Thursday night specials will give this season more new content than any season save the first.

All cast members from the previous season returned, with the addition of Bobby Moynihan as a featured player. Weekend Update co-anchor Amy Poehler announced that season 34 would be her last after word surfaced that she was cast as the star of Parks and Recreation, a new sitcom helmed by The Office developer Greg Daniels.

Poehler said she would leave the cast either after the presidential election or the birth of her baby, whichever came first, and gave birth hours before episode 6 went live—two weeks before the election. Pretaped bits for that episode and the Presidential Bash were to be her final appearances as a regular, but she unexpectedly reappeared in the December 6 episode as Hilary Clinton and on Weekend Update. She continued to appear until the end of 2008. During Poehler's maternity leave, Abby Elliott and Michaela Watkins were added as featured players. Elliot is the daughter of former SNL cast member Chris Elliott.

This season saw the departure of veteran cast member Darrell Hammond, who had been a cast member in the series since 1995, as well as the firing of two featured players, Casey Wilson and Michaela Watkins for undisclosed reasons.

Cast

Main Cast:

• Fred Armisen
• Will Forte
• Bill Hader
• Darrell Hammond
• Seth Meyers (Weekend Update anchor)
• Amy Poehler (Weekend Update anchor) (Last Show: 34x11)
• Andy Samberg
• Jason Sudeikis
• Kenan Thompson
• Kristen Wiig

Featuring:

• Abby Elliott (First Show: 34x08)
• Bobby Moynihan
• Michaela Watkins (First Show: 34x08)
• Casey Wilson

Episodes

#	#	Title			Airdate
638	1	Michael Phelps/Lil Wayne			September 13, 2008
639	2	James Franco/Kings of Leon			September 20, 2008
640	3	Anna Faris/Duffy			September 27, 2008
641	4	Anne Hathaway/The Killers			October 4, 2008
SP26	—	SNL Weekend Update Thursday (1)			October 9, 2008
SP27	—	SNL Weekend Update Thursday (2)			October 16, 2008
642	5	Josh Brolin/Adele			October 18, 2008
SP28	—	SNL Weekend Update Thursday (3)			October 23, 2008
643	6	Jon Hamm/Coldplay			October 25, 2008
644	7	Ben Affleck/David Cook			November 1, 2008
SP29	—	Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash 2008			November 3, 2008
645	8	Paul Rudd/Beyoncé			November 15, 2008
646	9	Tim McGraw/T-Pain/Ludacris			November 22, 2008
647	10	John Malkovich/T.I.			December 6, 2008
648	11	Hugh Laurie/Kanye West			December 13, 2008
SP30	—	Saturday Night Live Sports Extra 2009			January 4, 2009
649	12	Neil Patrick Harris/Taylor Swift			January 10, 2009
650	13	Rosario Dawson/Fleet Foxes			January 17, 2009
651	14	Steve Martin/Jason Mraz			January 31, 2009
652	15	Bradley Cooper/TV on the Radio			February 7, 2009
653	16	Alec Baldwin/Jonas Brothers			February 14, 2009
654	17	Dwayne Johnson/Ray LaMontagne			March 7, 2009
SP31	—	Saturday Night Live Just Commercials			March 8, 2009
655	18	Tracy Morgan/Kelly Clarkson			March 14, 2009
656	19	Seth Rogan/Phoenix			April 4, 2009
657	20	Zac Efron/Yeah Yeah Yeahs			April 11, 2009
658	21	Justin Timberlake/Ciara			May 9, 2009
659	22	Will Ferrell/Green Day			May 16, 2009
SP32	—	Saturday Night Live Just Shorts			May 17, 2009