Saturday Night Live aired its
twenty-ninth season during the 2003-2004 television season on
NBC. Despite Chris Kattan's and Tracy Morgan's departure, they cameoed in several episodes. Seth Meyers, Jeff Richards, and Will Forte were promoted to repertory status while Fred Armisen stayed a feature player, along with two newcomers: comedian
Finesse Mitchell and former castmember of the Nickelodeon sketch show
All That,
Kenan Thompson (who became the first SNL castmember to be born after the show's premiere in 1975; Thompson was born in 1978). Jeff Richards, however, was fired midseason due to creative differences. This is the last season for
Jimmy Fallon, which was celebrated in the final sketch on the season finale hosted by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.
The twenty-ninth season began on October 5, 2003 and ended on May 17, 2004 with 20 episodes in all.
Cast
Repertory players
Featured players
Episodes
| Episode #
| Air Date
| Host(s)
| Musical Guest(s)
| Remarks |
| 546 (29.1)
| October 4, 2003
| Jack Black
| John Mayer
| - The last sketch about telemarketers singing about their glory days ending is cut off abruptly due to the show running too long.
- Jack Black mispronounces John Mayer's last name as "Meyer" when he introduces him as musical guest. This is fixed in all reruns.
- Will Ferrell's cameo appearance in the monologue received so much applause that it extended the length of the monologue by an additional 45 seconds.
- Finesse Mitchell and Kenan Thompson's first episode as cast members
|
| 547 (29.2)
| October 11, 2003
| Justin Timberlake
| - Justin performed three songs and impersonated four celebrities: Michael Bolton, Robin Gibb, Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Simpson.
- Reruns of this episode on NBC and E! redub Maya Rudolph's singing the Christina Aguilera song "Beautiful" with unintelligible vocalizing during the "Punk'd: Barely Legal" fake commercial.
- The NBC rerun of this episode cuts Justin Timberlake's second performance and replaces it with the TV Funhouse from the Ben Affleck/N.E.R.D. episode and the "Fear Factor Kids" fake commercial from the Donald Trump/Toots and the Maytals episode.
- Carl Weathers (who hosted SNL in its 13th [1987-1988] season) cameos in a short sketch announcing his candidacy as governor of any state, parodying his Predator co-stars Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger's successful campaign for governor, as well as the numerous celebrities running for governor in the 2003 California recall election
|
| 548 (29.3)
| October 18 2003
| Halle Berry
| Britney Spears
|
|
| 549 (29.4)
| November 1, 2003
| Kelly Ripa
| Outkast
| - Darrell Hammond takes over as George W. Bush, replacing Chris Parnell. However, Hammond will only play Bush once more before being replaced by Will Forte later this season.
|
| 550 (29.5)
| November 8, 2003
| Andy Roddick
| Dave Matthews
| - John McEnroe cameos in a short piece after the "British Nanny" sketch where he and Chris Parnell comment on Roddick's hosting
- This was the public debut of Dave Matthews' solo project Dave Matthews & Friends, which toured extensively in the winter of 2003. The band included Trey Anastasio, who had previously performed on SNL with Kid Rock and his own band Phish.
|
| 551 (29.6)
| November 15, 2003
| Alec Baldwin
| Missy Elliott
| - Former castmember Mike Myers appears in the monologue to plug the film "The Cat In The Hat".
|
| 552 (29.7)
| December 6, 2003
| Al Sharpton
| Pink
| - Many NBC affiliates (particularly in Iowa) did not air this episode due to fear of breaking equal time laws (Al Sharpton was a presidential candidate at the time), and aired either three half-hour infomercials or the SNL special "The Best of Steve Martin" in its place. It finally aired on all NBC affiliates on July 31, 2004. This gave fodder for a Weekend Update segment entitled "Tina and Jimmy Making Fun of Cities That Aren't Showing SNL Tonight".
- Paris Hilton (who would later host a season 30 episode) appears on Weekend Update.
- Former castmember Tracy Morgan appears in the monologue as the young Al Sharpton, a sketch about the 3 Wise Men getting pulled over and in a sketch about racial stereotypes in a 1930s film.
- Johnny Cochran appears in the audience during the "Michael Jackson on a Roller Coaster" sketch.
|
| 553 (29.8)
| December 13, 2003
| Elijah Wood
| Jet
|
|
| 554 (29.9)
| January 10, 2004
| Jennifer Aniston
| Black Eyed Peas
|
|
| 555 (29.10)
| January 17, 2004
| Jessica Simpson Nick Lachey
| G Unit
| - During the cold opening sketch, Jeff Richards ignored direction (indicative of the technical gaffes), which gave one more reason for the producers to fire him after this episode.
- Former SNL Writer James Eagan wrote Nick and Jessica's campy variety monologue. He would go on to write their primetime variety special and Christmas special.
|
| 556 (29.11)
| February 7, 2004
| Megan Mullally
| Clay Aiken
|
|
| 557 (29.12)
| February 14, 2004
| Drew Barrymore
| Kelis
| - Among the items cut from dress rehearsal included a sketch about the art of bartending with Drew Barrymore playing the bartender, a sketch in which all the girls dress up as flowers and sing, and a commercial about smoked sausages cooked by Firestarter (the character from Drew's early film career) This commercial was cut after dress but would later show up on air in 2007 during Drew Barrymore's next hosting gig.
- Will Forte plays George W. Bush for the first time.
|
| 558 (29.13)
| February 21, 2004
| Christina Aguilera
| Maroon 5
|
|
| 559 (29.14)
| March 6, 2004
| Colin Firth
| Norah Jones
| - Ana Gasteyer makes a guest appearance in the cold opening.
- Colin Firth was quite intrigued by the show and was very happy with his experience. He was grateful they let him host despite having nothing to promote.
- NBC never reran this episode.
|
| 560 (29.15)
| March 13, 2004
| Ben Affleck
| N.E.R.D.
|
|
| 561 (29.16)
| April 3, 2004
| Donald Trump
| Toots and the Maytals
| - Then-future cast member Rob Riggle appears as an extra in a pretaped sketch called "Fear Factor, Jr." George H. Ross and Carolyn Kepcher make appearances in the cold opening.
|
| 562 (29.17)
| April 10, 2004
| Janet Jackson
| - In an interview with Amy Poehler, Amy stated that Janet Jackson was one of the nicest hosts she worked with, and during the course of the week, Janet bought lunch for the whole cast and crew.
- The writers axed a sketch where Janet's character would make fun of Michael Jackson when they 'sensed' that she was uncomfortable doing it.
- Chris Kattan and Tracy Morgan both cameo to reprise their roles in a Season's Greetings From SNL musical number. Simon Cowell also cameos to criticize (then join) the number.
|
| 563 (29.18)
| May 1, 2004
| Lindsay Lohan
| Usher
| - Lindsay was originally supposed to host the April 3 show to coincide with the movie Mean Girls, but when the movie was pushed back a month, so was her hosting appearance.
- This episode was known for the Harry Potter sketch where Harry (Rachel Dratch) and Ron (Seth Meyers) are enamored with Hermione (played by Lohan) when she returns from winter break with a larger chest, and the Debbie Downer sketch where everyone at the table (save Fred Armisen) cracks up on camera.
- Also during this episode another mishap occurred in the scene where Billy Joel (played by Horatio Sanz) drove the girls to a party. The car was supposed to hit various things on the way to the party, and it did. However, when a mailbox landed on top of the car's hood, it didn't slide off, blocking the view of the inside of the car. This made Joel climb out the driver's window and push the mailbox off the hood, revealing all the girls (and Horatio) to be breaking character.
|
| 564 (29.19)
| May 8, 2004
| Snoop Dogg
| Avril Lavigne
| - Snoop Dogg was a replacement for Jake Gyllenhaal, who backed out at the last minute. Gyllenhaal eventually hosted for the first time in season 32.
|
| 565 (29.20)
| May 15, 2004
| Mary-Kate Olsen Ashley Olsen
| J-Kwon
| - The Olsen Twins missed their own prom so they could host SNL.
- Jimmy Fallon's final episode. J-Kwon's second performance was cut so there would be time to air Fallon's farewell sketch.
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