Season 8 poster
Saturday Night Live

Season 8

Saturday Night Live aired its eighth season during the 1982–1983 season on NBC. The 8th season started on September 25, 1982 and ended on May 14, 1983. This was the third season to air since Lorne Michaels had left his first tenure as executive producer. Many changes happened before the start of the season. Brian Doyle-Murray, Christine Ebersole and Tony Rosato were dropped from the show to make room for new cast members. Hired in their places were Brad Hall, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Gary Kroeger. Dick Ebersol brought back the show's cold openings that ended with "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" and the monologues by the host. Ebersol also changed Weekend Update's name for the second time, to Saturday Night News. Since Doyle-Murray and Ebersole had both been dropped, a new anchor was needed for the segment. Hall got the gig and became the new anchor. Notable moments of this season included Drew Barrymore hosting the show—the youngest ever person to host the show. During the episode hosted by Barrymore, the audience at home was given the chance to vote on whether or not Andy Kaufman should be banned from the show. The vote was conducted by a 1-900 number. At the end of the show Kaufman was banned from ever performing on SNL again.

Air dateSep 25, 1982
Episodes20

Episodes

  1. 1. Chevy Chase/Queen Sep 25, 1982 · 67 min
  2. 2. Louis Gossett Jr./George Thorogood and the Destroyers Oct 2, 1982 · 67 min
  3. 3. Ron Howard/The Clash Oct 9, 1982 · 67 min
  4. 4. Howard Hesseman/Men at Work Oct 23, 1982 · 67 min
  5. 5. Michael Keaton/The New Joe Jackson Band Oct 30, 1982 · 67 min
  6. 6. Robert Blake/Kenny Loggins Nov 13, 1982 · 67 min
  7. 7. Drew Barrymore/Squeeze Nov 20, 1982 · 67 min
  8. 8. The Smothers Brothers/Laura Branigan Dec 4, 1982 · 67 min
  9. 9. Eddie Murphy/Lionel Richie Dec 11, 1982 · 67 min
  10. 10. Lily Tomlin Jan 22, 1983 · 67 min
  11. 11. Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas/The Bus Boys Jan 29, 1983 · 67 min
  12. 12. Sid Caesar/Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes Feb 5, 1983 · 67 min
  13. 13. Howard Hesseman/Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Feb 19, 1983 · 67 min
  14. 14. Beau Bridges, Jeff Bridges/Randy Newman Feb 26, 1983 · 67 min
  15. 15. Bruce Dern/Leon Redbone Mar 12, 1983 · 67 min
  16. 16. Robert Guillaume/Duran Duran Mar 19, 1983 · 67 min
  17. 17. Joan Rivers/Musical Youth Apr 9, 1983 · 67 min
  18. 18. Susan Saint James/Michael McDonald Apr 16, 1983 · 67 min
  19. 19. Stevie Wonder Apr 16, 1983 · 67 min
  20. 20. Ed Koch/Dexys Midnight Runners May 14, 1983 · 67 min