Last week (October 11) marked the 43rd anniversary of the first year of Saturday Night Live when it came on the air on NBC in 1975. Actually that year it was called, NBC's Saturday Night because Howard Cosell had a prime time show on ABC that year called, Saturday Night Live (Bill Murray was one of the regular performers on that show.)
In honor of this anniversary I’ve got six links to a video and online articles about the first year of SNL and then this week’s MBIP Coming Attractions.
Original SNL Cast and Lorne Michaels on Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow show in 1975 - This is the first TV appearance of Lorne Michaels and The Not Ready For Prime Time Players on the Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder. Little did Tom know that in a year or two, he’d be the target of Dan Aykroyd’s spot-on impersonation.
Saturday Night Live at 40: first episode now seems brilliant, dated and special - This article is memorable because they refer to John Belushi as “Jim” Belushi! Copy editor alert!
Original Saturday Night Live Cast Member Garrett Morris Recalls the Show’s First Few Seasons - Garrett Morris discusses his struggles on the first season and talks about his cast mates and being the only black member of the cast.
SNL Season One On NBC - Here’s the official NBC listings of every episode of the first season, the cast and featured sketches.
‘Saturday Night Live’: Year One - This article has facts about the first season. One of them mentions how there were Muppets on the show the first year. Thankfully they got rid of them, I read that John Belushi loathed them being on the show.
'Saturday Night Live': THR's 1975 First Episode Review - This is the original review of the first show from The Hollywood Reporter and it called the show “lackluster.” They said that Andy Kaufman was the funniest person on the show and I have to agree. The first show wasn’t that great, but they eventually learned how to do this live TV thing and soon everyone was staying home on Saturday nights to watch it.
I’m just going to be writing and taking random photos all week as I wait to go have surgery done a week from Wednesday. I’m not supposed to be running around a lot, so it’ll probably involve me writing and taking photos around the MBIP World Headquarters while trying not to have a heart attack. Good times! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Related Posts: Sunday Links: The David Letterman Morning Show, The Marty Monologues and Bill Murray Stories.