We just wanted to take a minute to say one big giant happy birthday to the mainstay of network comedy, “Saturday Night Live.” It first aired on October 11th, 1975 on NBC. Lorne Michaels created the series, which was developed by Dick Ebersol. “SNL” is currently in it’s 50th season. (A 50th celebration is planned for February 2025.)
The very first sketch that aired featured Michael O’Donoghue and John Bellushi in the legendary “Wolverines.”
Watch that below:
Some other notable moments from the episode include:
- Billy Preston performs “Nothing from Nothing” and “Fancy Lady.” Janis Ian performs “At Seventeen” and “In the Winter.”
- The cold open features John Belushi as a foreign man learning English being taught by writer Michael O’Donoghue. Following this sketch, Chevy Chase appeared with a headset on and bellows the first “Live From New York, It’s Saturday Night!”
- As host, George Carlin performs stand-up, introduced the musical guests and conducted the goodnight segment. Carlin performed three monologues, including “Baseball-Football.”
- Andy Kaufman appears in a segment consisting of him playing the Mighty Mouse theme on a record player.
- Valri Bromfield makes a guest appearance. Jacqueline Carlin appeared as the mother in the “New Dad Insurance” sketch and as the woman with a book in the “Academy of Better Careers” sketch. Wendy Craig appeared as the salesman in the “Academy of Better Careers” sketch. Richard Belzer (the show’s warm-up comedian), writer Tom Davis, and talent coordinator Neil Levy appear as jurors in the “Courtroom” sketch.
- Sketches include the Bees, the Albert Brooks film “The Impossible Truth;” “Trojan Horse Home Security,” “Triple-Trac,” and “The Land of Gorch” with Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Rhonda Hansome, and Alice Tweedy.
- Paul Simon appears to promote his appearance as host the following week.
- Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Michael O’Donoghue, and Gilda Radner‘s first episode as cast members
- George Coe‘s only episode as a cast member.
So, happiest of birthdays to American comedy icon series, “Saturday Night Live.” Catch Jason Reitman‘s film about the first night of “SNL” in theaters now. (You can read our review here.)
