In a multi-show shake up, former cast member Jimmy Fallon left Late Night to become the new host of the Tonight Show, while Seth Meyers left SNL to take over hosting duties at Late Night. Meanwhile, Weekend Update was handed to the pairing of Cecily Strong and Colin Jost.

Season 38 was the final season for long-time performers, Fred Armisen (11 seasons), Jason Sudeikis (9), and BIll Hader (8).

While this marked the last appearances as cast for Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg, Kate McKinnon joined as a featured player midway through the season.

For this season, long-time announcer Don Pardo opted to pre-record his parts from Arizona where he lived, rather than appear live in New York.

This season featured an episode hosted by Betty White, SNL’s oldest host ever, after an intense internet campaign to get her on the show.

Once more, SNL took on a presidential election – the 2008 campaign – and saw its ratings and award nominations soar.

With only 12 episodes due to the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Season 33 is the shortest SNL season on record, and didn’t even feature a Christmas episode.

This season saw budget cuts that resulted in the firing of several cast members, while Andy Samberg’s Lonely Island short ‘Dick in a Box’ won a Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics.

After 30 years, Season 31 became the first time SNL was broadcast in high definition.

Season 30 featured controversy when musical guest Ashley Simpson abruptly left the stage when her vocal track for the song ‘Pieces of Me’ could be heard accidentally playing during the beginning of what was supposed to be her performance of ‘Autobiography.’ After a few moments of confusion, the show cut to commercial.