The 1995–96 season almost completely rebuilt the cast with new members Jim Breuer, Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, David Koechner, Cheri Oteri, Nancy Walls, Chris Kattan, Colin Quinn, and Fred Wolf. The only holdovers from the previous season were Norm Macdonald, Mark McKinney, Tim Meadows, Molly Shannon and David Spade. The larger-than-usual number of new hires was part of a rebuilding effort from the 1994–95 season, a season that executive producer Lorne Michaels acknowledged was "incredibly difficult". Lenny Pickett also took over for G.E. Smith as leader of the Saturday Night Live Band.