Saturday Night Live Season 5 1979
Saturday Night Live aired its fifth season during the 1979–1980 television season on NBC, and also the final season with the original cast. This fifth season started on October 13, 1979 and ended on May 24, 1980. SNL's fifth season was released on DVD on December 1, 2009. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd left the show at the end of the fourth season, leaving a void in the cast that most fans thought would be the beginning of the end of the late-night sketch show. To keep the show going, Lorne Michaels upgraded many of the show's writers to cast member status: Peter Aykroyd, Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray, Don Novello, Tom Schiller and Alan Zweibel. Band leader Paul Shaffer also joined the cast, becoming the first person from the SNL band to become a cast member. Harry Shearer joined the show as a featured cast member and was promoted to repertory status during the season. This would be the final season for everyone in the cast. Tom Davis and Downey would return to the show in future seasons as writers. Al Franken, Doyle-Murray, Novello, and Shearer would rejoin the cast in future seasons.
- Released: 1979-10-13
- Runtime: 67 minutes
- Genre: Comedy, News
- Stars: Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner
- Director: Lorne Michaels
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1. Steve Martin/Blondie 1979-10-13
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2. Eric Idle/Bob Dylan 1979-10-20
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3. Bill Russell/Chicago 1979-11-03
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5. Bea Arthur/The Roches 1979-11-17
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6. Howard Hesseman/Randy Newman 1979-12-08
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7. Martin Sheen/David Bowie 1979-12-15
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8. Ted Knight/Desmond Child and Rouge 1979-12-22
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9. Teri Garr/The B-52's 1980-01-26
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10. Chevy Chase/Marianne Faithfull 1980-02-09
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11. Elliott Gould/Gary Numan 1980-02-16
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12. Kirk Douglas/Sam and Dave 1980-02-23
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13. Rodney Dangerfield/J. Geils Band 1980-03-08
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14. Paul Simon/James Taylor 1980-03-15
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16. Burt Reynolds/Anne Murray 1980-04-12
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17. Strother Martin/The Specials 1980-04-19
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19. Steve Martin/Paul and Linda McCartney 1980-05-17
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20. Buck Henry/Andrew Gold 1980-05-24
