Season 13 poster
Saturday Night Live

Season 13

Saturday Night Live aired its thirteenth season during the 1987–1988 television season on NBC. Season 13 started on October 17, 1987 and ended on February 27, 1988. Before the start of the season few changes happened. Kevin Nealon was promoted to repertory status and Al Franken returned to the cast. Although the changes to the cast were minimal there were, however, major events that impeded the show's production. During production of the season premiere, a fire broke out near Studio 8H during dress rehearsal. Despite plans to cancel the show for the week, Steve Martin pushed the cast to perform, making the Steve Martin/Sting episode the only episode without a dress rehearsal. On March 7, 1988, the Writers Guild of America went on strike, cancelling many planned episodes, including one originally planned to be hosted by former "Not Ready for Primetime" player Gilda Radner. Radner, however, would never get the chance to host due to her death from ovarian cancer the following year. The host for the March 12, 1988 broadcast was never confirmed.

Air dateOct 17, 1987
Episodes13

Episodes

  1. 1. Steve Martin/Sting Oct 17, 1987 · 67 min · ★ 8.5
  2. 2. Sean Penn/L.L. Cool J., Michael Penn & the Pull Oct 24, 1987 · 67 min · ★ 8.5
  3. 3. Dabney Coleman/The Cars Oct 31, 1987 · 67 min
  4. 4. Robert Mitchum/Simply Red Nov 14, 1987 · 67 min
  5. 5. Candice Bergen/Cher Nov 21, 1987 · 67 min
  6. 6. Danny DeVito/Bryan Ferry Dec 5, 1987 · 67 min
  7. 7. Angie Dickinson/Buster Poindexter & David Gilmour Dec 12, 1987 · 67 min
  8. 8. Paul Simon/Linda Ronstadt & the Mariachi Vargas Dec 19, 1987 · 67 min
  9. 9. Robin Williams/James Taylor Jan 23, 1988 · 67 min
  10. 10. Carl Weathers/Robbie Robertson Jan 30, 1988 · 67 min
  11. 11. Justine Bateman/Terrance Trent D'Arby Feb 13, 1988 · 67 min
  12. 12. Tom Hanks/Randy Travis Feb 20, 1988 · 67 min · ★ 9.0
  13. 13. Judge Reinhold/10,000 Maniacs Feb 27, 1988 · 67 min