• Madonna appears in the cold opening to read a statement from NBC about the 1985-1986 season: "It was all a dream—a horrible, horrible dream" in a Dallas-esque spoof.
• Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, Victoria Jackson and Jan Hooks' first episode as cast members

• Contrary to tradition, the host appeared in only two sketches: The Crosby Show and The Parent-Child Drinking Contract.

• This episode marks the first time that a first-run SNL episode did not air live on the East Coast. The episode was originally supposed to air live on October 25, but was pre-empted by the 1986 World Series until 1:00 am. Rather than air the episode live at that time, it was videotaped, and aired the week after the World Series.

• This episode, much like the Richard Pryor episode from 1975 and later the Andrew "Dice" Clay episode from 1990, was put on a seven-second delay.
• During Sam Kinison's guest performance, the part where he encourages the legalization of marijuana has been muted out.

Steve Martin Martin Short

• Chevy Chase acknowledged his recent stint in the Betty Ford Center in the monologue.

• This show features a sketch with William Shatner at a Star Trek convention telling Trekkies to "get a life!"

Walter Payton

Buster Poindexter

• Bertinelli's then-husband, Eddie Van Halen, appeared in a sketch and played with the SNL Band

• On the original version of this episode, there is a Donahue sketch where one of the guests (played by Nora Dunn) reveals that she had a bad relationship with Jean Doumanian-era/Dick Ebersol-era castmember Joe Piscopo. All reruns of this sketch are replaced[citation needed] with a dress rehearsal version where Nora reveals that she had a bad relationship with Gallagher.
• With this episode Bill Murray is the only person to host shows produced by all three executive producers (Doumanian, Ebersol and Michaels).