The twenty-seventh season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 29, 2001, and May 18, 2002. Eighteen days before the season started, the September 11, 2001 attacks took place in New York. The season premiere (hosted by Reese Witherspoon) went on as scheduled, with a special cold open featuring Rudy Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City at the time, along with the firefighters and police officers of New York, declaring that despite the terrorist attack, New York City will run as normal and Saturday Night Live will go on as planned (with Lorne Michaels asking Giuliani, "Can we be funny?" and Giuliani replying, "Why start now?"). Three weeks into the season the show faced another scare when anthrax was found in the GE Building (from where the show is broadcast). The scare caused most of the cast and crew, as well as that week's guest host Drew Barrymore, to evacuate the building. Before the start of the season, Jerry Minor and Chris Parnell were both let go from the show. However, luck was on Parnell's side as he was hired back to the show mid-season in the episode hosted by Jonny Moseley, becoming the second cast member to be hired back to the show after being fired, the first person being Jim Belushi in 1983. Hired to fill two absences were stand-up comic Dean Edwards; Chicago improv comedian Seth Meyers; Amy Poehler of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe (she previously starred in the troupes sketch show on Comedy Central for three seasons), who was promoted to repertory status mid-season; and stand-up comic/impressionist Jeff Richards, who was previously a cast member on the rival sketch show MADtv. Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph were all upgraded to repertory status. Will Ferrell was absent from a number of episodes because he was off filming the movie Old School. This would also be the final season for both Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer.
