Eddie Murphy made his debut in this episode as an extra. He had auditioned to be a cast member but was hired as the audience warm-up guy at the time. He demanded to be put in the "Negro Republican" sketch when he saw that black actors were featured in it. It was known he was also supposed to be the "Negro Republican", but the role went instead to an uncredited extra. The same extra appeared later in this show in another sketch, playing the Reagans' servant, Buster, albeit with no speaking lines.
At the end of Don Van Vliet's performance of "Hot Head," an audience member can be heard yelling "That's shit!" According to Beefheart, this heckler was actor Radames Pera, who eventually had a change of heart about Beefheart and his music when the cast and the band introduced him to Beefheart during a cast party at a nearby bar. Pera would become a close friend of Beefheart until his death in 2010.
Malcolm McDowell almost did not host the show because he did not have a United States work permit and was almost deported back to the United Kingdom. During rehearsals, McDowell had to clear this issue by going to a lawyer's office with his passport, with additional help from NBC. He explains the whole situation during the monologue.
Featured player Matthew Laurance makes his debut in this episode, as a background extra, in the "Negro Republican" sketch.