Saturday Night Live has become a television institution over the years — but when it aired its very first episode 50 years ago on October 11, 1975, the world had no idea what it was in for. And after that inaugural extravaganza orchestrated by the show’s creator, Lorne Michaels, sketch comedy was changed forever in the best way.
“The year 1975 was a hinge moment in America. The president of the United States had recently resigned in disgrace, and politics was deeply unsettled,” the TK-year-old SNL boss explained of the show’s inception in a 2013 Vanity Fairessay. “The Vietnam War had ended with the last helicopter taking off from the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon. New York City was flat broke. It was a moment of chaos, doubt, and, of course, opportunity. The perfect time to start a new comedy show.”
The show went to air with an absolutely brilliant cast that almost entirely went on to become household names, including Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris, and Dan Aykroyd.
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Originally, the show was titled NBC’s Saturday Night, simply because there was a rival Saturday night comedy program on ABC that had a similar title to the one they ultimately got: Saturday Night Live With Howard Cosell. Interestingly enough, it took the series until season 3 before they got the name they are now known for, which was highlighted by host Steve Martin in the season 3 opening.
The iconic comedian George Carlin served as the show’s first host, but unlike the function of the host today, he didn’t appear in any sketches throughout the program. Instead, he did three stand-up sets over the course of the evening in addition to his riotous opening monologue. The first ever SNL episode also had not the usual one, but two musical guests: Billy Preston and Janis Ian. Preston and his band played their two hits “Nothing From Nothing” and “Fancy Lady,” while Ian played her two folk numbers “At Seventeen” and “In The Winter” over the course of the program.
Last year, Ian told The New York Times that she actually had a 104 degree fever and strep throat during her performance, but based on her practically flawless performance, it’s safe to say no one knew until her 2024 admission.
The original SNL episode was chock full of interesting acts that were part of Michaels’ attempt to figure out what would work on the show. One of those acts was performance artist and comic Andy Kaufman. The actor did an interesting routine in which he lip-synced the Mighty Mouse theme song, particularly the line “Here I come to save the day.” Puppeteer Jim Henson also had an unconventional act on the first episode of SNL, with his recurring puppet sketch “The Land of Gorch” premiering that night.
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Comedy legend Chase also debuted as the very first Weekend Update host that night. Originally, Michaels was going to host Update because he’d done a similar sketch on a variety series in Canada, “but as we got closer to the air show, I began to realize that I didn’t think I could be the person who cut other people’s pieces and left my own in,” he previously told Deadline in 2014. Unlike later editions, the first Update sketch had a break for a parody commercial before returning with more news
If you want to relive the OG days of Saturday Night Live, you can stream the very first episode right now on Peacock, as well as check out Jason Reitman’s 2024 film Saturday Night, which follows the lead-up to showtime on that fateful night, on Netflix.