The Saturday Night Live Season 2 Cast: Live from New York, It's Bill Murray
SNL's 1976-1977 season featured a notable cast addition: Bill Murray.
Season 2 of Saturday Night Live had no featured players, placing the main cast of Not Ready For Prime Time Players who'd joined the show the year prior front and center. When Chevy Chase departed midway through the 1976-1977 second season, the show added a future icon in his stead: Bill Murray, who'd been a performer on ABC's own short-lived sketch comedy show, Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. (That rival show's title was the reason SNL went by NBC's Saturday Night for its first two seasons).
The show also jettisoned segments featuring The Muppets, which had been a recurring feature in the first season. With more time to shine, the cast flourished.
As for SNL Season 2 Hosts, Steve Martin hosted for his first time in Season 2, Episode 5, and returned to the show so often and so successfully that many casual viewers mistakenly believe he was part of the early cast.
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In fact, the Only Murders in the Building star came back to host again later that season (Season 2, Episode 14). While the show basically never repeats hosts within a season these days, at the time they sometimes brought their favorites back: In addition to Martin, Eric Idle and Buck Henry hosted two apiece that year, while Lily Tomlin hosted her own episode in addition to appearing as a "special guest" in Martin's second.
Check out the full Saturday Night Live Season 2 cast below.
Who was in the Season 2 SNL cast?
Gilda Radner
The first person ever to be cast on SNL, Gilda Radner broke out with characters like Baba Wawa and Roseanne Roseannadanna.
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Dan Aykroyd
Originally hired as a writer, Aykroyd joined the cast before the first season premiere, and was the youngest member of the Not Ready For Prime Time Players.
Chevy Chase
The original "Weekend Update" anchor left the show partway into its second season, but returned to make many surprise cameos and hosted eight times from 1978-1997.
Bill Murray
Murray was hired to replace Chase in the cast, and made his debut in January 1977. He is also among the show's most successful alumni, having starred in films like The Royal Tenenbaums and Groundhog Day.
After his tenure on the show, Bill Murray returned to host SNL five times—but hasn't hosted since 1999.
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Jane Curtin
A member of the cast since the show's beginning, Curtin got a promotion midway through its second season, taking over the Update desk after Chevy Chase's departure.
Garrett Morris
A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, Morris was a cast member on SNL until 1980.
Laraine Newman
Prior to joining the show, original Not Ready for Prime Time Player Laraine Newman was a founding member of The Groundlings. Over subsequent decades, the Los Angeles comedy troupe and training school would spawn future SNL cast members like Phil Hartman, Jimmy Fallon, Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph.
John Belushi
The late John Belushi was one half of the Blues Brothers with Dan Aykroyd, and played a number of memorable characters on the show. Belushi died in 1982.
