With
Dick Ebersols cast and writers gone, Michaels hired
Academy Award nominee Quaid, best known for his work in
The Last Detail and ''
National Lampoon's Vacation; as well as Cusack and Downey Jr. Part of the reasoning that Michaels chose younger performers was due to SNL''s original audience, which comprised
baby boomers, now nearing middle age, meaning that producers and NBC executives needed to appeal to a younger audience. Chicago-based performance artist
Danitra Vance was added along with stand-up comedians Miller and
Damon Wayans, and improv comedians Dunn and Lovitz.
Terry Sweeney, a comedic performer who had made a name for himself playing Nancy Reagan in Off-Broadway revues and who had been a writer on season 6 of
SNL, was added to the cast, making him the first openly gay actor on network television.
Don Novello returned as a featured player sporadically throughout the season, often reprising his popular
Father Guido Sarducci character. A. Whitney Brown was also added to the cast midway through the season, performing his "The Big Picture" segment on Weekend Update, and
Al Franken returned in the finale. Miller became the new anchor for
Weekend Update. though he would later join the
SNL cast for one season in 1994. According to a 2020 interview with short-term cast member Dan Vitale, actress
Anjelica Huston was nearly hired as a cast member this season. Huston, a friend of Lorne's, was begged to join the show as a cast member; instead she co-hosted the season finale with
Billy Martin.
Controversy When
Chevy Chase hosted the show, there were reports of tension amongst the cast and crew. According to the book
Live from New York: The Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, Chase pitched an idea for a sketch that featured openly gay cast member Sweeney as a person with
AIDS who is weighed by a doctor to see how much weight he lost.
Cast roster Repertory players •
Joan Cusack •
Robert Downey Jr. •
Nora Dunn •
Anthony Michael Hall •
Jon Lovitz •
Dennis Miller •
Randy Quaid •
Terry Sweeney •
Danitra Vance Featured players •
A. Whitney Brown (first episode: March 15, 1986) •
Al Franken (only episode: May 24, 1986) •
Don Novello (first episode: November 23, 1985) •
Dan Vitale (only episodes: November 23, 1985, February 8, 1986) •
Damon Wayans (final episode: March 15, 1986)
bold denotes Weekend Update anchor Wayans is credited as a featured player for all of the first twelve episodes, except for episode 10. He exits the show after episode 12 but returns as a guest to do standup for the season finale. The rest of the featured players are not credited in many episodes: Novello is only credited for five, Brown only appears in six (though uncredited for three appearances, mostly due to him not having been made a featured player yet), Vitale is only credited for two, and Franken is only credited for the season finale. ==Writers==