Scot Bertram

Do you like recurring characters on Saturday Night Live? Do you like seeing those characters over and over again, episode after episode?

Then SNL Season 22 is for you, my friend. If Season 21 was a return to many of the traditional devices that made SNL work in past years (recurring characters, celebrity impressions, commercials), then Season 22 is a doubling-down of that strategy.

This season marks an almost complete takeover of the show by former members of the Los Angeles-based improv troupe The Groundlings, meaning the sketches swing wildly in favor of performance rather than writing. Virtually everyone on the show (Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon, Tim Meadows, Chris Kattan plus newcomers Ana Gasteyer and Tracy Morgan) have recurring characters, with some, like Oteri and Ferrell’s Cheerleaders, showing up seemingly every other episode.

Some episodes are entirely made up of recurring characters, others are almost all recurring. This season, you will see plenty of Harry Caray (Ferrell), Delicious Dish (Gasteyer and Shannon), Mary Katherine Gallagher (Shannon), Jeopardy! (Ferrell, Darrell Hammond and Norm Macdonald), Goat Boy (Jim Breuer), Goth Talk (Kattan and Shannon) and dozens of others.

If recurring characters are the safe route for the show, SNL plays it even safer with its choice of guest hosts, bringing back seven former cast members to helm an episode (Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Chris Rock, Chevy Chase, Robert Downey, Jr., Phil Hartman, and Martin Short). Of the 20 episodes, only six are fronted by first-time hosts, including former Groundling Lisa Kudrow, future monster Kevin Spacey, and the bubbly Pamela Anderson (then Lee.)

But while the product on the screen was relatively tepid, the behind-the-scenes drama began to grow. Ferrell and Kattan, close castmates during the Groundlings days, suffered through a dramatic event that would forever chill their relationship. Tracy Morgan felt some of his castmates were disrespecting him. And Norm Macdonald berated one cast member, questioning his sexuality and embarrassing him in front of other players.

We discuss all these topics and much more on this week’s episode of Wasn’t That Special. Please subscribe and join us for a trip through every year of SNL. And consider joining at the Executive Producer level, where you get a whole load of extra commentary and clips that will help you become an SNL expert.