with ebersol's cast and writers gone, michaels hired academy award nominee randy quaid, best known for his work in "the last detail" and "national lampoon's vacation"; as well as joan cusack and robert downey jr. milestones included the first black female regular, danitra vance (yvonne hudson had been a featured player in 1980 and appeared in uncredited bit parts from 1978 to 1980. vance is also the first lesbian cast member hired on the show and, as of 2019, the only lesbian of color); terry sweeney, the first openly gay male cast member (and one of jean doumanian's writers during the show's 1980–81 season); and anthony michael hall, yet another fresh face from hollywood, who had appeared with quaid in "vacation" and starred in "the breakfast club" earlier that year. at 17 years old, hall was the youngest male cast member, beating out eddie murphy, who was only 19 when he joined "snl" during jean doumanian's turbulent, short-lived era (despite this, murphy is still the youngest african-american male cast member the show has hired). rounding out the cast were unknowns: stand-up comedians dennis miller and damon wayans and improv comedians nora dunn and jon lovitz. don novello, another member of the old guard, would also return as his popular father guido sarducci character. writer a. whitney brown was also added to the cast mid-season and al franken returned in the finale. wayans, unhappy with the parts he had been getting, decided to play the minor police officer character he'd been assigned in one sketch as gay, though it did not fit the role. for this, michaels fired him.