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The 41st聽season of the long-running NBC sketch comedy program 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� debuts on Oct. 3, with singer Miley Cyrus set to host.聽

鈥淪NL鈥� celebrated its fortieth anniversary last year with a special episode that drew former cast members from the show鈥檚 run as well as celebrity guests. That episode became the highest-rated primetime entertainment program for NBC (not counting shows that aired after the Super Bowl) in total viewers since an 鈥淓R鈥� episode aired the same night as the 鈥淔rasier鈥� series finale in 2004.

Meanwhile, Ms. Cyrus is coming to the hosting gig having taken on the job of host for the MTV Video Music Awards this summer. Around that time, she also released a new album. Cyrus has hosted 鈥淪NL鈥� before, even serving as host and musical guest for the same episode in 2013.

During the 40th anniversary special, Cyrus performed Paul Simon鈥檚 song 鈥�50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.鈥� Simon was present and Cyrus noted during a recent , 鈥淭o cover a聽Paul Simon聽song with him in the building is pretty awkward.鈥澛�

Where is 鈥淪NL鈥� following the celebration of its fortieth anniversary? Longtime cast members like Seth Meyers, who hosted the 鈥淲eekend Update鈥� segment for several years, recently departed, with Meyers going on to host the NBC program 鈥淟ate Night.鈥�

Comic Jon Rudnitsky has joined the cast for this new season. Several writers departed, including cast member Mike O鈥橞rien, and some were added, such as Paul Masella of CBS鈥檚 鈥淟ate Show with David Letterman.鈥� (O鈥橞rien stated on Twitter he will still be involved in making short pieces for the program this year.)聽

The most experienced cast members are now Kenan Thompson, who has been on the show since 2003; Bobby Moynihan, who first appeared on 鈥淪NL鈥� in 2008; and Jay Pharaoh, Vanessa Bayer, and Taran Killam, all of whom joined in 2010. The others are relative newbies to the show, with such cast members as Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon, and Kyle Mooney having joined within the past few years.

The newer cast members that may be most familiar to the general public are McKinnon and Leslie Jones, who joined the show in 2014. They will be appearing alongside former 鈥淪NL鈥� cast member Kristen Wiig and actress Melissa McCarthy in an upcoming new 鈥淕hostbusters鈥� movie.

One question for future seasons is what will happen with the 鈥淲eekend Update鈥� segment of the program. Since the departure of Meyers, the 鈥淯pdate鈥� desk has seen a lot of turnover. This past season, cast members Colin Jost and Michael Che served as co-anchors. The pair has received mixed reviews, with writer Hillary Busis聽calling the team 鈥渦nderwhelming鈥� and David Sims of 聽writing, 鈥淭here have been some promising moments 鈥� The biggest problem is that [鈥楽NL鈥� creator Lorne] Michaels already hit the reset button, and he went all in on it. He can't really yank his new hires again.鈥� However, writer Mike Fleming Jr. felt that the two 鈥渁re hitting stride with a pseudo-newscast that鈥檚 biting fun.鈥�