New cast members for the 1981 season included
Christine Ebersole,
Mary Gross, and 1979 featured player
Brian Doyle-Murray, who ran the
Weekend Update (under the title
Saturday Night Live Newsbreak & Current Affairs) desk for one season. Also returning were
Second City veterans Robin Duke, Tim Kazurinsky, and Tony Rosato, who had debuted April 11. Ebersol ran a very different show to that
Lorne Michaels had in the 1970s. Many of the sketches were built less on "smart" and "revolutionary" comedy that was abundant in the early days and followed a much more "straightforward" approach. This shift alienated some fans and even some writers and cast members. Ebersol was eager to attract the younger viewers that advertisers craved. He dictated that no sketch should run longer than five minutes, so as not to lose the attention of teenagers. Having come from the ranks of management, Ebersol was adept at dealing with the network. Ebersol was also not fond of political humor, and he and NBC mostly eschewed jokes about
President Reagan during his time as showrunner. Later in his tenure, he was handling much of the business aspects and day-to-day production affairs, leaving producer
Bob Tischler in charge of most of the creative facets of the show. Unlike Michaels, Ebersol had no difficulty firing people. Among the first casualties after the 1981 season were Rosato (who later said that the firing was the best thing to ever happen to him, as he felt that the show's atmosphere encouraged his drug addiction) and Ebersole, who got the axe because of her frequent complaints that the women on the show had little airtime and what they did receive cast them in sexist and humiliating light. Michael O'Donoghue was fired in December 1981, after repeated arguments with Ebersol over the creative direction of the show, and because of his abusive treatment of the cast.
Murphy's rise Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy were the only performers from Doumanian's cast to appear on
SNL for
season seven. Murphy, who had already emerged as a breakout star on Doumanian's season, continued to thrive under Ebersol, and his soaring popularity helped restore the show's ratings. He created memorable characters, including the empty-headed former child movie star
Buckwheat and an irascible, life-size version of the
Gumby toy character, complete with life-size star ego. Piscopo was also popular, renowned for his Frank Sinatra impersonation, as well as his character
Paulie Herman. ==Cast==