Saturday Night Live season 10

Cast

Eddie Murphy left midseason during the previous season, and Joe Piscopo also left because he did not want to do the show without Murphy. Dick Ebersol fired Robin Duke, Brad Hall, and Tim Kazurinsky. Ebersol and head writer Bob Tischler then sought to "blow up" the show by adding seasoned comedians instead of newcomers. They hired Billy Crystal, who had hosted twice in season 9 and was originally set to appear in SNL's first episode; Christopher Guest, a frequent contributor to The National Lampoon Radio Hour; Rich Hall, known for Not Necessarily the News and the ABC sketch show Fridays; Harry Shearer, a cast member in season 5; Martin Short, from SCTV; and New Zealander Pamela Stephenson, from Not the Nine O'Clock News.

Stephenson beat out Geena Davis and Andrea Martin for the spot. Christopher Guest became the anchor of Saturday Night News. Midseason, Harry Shearer left due to "creative differences"; he told the AP, "I was creative, and they were different." His image remained in the opening credits, spray-painting an elevated train.

The remaining cast members left at the end of the season. Ebersol had wanted to revamp the show to include mostly prerecorded segments. Short, Guest, and Hall grew tired of the demanding production schedule and showed little interest in returning, leaving Crystal the only "A-cast" member available for season 11. Ebersol considered taking the show off the air for several months to re-cast, or instituting a permanent rotation of hosts (Billy Crystal, David Letterman, and Joe Piscopo) for "a hip The Ed Sullivan Show."

NBC decided to continue production only if Lorne Michaels would produce again. Ebersol, his writing staff, and most of the cast left after this season; those who wished to stay, such as Crystal and Kroeger, were not rehired for the following season.

Writers

Season 10 saw a major writing staff shake-up. Newcomers Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Rich Hall, Rob Riley, and Martin Short joined, while Jim Downey, Herb Sargent, and Harry Shearer returned after a four-year break. Departing the staff were Robin Duke, Adam Green, Tim Kazurinsky, Michael McCartney, Eddie Murphy, Pamela Norris, and Joe Piscopo. The full writing team included Jim Belushi, Andy Breckman, Crystal, Downey, Guest, Hall, Nate Herman, Kevin Kelton, Andy Kurtzman, Margaret Oberman, Riley, Sargent, Shearer, Short, Andrew Smith, Bob Tischler, and Eliot Wald, with Tischler serving as head writer.

Larry David spent a single, miserable season on staff, clashing with Dick Ebersol and getting only one sketch aired—in the final moments of Episode 7. He later repurposed some unused ideas for Seinfeld. By season’s end, nearly every writer left, except Sargent and Downey, who was promoted to head writer for the next season.

Did You Know?

• The opening credits sequence was produced by Charlex, who also created The Cars' "You Might Think" video earlier in 1984.
• Larry David would return to host SNL in 2017 and to portray Bernie Sanders.