The twenty-fourth season started on September 26, 1998 and ended on May 15, 1999 with 19 episodes in all. Before the start of the season Jim Breuer left the show. Norm Macdonald left the show halfway through the previous season after being taken off Weekend Update. After two years, Saturday Night Live hired new cast members. They included stand-up comic Jimmy Fallon, Chris Parnell of The Groundlings in Los Angeles and Horatio Sanz of Second City in Chicago.