It was a sticky, nervous night in New York City. The date was October 11, 1975. Most people don't realize that when Saturday Night Live started, it wasn't even called Saturday Night Live. It was NBC’s Saturday Night. Sounds a bit clunky, right? ABC actually held the rights to the name "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell," so Lorne Michaels and his band of "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" had to wait a while before they could officially claim the iconic title we use today.
The energy inside Studio 8H that night was chaotic. Total mayhem. You had George Carlin hosting, but he refused to do sketches. He just wanted to do stand-up. Imagine the stress for a young producer like Michaels. He’s trying to launch a revolution in late-night television, and his first host doesn't want to play along with the format.
The Weird Reality of When SNL Started
People often think the show was an instant, polished hit. It wasn't. Honestly, the first episode was a bit of a mess. It felt more like a variety show on acid than the structured political satire we see now. There were Muppets. Seriously. Jim Henson’s creatures had a recurring segment called "The Land of Gorch," which the writers absolutely hated. Michael O'Donoghue, one of the original head writers, famously loathed the Muppets so much he once reportedly said he didn't write for "felt."
The show kicked off at 11:30 PM ET. That time slot was traditionally a graveyard or reserved for reruns of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Carson actually wanted those weekend slots back so he could take more time off during the week, which opened the door for Dick Ebersol and Lorne Michaels to pitch something new. If Johnny hadn't been looking for a break, SNL might never have happened.
Everything about that first broadcast felt dangerous. The first sketch ever? It was "The Wolverines." It featured Michael O'Donoghue as a linguistic tutor and John Belushi as his student. The punchline was O'Donoghue dropping dead of a heart attack and Belushi mimicking the fall. It was weird. It was dark. It was exactly what 1970s television wasn't.
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Why 1975 Was the Perfect Storm
You have to look at what was happening in America. The Vietnam War had just ended. Nixon had resigned only a year prior. The country was cynical, tired, and bored of the sanitized "variety" shows like The Carol Burnett Show or Donny & Marie. Young people wanted something that felt like their own lives—messy, political, and slightly aggressive.
When Saturday Night Live started, it filled a vacuum. It gave a voice to the "Baby Boomers" who were now entering their mid-20s and didn't see themselves represented on the three major networks. The cast was a group of unknowns. Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and Garrett Morris. They weren't stars yet. They were just kids from Second City and The National Lampoon.
The Evolution of the "Live" Aspect
The "Live" part of the name is the most important thing to remember about the 1975 launch. In an era where everything was taped and edited to perfection, NBC was terrified of going live. Anything could happen. And things did happen. Technical glitches, missed cues, and performers swearing.
- The show was a 90-minute marathon.
- Musical guests were Billy Preston and Janis Ian.
- The budget was shoestring compared to today's standards.
- The writers were often working until the very second the cameras rolled.
Garrett Morris, the only Black cast member at the start, often spoke about the struggle of those early years. He was a classically trained playwright and singer, but the show often struggled to figure out how to use his talents, reflecting the broader growing pains of the industry at the time. It wasn't all sunshine and "Live from New York!"
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The Name Game and the 1977 Shift
It wasn't until the second half of Season 2, specifically in March 1977, that the show finally became Saturday Night Live. Howard Cosell’s show on ABC had flopped hard and was canceled. NBC swooped in, bought the rights to the name, and the legend was officially branded.
If you go back and watch those early episodes, the pacing is totally different. There’s a lot of filler. Short films by Albert Brooks, the aforementioned Muppets, and long musical sets. It took a few years for the "sketch-driven" format to become the dominant force. By the time Chevy Chase left in the middle of Season 2—becoming the first "breakout" star—the show had already changed the DNA of American comedy.
The Legend of Studio 8H
There’s a reason the show hasn't moved. Studio 8H in the GE Building (now the Comcast Building) was originally built for Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The acoustics are strange. The space is smaller than it looks on TV. When Saturday Night Live started there, the cast and crew had to navigate a literal maze of equipment and set pieces.
The proximity to the newsroom also mattered. The "Weekend Update" segment, originally anchored by Chevy Chase, was a direct parody of the news anchors working just floors away. It wasn't just comedy; it was a middle finger to the establishment from inside the building.
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People forget that the show almost died several times. When Lorne Michaels left in 1980, the 1980-1981 season was a notorious disaster. Jean Doumanian took over, and the reviews were scathing. If it wasn't for the arrival of a young kid named Eddie Murphy, SNL might have ended as a five-year experiment of the 70s.
Key Milestones Since the Beginning
- 1975: The debut with George Carlin.
- 1980: The original cast and Lorne Michaels depart.
- 1984: The "All-Star" season with Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest.
- 1985: Lorne Michaels returns to save the show.
- 1990s: The "Bad Boys" era with Sandler, Farley, and Rock.
- 2000s: The Tina Fey and Amy Poehler "Golden Age" of political satire.
How to Experience the History Yourself
If you really want to understand when Saturday Night Live started and how it felt, you shouldn't just watch the highlights on YouTube. You need to see the full episodes. The context of the musical guests and the weird, failed sketches tells the real story.
- Watch the "SNL" movie (2024): Directed by Jason Reitman, the film Saturday Night depicts the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast. It captures the frantic, "we might get arrested" energy of 1975 perfectly.
- Visit Rockefeller Center: You can take the NBC Studio Tour. Seeing the actual size of the stage where Belushi and Radner performed puts the scale of the achievement in perspective.
- Read "Live From New York": This oral history by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller is the definitive Bible of the show. It’s raw, honest, and contains the stories the network probably wishes were kept secret.
- Check the Peacock Archives: Most of the early seasons are available for streaming. Pay attention to the "Land of Gorch" segments just to see how weird things truly were at the beginning.
The legacy of that October night in 1975 isn't just about a TV show. It's about a shift in how we process the world. We don't just watch the news anymore; we wait to see how SNL is going to roast the news. That all started because a few rebels in their 20s were given 90 minutes of live airtime and a "why not?" attitude from a network in desperate need of a hit.
The most actionable way to appreciate the show's roots is to watch the first five episodes of Season 1. Look past the dated references. Observe the structure. Notice how the performers lean into the silence of a live audience. You'll see a show trying to find its soul in real-time. It’s a masterclass in creative risk-taking that is rarely seen in modern, algorithm-driven media.