It all started one Saturday night... Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re unveiling the true story behind the wild, chaotic, and legendary first episode of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”
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00:00Okay, let's see if we can get through one of these skits.
00:02Sketches? Baby, please.
00:03Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're unveiling the true story behind the wild,
00:08chaotic, and legendary first episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live.
00:12Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!
00:17SNL enters existence because Johnny Carson wants more time off.
00:21They want you to fail. They're betting on it.
00:23That's logical, Dick. That's why they're paying us all to be here.
00:26NBC makes more money playing Ruins of the Tonight Show.
00:30I mean, more than 90 minutes of live television by a group of 20-year-olds who've never made anything.
00:34Before the age of streaming, before anyone could watch anything at any time,
00:38one man ruled the airwaves, Johnny Carson.
00:41His Tonight Show lasted for almost 30 years, airing from October 1962 to May 1992.
00:48Finding his schedule punishing,
00:50Carson requested that Tonight Show reruns be moved from weekend nights to some weeknights.
00:54What do you mean you don't get any respect? Now, what do you call that?
00:56The only place over here, Johnny. The only place right here where I get some respect.
00:59They're very nice here. And how you been? Okay?
01:01I'm fine. How are you? I was gonna ask you that.
01:03Oh, yeah?
01:04NBC, seemingly under the impression that the legendary late-night host was threatening to
01:08move to a rival network if his demands were not met, promptly began to brainstorm.
01:13Herbert Schlosser, NBC's then-president, was tapped to fill the hole that Carson would be leaving,
01:18tasked with spicing up the network's poorly-rated Saturday night programming lineup.
01:22Okay, let me do a commercial. We'll be right back here. So stay where you are.
01:26Enter Dick Ebersole and a young Canadian named Lorne Michaels.
01:29Will all of you be seen every week doing improv or repertoire? How does it work?
01:35Well, we've got eight, and we're hoping for two to really work.
01:40Schlosser's first move was to court Dick Ebersole, NBC's vice president of late-night
01:44programming, to solve his Carson conundrum. Schlosser and Ebersole's first move as a unit?
01:49Bringing on Lorne Michaels, who had been recommended by Paramount Pictures chairman
01:54CEO Barry Diller, Michaels, a Toronto native who had moved to Los Angeles to pursue comedy writing,
01:59was later described by Schlosser as being, quote,
02:02"...talented and well-liked," as well as, crucially, "...well-connected in the comedy world."
02:07As detailed in a 2011 Hollywood Reporter profile, quote,
02:11"...over three weeks at L.A.'s Shadow Marmont Hotel,"
02:14Ebersole and Michaels hashed out the latter's blueprint for SNL — high-concept sketches,
02:18political satire, news spoofs, short films, and exclusive music performances.
02:23Mr. Ford was on the campaign trail announcing in Detroit that he has written his own campaign
02:27slogan. The slogan? If he's so dumb, how come he's president?
02:33Live from New York, because there's no other choice.
02:36Well, I was taking a fan of one of those movie premieres, you know? You know,
02:39in big spotlights?
02:41Where they have the lights in the sky?
02:42Yeah.
02:42Yeah, right?
02:43I was wondering how they get them so bright, so I went and stared into it.
02:46Yeah?
02:46Yeah.
02:47Stared into the light?
02:48Yeah.
02:48For how long?
02:49About a half an hour.
02:50The suits at NBC were skeptical of SNL's chances of making a real cultural splash.
02:54A clear example of this was where they decided to broadcast it from.
02:58Carson's aforementioned Tonight Show had departed New York City for sunny Los Angeles two years
03:03earlier, leaving a significant vacancy at NBC's Rockefeller Center production studios.
03:08With that in mind, NBC executives gave Michaels the now-iconic Studio 8H,
03:13which was, at that point, primarily used for the network's election coverage.
03:17The future SNL home studio was originally built and intended for radio broadcast,
03:22and hosted the NBC Symphony Orchestra from 1937 to 1951.
03:34Assembling the not-ready-for-prime-time players.
03:37Miss Davis, would you kindly tell the court, in your own words,
03:42what the defendant allegedly said to you when he pulled you into the alleyway?
03:46SNL has long been known as a consistently reliable breeding ground for comedy superstars
03:50of tomorrow. This was true from the very beginning. The variety show's first cast
03:55included instant heavy hitters Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and more.
04:01A number of performers had personal connections to Michaels. He personally cast Radner first,
04:06and brought on Lorraine Newman after working with her on another earlier production.
04:10The budding showrunner was initially hesitant to hire John Belushi given his reputation for
04:14chaos and unpredictability. He relented after Gilda Radner, along with writers Anne Beetz and
04:20Michael O'Donoghue, vouched for Belushi.
04:22Excuse me, Mr. Gressner, but it appears to me as though you do have a left arm there.
04:25No, it's gone, see? Shark bit it off. Nothing there.
04:28No, Mr. Gressner, that's your sleeve. You do have a left arm,
04:31and it looks perfectly normal to me.
04:33A completely different kind of SNL.
04:35It seems fair to say that Saturday Night Live has evolved considerably since its early days,
04:40when Michaels was devising the blueprint for what he didn't yet know was a veritable comedy empire.
04:45The modern SNL adheres to an extremely rigid timeline and format, starting with a cold open,
04:51progressing to a monologue, then sketches, musical performances, and so on.
04:55However, you would never know this would be the case watching the SNL series premiere on
04:59October 11th, 1975. That first episode barely featured host George Carlin. More on his
05:06participation in a bit, with non-sketch performances by Andy Kaufman and the Muppets
05:10taking up part of the show's runtime.
05:12The show's first episode, which was a bit of a twist on the original,
05:15was a bit of a twist on the original, but it was a bit of a twist on the original.
05:18The show's first episode was a bit of a twist on the original, but it was a twist on the original.
05:23and the Muppets taking up part of the show's runtime,
05:25in addition to not one, but two musical guests performing separately.
05:29♪ We operate a world. She tells the time it's good for a laugh. ♪
05:36Lorne Michaels' enlightened amateurs.
05:38Yes, it's New Dad, a radically new concept in family insurance coverage.
05:43Within seconds after Old Dad is out, we'll have New Dad there to take his place.
05:48From our contemporary point of view, SNL may seem like the safest bet in comedy,
05:53as an institution dating back nearly 50 years. However, as Doug Hill and Jeff
05:58Weingrad's book Saturday Night, A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, reveals,
06:02Lorne Michaels openly declared that, quote,
06:05"...no one who'd ever worked in television before would be hired,"
06:08and that he was looking to flip the script on typical network TV productions,
06:12which he felt had become stodgy and stale.
06:14As such, he sought out, quote,
06:24"...enlightened amateurs," which he defined as, quote,
06:27"...talented renegades from the thriving underground comedy scene who were
06:31contemptuous of everything network television in those days stood for."
06:34Looking back, Michaels' instincts clearly paid off.
06:37That's New Dad, the only insurance that covers all of their needs.
06:43George Carlin, a dangerous host.
06:46Why is there no blue food?
06:50I can't find blue food. I can't find a flavor of blue. I mean, green is lime,
06:53yellow is lemon, orange is orange, red is cherry. What's blue? There's no blue.
06:56In case you were still unconvinced that SNL initially had the makings of a colossal flop,
07:01even its first host was, let's say, significantly under the influence.
07:06Carlin, who by this point had already made a reputation for himself as a hell-raising provocateur,
07:11was taken aback by the show's format. A seasoned comedian and expert monologist,
07:16he was reportedly unnerved by SNL's extremely loose sketch comedy environment.
07:20The term jumbo shrimp has always amazed me. What is a jumbo shrimp?
07:26I mean, it's like military intelligence. The words don't go together, man.
07:29As Hill and Weingrad explain, Carlin, quote,
07:32stayed aloof from the proceedings, declining as the week went on the opportunity to appear
07:37in any of the sketches he was offered, owing partially to his cocaine use at the time.
07:42Football is played in a stadium. Baseball is played in a park.
07:50In football, you wear a helmet. In baseball, you wear a cap.
07:54Against all odds, Michaels was somewhat over-prepared.
07:58Dedication ceremonies for the new Teamsters Union Headquarters building
08:02took place today in Detroit, where Union President Fitzsimmons
08:05is reported to have said that former President Jimmy Hoffa will always be a cornerstone in the
08:10organization.
08:10We should qualify that statement by clarifying that, true to SNL's chaotic spirit,
08:15even being over-prepared ended up as a stressor for Lorne Michaels.
08:18The SNL showrunner, in speaking to Hill and Weingrad, revealed that, quote,
08:22one of his nightmares for the first show was that he'd run out of material 30 minutes before
08:26it was supposed to go off the air.
08:27In a noble effort to get out ahead of that potential problem,
08:30Michaels booked three stand-up comics beyond Carlin — the aforementioned Andy Kaufman,
08:35Valerie Bromfield, and a then-little-known actor-comedian named Billy Crystal.
08:40Crystal's performance was cut altogether once Michaels had realized that he had
08:43overstuffed the show's lineup, reportedly devastating the up-and-comer.
08:47Nothing worked.
08:48And we are not exaggerating when we say nothing.
08:53According to Hill and Weingrad, the show's first full dress rehearsal ran approximately
08:57three hours long.
08:58That's twice as long as NBC had initially planned for.
09:01I learned the truth at 17
09:06That love was meant for beauty queens
09:10In addition, the show's cast members were all in the same boat.
09:14That love was meant for beauty queens
09:17In addition, the show's ancient sound system — which wasn't properly equipped for either
09:21comedy or musical performance — was so janky that the audience couldn't hear the
09:25performers' dialogue.
09:26Dick Ebersole was a vital part of getting the show on air at all,
09:30buying off a local event production company's equipment from a concert they had just put on
09:34at Madison Square Garden.
09:35As if that wasn't bad enough, the show's sets were finished only half an hour before showtime.
09:40I'm not trying to be your highness
09:44Cause that minus is too low to see
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10:04John Belushi, ever the rebel
10:06Repeat after me
10:08I would like
10:10I would like to feed your fingertips
10:12To feed your fingertips to the wolverines
10:14To the wolverines
10:15With almost everything in place, it looked like Saturday Night Live would be able to,
10:20at least passively, make it to the airwaves in one piece.
10:23Wait, almost?
10:24What do we need this stuff inside the house for?
10:27Okay, okay, that's a very good question
10:30As you'll recall, Michael's fears that John Belushi would be a major source of
10:35headaches were proven right when the animated comic performer refused to sign the contract,
10:39reportedly displeased with his compensation of $750 a week.
10:44At 11 p.m., just about the time the show's sets were being finished up,
10:48Ebersol pleaded with Belushi to sign his contract to no avail.
10:52Belushi's demands were met by Bernie Brillstein, Michael's manager,
10:55and the future Animal House star appeared in the evening's first sketch.
10:59And just like that, a new age of network television began.
11:03I am afraid
11:04I am afraid
11:05We are out
11:06We are out
11:07Of badgers
11:07Of badgers
11:08Would you accept
11:09Would you accept
11:10A wolverine
11:11A wolverine
11:12In its place
11:13In its place
11:14Who's your favorite SNL host? Let us know in the comments below.
11:17Mr. B?
11:20Yes?
11:20Congratulations, it's a drone.
11:23It's a drone!
11:24Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
11:28And be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.