Saturday Night Dead for Darrell Hammond?

Mon., Sep. 28, 2009 11:49 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

Mr. Saturday Night? More like Thursday.

Despite his appearance in both Weekend Update special prime-time shows this month, the longest running cast member in Saturday Night Live history, the 14-season-strong Darrell Hammond, was noticeably absent from Saturday night's Megan Fox-hosted SNL premiere.

With nary a press release or NBC statement on the matter, the master of impressions was simply stricken from the opening credits and subsequently MIA from both the sketches and the all-cast-on-deck show closing.

Forget that F-bomb, this is the real scandal!

Slow as always on the confirmation uptake, a network spokeswoman said last week that Hammond would be "back in some capacity" this season, though was mum on the details of what capacity, exactly, that would be. When reached for comment today, an NBC rep made something of an about-face, issuing a "no comment" on the matter.

Not that his new role is all that impossible to figure out. Presumably, per SNL alum tradition, his capacity will be limited to topical drop-in appearances whenever Bill Clinton or any of his other perfected alter egos hits the headlines.

In the meantime, enjoy Hammond's Jimmy Carter-channeling Weekend Update appearance from Thursday.

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Miss Megan Fox's weekend nekkidness? Check out our video recap of the SNL premiere.