The thirteenth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 17, 1987 and February 27, 1988. Although the changes to the cast and writers were minimal, the season was cut short due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike.

Production

During a dress rehearsal for the season premiere, a fire broke out near Studio 8H and was planned to be postponed. However, episode host Steve Martin pushed the cast to carry on with the show, making the Steve Martin/Sting episode the only episode without a dress rehearsal. On March 7, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. The strike continued until August, thus cutting the season short at 13 episodes. Gilda Radner had been scheduled to host the season finale in the spring.

Cast

Cast roster

Repertory players Featured players bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

New hires this season were Greg Daniels, Conan O'Brien and Bob Odenkirk. The writers for this season included A. Whitney Brown, Tom Davis, Greg Daniels, Jim Downey, Al Franken, Jack Handey, Phil Hartman, George Meyer, Lorne Michaels, Conan O'Brien, Bob Odenkirk, Herb Sargent, David Borowitz, Rosie Shuster, Robert Smigel, Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, and Christine Zander. The head writer, like the previous season, was Jim Downey.

Episodes

Canceled episodes with booked guests