October 11, 1975: "Saturday Night Live" Premieres

[TMC]

https://unclemikesmusings.blogspot.c...ight-live.html

October 11, 1975, 50 years ago: Saturday Night premieres on NBC, taping from the network's studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan. After this 1st season, it will be renamed Saturday Night Live. The original cast, known as "the Not Ready for Prime Time Players," includes John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman and Garrett Morris -- but not, as is commonly believed, Bill Murray, who replaced Chase after 1 season.

The 1st guest host is George Carlin, who begins his monologue with a whacked-out version of the Lord's Prayer, and goes on to do "Baseball and Football," a routine he will expand on a few times. (This version is from 1990, from the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey.)

Not long before Carlin died, someone took a poll to determine the greatest standup comedians of all time. Carlin came in 2nd. Coming in 1st was Richard Pryor, who, like Carlin, was at the peak of his powers in the mid-Seventies.

A month into SNL's run, Pryor was asked to host the show. But, nervous that he would issue some four-letter words — they didn't seem as nervous about such language coming from Carlin, creator of the 1972 bit "Seven Words You Can Never Use On Television," none of which he used when he hosted -- the show was not quite "Live, from New York." They used a 7-second delay, in case they had to bleep anything out. They did. Ever since, even SNL hasn't been totally live.

In addition to the preceding, SNL would make stars of Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Norm McDonald, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Sarah Silverman, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Keenan Thompson, and Kate McKinnon.

Billy Crystal was already a star when he signed on for the 1984-85 season. The next season would be the one and only on the show for Robert Downey Jr., whose true fame was yet to come.