Controversy[edit]

During the season, the show came under criticism from critics (as well as African-American cast members Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah) for not including at least one black female cast member, a topic that was addressed on the November 2, 2013, show hosted by Kerry Washington.^[8] As a result, Lorne Michaels announced that the show would be holding auditions for a black female cast member, expected to join the show in January as a new featured player.^[9] On January 6, 2014, it was announced that UCB-NY performer Sasheer Zamata would be joining the cast as a featured player. She made her first appearance on January 18, 2014.^[10]

For the first half of the season, Seth Meyers, Colin Jost and Rob Klein were co-head writers. After Meyers' departure, Bryan Tucker replaced him as a co-head writer.^[11]


Prior to the start of the season, three new writers were hired:


Additionally, Tim Robinson was moved to the writing staff after one year as a featured player on the show.^[11]


In December, Chicago Second City alum Katie Rich joined the writing staff.^[15]


In January, comedians LaKendra Tookes and Leslie Jones were added to the writing staff.^[16] Both were part of the December casting call for a black female cast member.


This was Seth Meyers' final season as writer. Michael Che initially departed following this season to join The Daily Show as a correspondent,^[17][18] but returned for the start of the next season to co-anchor Weekend Update alongside Jost.^[19]


This was also the final season for longtime writers Alex Baze (Weekend Update writer since 2004, and head of the segment since 2011), Marika Sawyer and John Solomon (both of whom had been with the show since 2006), as well as the only season for LaKendra Tookes.