By 1998, Saturday Night Live had already begun charting a path out of a period of uncertainty. With cast changes, some creative rebalancing, and a stroke of luck from the news cycle, the year proved to be particularly strong for the show.
In the latest installment of the Saturday Night Network’s Everything You NEED to Know About Saturday Night Live series, hosts Jon Schneider and James Stephens dive into Season 24.
“The reliance on recurring characters was so heavy in Seasons 22 and 23 that people started to get to know the characters better than the actual cast members,” Schneider tells LateNighter. “That probably wasn’t to the benefit of the show—especially with so much network involvement,” Schneider says. “Then, in the aftermath of Norm leaving the show, Lorne [Michaels] starts to take more control of the show.”
That shift presented a change of pace for Schneider and co-host/co-executive producer James Stephens when putting together the new episode of Everything You NEED To Know. For past seasons, they found themselves carefully weighing how to cover various controversies and setbacks at the show. Season 24, however, “was a completely different approach. We’re trying to properly show in a 30-minute video how Lorne figured it out,” says Schneider.
“They smoothed out all of the things that were going wrong with the show once it came back from its near-death. It sort of felt like the show was heading toward something really great here.”
One of the key factors in Season 24 was the addition of new talent: Horatio Sanz, Chris Parnell, and Jimmy Fallon. All three hires proved fruitful for the show. Fallon, of course, would go on to become one of NBC’s signature stars—but in 1998, he was a fresh face. “He sort of became this young hotness that people just fell in love with; that Sandler type that people had been missing from the show,” Schneider notes. (As the SNN episode points out, an early moment with Fallon turned out to be particularly prescient when the show correctly predicted the exact month and year he would return to host.)
By lightening its dependence on recurring characters, SNL was able to diversify with more experimental sketches, while still leaning on the political material that has always been its bread and butter. Time and again, the world of politics has fueled the show with material and national attention—and the saga of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky is one of the biggest examples. Darrell Hammond and Molly Shannon frequently reprised their roles as Clinton and Lewinsky throughout the year.
“People love watching SNL’s take on those things,” says Schneider. “They got really lucky with what was happening outside of the show at the time. They were able to take the focus off SNL itself a little bit.”
Everything You NEED To Know About SNL: Season 24 provides a comprehensive look at the chemistry that emerged—a year full of highlights that began with the season premiere. “It’s a jam-packed, all-time great episode,” Schneider says.
Season 24 maintained a consistent hit rate, with memorable hosts like Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alec Baldwin, and Ray Romano. The momentum helped SNL set the stage for its 25th anniversary special the following season, giving the show a secure vantage point from which to look back fondly on its quarter-century of comedy history.
“I think you could turn on any episode of Season 24 and find something good,” says Schneider.
Watch the Saturday Night Network’s story of Season 24 at the top of this post. Past episodes of Everything You NEED To Know About Saturday Night Live are available on the SNN’s YouTube channel.
