whittled away during rehearsal. Already known for his stand-up comedy and even more for his role as Jodie Dallas on Soap, Crystal became the show's latest sensation, bringing the catch-phrases "It is better to look good than to feel good" and "You look mahvelous!" (both uttered by his "Fernando" character) into popular culture. Harry Shearer would depart after the January 12, 1985, broadcast, citing "creative differences". Shearer would later remark "I was creative...and they were different." Shearer would go on to greater fame as a cast member of The Simpsons in which he voiced several characters including Mr. Burns and Principal Skinner. End of the Ebersol era At the end of the season, Ebersol requested to completely revamp the show to include mostly prerecorded segments. Short, Guest, and Hall had grown tired of the show's demanding production schedule and showed little interest in returning for another season, leaving Crystal the only "A-cast" member available for season 11. Like Michaels at the end of season five, Ebersol made it known to NBC that he would only return to SNL if the network would take the show off the air for several months to re-cast and rebuild. Another idea was to institute a permanent rotation of hosts (Billy Crystal, Joe Piscopo, and David Letterman) for "a hip Ed Sullivan Show". After briefly canceling the show, NBC decided to continue production only if they could get Lorne Michaels to produce again. Ebersol and Tischler, along with their writing staff and most of the cast, left the show after this season (those who wished to stay, such as Billy Crystal, were eventually not re-hired for 1985), which closed the book on an inconsistent, yet memorable, era in SNL history. Season breakdown Season 6: 1980–1981 Cast Denny Dillon Robin Duke (first episode: April 11, 1981) Gilbert Gottfried (last episode: March 7, 1981) Tim Kazurinsky (first episode: April 11, 1981) Gail Matthius Eddie Murphy (first episode: November 22, 1980) Joe Piscopo Ann Risley (last episode: March 7, 1981) Charles Rocket (last episode: March 7, 1981) Tony Rosato (first episode: April 11, 1981)FeaturingYvonne Hudson (first episode: December 6, 1980/last episode: March 7, 1981) Matthew Laurance (first episode: November 22, 1980/last episode: March 7, 1981) Laurie Metcalf (first episode: April 11, 1981) (uncredited, but appeared) Emily Prager (first episode: April 11, 1981) (credited, but did not appear) Patrick Weathers (first episode: December 6, 1980/last episode: November 14, 1981)