One of the saddest moments in SNL history, to me, is his final appearance on the show, in a silent cameo on October 31, 1981. This was in support of the musical guest -- Fear -- of whom he was a major fan and lobbied to have on the show, in exchange for the cameo. (Don't believe the hype about Fear destroying the studio, by the way; the real story is in the 1985 book "Saturday Night" by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad.) This was from season 7, when the show was rebuilding, and some of the original writers had come back (such as Michael O'Donoghue), and the cast contained Eddie Murphy and a number of Second City veterans (Mary Gross, Robin Duke, Tony Rosato, Tim Kazurinsky). Some excellent shows in this period, before (new) producer Dick Ebersol fired O'Donoghue in December.
Belushi actually made a fuller cameo on the show's 100th episode (March 15, 1980) -- the closest he would ever get to hosting.
As for sad moments, another is, of course, the short film "Don't Look Back In Anger" (March 11, 1978). No spoilers for that one.
Runners-up to these sad moments are May 24, 1980, when the entire original cast and writers left (filing out of the studio as the "on-air" light flickered off) and May 14, 1994, when Phil Hartman cradled Chris Farley (in character as Matt Foley) to sing "goodbye." Both men would die within months of eachother. That clip is haunting to watch today. Also of note is when Steve Martin hosted on the day Gilda Radner died (May 20, 1989) -- another season finale! I'm sure there are some I'm missing; leave a comment!
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