SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

'''Saturday Night Live''' ('''SNL''') is a weekly late night 90 minute American comedy-variety show based in New York City that has been broadcast live by NBC on Saturday nights since October 11, 1975. It is one of the longest-running network entertainment programs in American television history. Each week, the show's cast is joined by a guest host and a musical act.
Originally, the show was called '''NBC's Saturday Night''' until NBC retitled its show in 1976 (the ''Saturday Night Live'' title having been previously attached to a short-lived variety show hosted by Howard Cosell and airing on rival network ABC). The first show with the new title was broadcast on March 26, 1977.
The show — broadcast from Studio 8H at the GE Building (called the RCA Building until 1988) in New York's Rockefeller Center — has been the launching place for many major American comedy stars of the last thirty years. It was created by Canadian Lorne Michaels who, excluding a hiatus from Season 6 through Season 10, has produced and written for the show and remains its executive producer (Jean Doumanian produced most of Season 6, and Dick Ebersol Seasons 7–10).
In 2005, NBC renewed ''SNL's contract until 2012.

History

★ By era: 1975–1980, 1980–1985, 1985–1990, 1990–1995, 1995–2000, 2000–2005, 2005–Present

★ By season: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

★ Weekend Update

Current Cast

The season 33 cast of SNL has not been officially announced, but most of the cast from season 32 will return for season 33. ^[1] Of the current cast, Maya Rudolph is the only one who has yet to formally return. ^[2]

Repertory Players

★ Fred Armisen

★ Will Forte

★ Bill Hader

★ Darrell Hammond

★ Seth Meyers

★ Amy Poehler

★ Maya Rudolph

★ Andy Samberg

★ Jason Sudeikis

★ Kenan Thompson

★ Kristen Wiig
As of September 2007, no new cast members have been announced. Both repertory and featured players can be added to the show at any time.

The studio

Since the show's inception, ''SNL'' has aired from Studio 8H, located on floors 8 and 9 of 30 Rockefeller Plaza (usually nicknamed "30 Rock"). Due to the studio originally being a radio soundstage for Arturo Toscanini and his NBC Symphony Orchestra, the layout of the studio floor and the audience positioning causes some audience members to have an obstructed view of many of the sketches. According to NBC, the 8H studio has an almost perfect sound acoustic. The offices of ''SNL'' writers, producers, and other staff can be found on the 17th floor of "30 Rock".
During the summer 2005 shooting hiatus, crews began renovations on Studio 8H. With its thirty-first season premiere in October 2005, the show began broadcasting in High Definition, appearing letterboxed on conventional screens.
Other productions have occasionally used the studio. Three of the first four shows of the 1976-77 season were shot at the former NBC Studios in Brooklyn, due to NBC News using Studio 8H for Presidential election coverage. The first season finale of ''The Apprentice'' and the 5th Anniversary special of ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' have used the studio for one night. ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' used the studio until 2005, when the show moved to Studio 9 at the NBC Studios in Burbank, California.

Production process

The following is a summary of the process used to produce the show. It is based in part on an August 2000 ''Writer's Digest'' article and an April 2004 ''Fresh Air'' interview with writer and performer Tina Fey:
'Monday':

★ The day begins with a topical meeting, identifying the biggest story for the show's opening.

★ This is followed by a free-form pitch meeting with Lorne Michaels and the show's host for the week.

★ Throughout the week the host has a lot of influence on which sketches get aired.

★ Following the meeting, writers begin to draft the two scripts each must produce.

★ The host does the photo shoot for the SNL bumpers.
'Tuesday':

★ Starting in the afternoon, anywhere from 30 to 45 scripts are written, most of which will not be broadcast.

★ Once a writer's scripts are complete, he or she will often help other writers on their scripts.
'Wednesday':

★ All scripts get a read-through.

★ After the read-through, the head writer(s) and the producers meet with the host to decide which sketches to work on for the rest of the week, with Lorne Michaels and the host having the final say.
'Thursday':

★ The surviving sketches are reviewed, word-by-word, by the writing staff as a whole or in two groups in the case of co-head writers.

★ Some sketches which survived the cut because of their premise, but otherwise needed a lot of work, are rewritten completely. Others are changed in smaller ways.

★ The ''Weekend Update'' crew starts coming together, starting with the news items written by writers dedicated all week to the segment.

★ The crew comes in for rehearsal, and the music act is rehearsed as well as some of the larger, more important sketches.

★ The musical guest does a photo shoot for the SNL bumpers.

★ The host and musical guest and usually some cast members shoot two to four promos to play for NBC.
'Friday':

★ The show is blocked.

★ The writer of each sketch acts as producer, working with the show's set designers and costumers.
'Saturday':

★ With the show still far from finalized, the day begins with a run-through, with props, in front of Lorne Michaels.

★ After the run-through, the cast and crew find out which of the sketches are in the dress rehearsal, and which are cut. The writer/producer deals with any changes.

★ This is followed by a dress rehearsal performed in front of the studio audience, which lasts from 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. (or sometimes later) and contains approximately twenty minutes of material which will be deleted from the final broadcast.

★ Lorne Michaels uses firsthand observation of the audience reaction during the dress rehearsal and input from the host and head writer to determine the final round of changes, re-ordering sketches as necessary.

★ The live show then begins at 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time, but some markets will delay airing.
The status of the show during the week is maintained on a bulletin board. Sketches and other segments are given labels which are put on index cards and put on the board in the order of their performance. The order is based on content as well as production limitations such as camera placement and performer availability. Segments which have been cut are kept to the side of the board. As the broadcast approaches, often the writer/producer discovers the fate of his or her segment only by consulting the bulletin board.
A ''60 Minutes'' report taped in October 2004 depicted the intense writing frenzy that goes on during the week leading up to a show, with crowded meetings and long hours. The report particularly noted the involvement of the guest hosts in developing and selecting the sketches in which they will appear.

When it's not live

Reruns

''SNL'' reruns are aired out of its original broadcast sequence, usually determined by which episodes have not yet been repeated, but had high ratings or acclaim during for its live broadcast. Shows usually air twice during a particular season, but often the highest rated shows of the season have a second encore show towards the end of the off-season, or episodes will be repeated a second or third time to coincide with a new event connected with the person who hosted. For example, the Natalie Portman episode aired in March 2006 to promote ''V for Vendetta'' was repeated August 5, 2006, prior to the film's DVD release August 8.
Encore showings are not always identical to the original broadcast. Successful sketches aired later in the show during the original broadcast may be reedited to appear earlier, and segments that did not work well during the live broadcast may be replaced by the dress rehearsal version, or entirely new sketches. A Peter Sarsgaard sketch from his January 21, 2006 episode, involving a TV meant to broadcast Rachel Dratch's fake newscast, met with technical difficulties during the live broadcast when the in-sketch TV stopped working and a stagehand was seen fixing it. It was replaced with a dress rehearsal version in rerun. A sketch involving "butt pregnancy" during the first broadcast of the November 12, 2005 Jason Lee episode was replaced with a musical sketch about cafeteria food during the repeat. In the earlier years of the show's history, reruns occasionally replaced weaker sketches with segments from other episodes, usually from episodes that did not have an encore showing at all.

Compilations

From time-to-time, ''SNL'' airs compilation shows. Such shows will feature hand-selected best sketches from the previous season; of a particular cast member or multiple-time host; or centered on a particular theme (eg. Halloween, Christmas). Political sketches are typically culled for a special in presidential election years; the 2000 special was notable for having self-deprecating (though separate) appearances by candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore.

Delays

★ The show was forced by the network to run on a seven-second delay when Andrew Dice Clay and Richard Pryor hosted.

★ The episode scheduled for October 25, 1986, hosted by Rosanna Arquette, was not aired until November 8 due to NBC broadcasting Game 6 of the 1986 World Series; the game entered extra innings, causing that night's broadcast of ''SNL'' to be canceled. The show was recorded for the studio audience starting at 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time, and broadcast two weeks later with an "apology" by New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling.

★ The episode scheduled for February 10, 2001, hosted by Jennifer Lopez, aired 45 minutes late due to an XFL game. Lopez and the cast were not told they were airing on a delay.^[3]

★ During Eddie Murphy's last season, he was only available for part of the season, so they recorded a number of extra sketches in September 1983 that featured him and were broadcast in episodes he was not available for, according to the book ''.

★ When Sam Kinison delivered a comic monologue in 1986, NBC removed his plea for the legalization of marijuana from the West Coast broadcast and all subsequent airings.

★ A portion of Martin Lawrence's 1994 monologue concerning feminine hygiene has been removed from all repeats, replaced with a voiceover and super stating that the excised portion "...was a frank and lively presentation, and nearly cost us all our jobs."^[4]

Rights to ''SNL''

NBC holds the copyright to every episode of the show made thus far.
The syndication rights to the original incarnation (1975–1980) were originally acquired by Filmways Television (later Orion Television and MGM as respective successors), while syndication of shows made from 1980 forward have been held by Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels' production company. The home video rights have also been scattered among Warner Home Video (during 1975–1980), Paramount (a "Best of Eddie Murphy" video compilation in the 1980s), Starmaker Entertainment (the 1990's), Lions Gate Home Entertainment (2000–2006), and Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2006–present), as Universal Studios and NBC are now owned by the same company, NBC Universal.
For many years, Comedy Central aired ''SNL'' reruns, until 2003, when E! Entertainment Television signed a deal to reruns.

In other countries

In Canada, episodes from 1975–1980 are aired in late night programming hours, weeknights on some Global Television Network owned stations such as CHAN, CHCA, and CIII. However, these episodes are edited considerably to fit into to a one hour timeslot, rather than the usual hour and a half.
In Australia, the one-hour syndicated version is broadcast on The Comedy Channel who air new episodes or reruns of recent episodes 9.30pm Saturdays and episodes from 2002-2006 Weekdays at 2.00pm. ''SNL'' originally aired on Arena however moved in November 2006.
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, ''SNL'' is shown on ITV4 in varying 'graveyard' timeslots from around midnight on Saturday night. The 2006-2007 season began showing on February 11, 2007. This is the one hour version of the show, sometimes squeezed into 50 minutes. Broadcasting company Channel 4 and Princess Productions produce a UK version modelled loosely on ''SNL'', called The Friday Night Project.
Recently, CNBC Asia's Singapore service dropped ''SNL''. Up until then, ''SNL'' was seen on CNBC Asia every Saturday at 11 p.m., with an encore telecast on Sunday in a similar time slot.
Also in Portugal, the show was aired on SIC COMEDIA between April 28th 2005 to the day of the channel cancellation, December 31, 2006. It aired every weekdays during the 5.00-6.00 pm slot. Episodes from the 1990/1991 season to the 1999-2000 season were aired and from December 2005 the show re-ran the same episodes.
The one-hour version is also broadcast every Saturday night on Sony Entertainment Television Latin America.
In the Philippines, relatively recent ''SNL'' episodes can be seen on ETC Entertainment Central on Saturdays at 10 p.m. It used to air classic episodes.
In Germany, Season 32 can currently be viewed on Sat.1 Comedy with each episode airing approximately three months after its original US broadcast. The show airs completely without dubbing or subtitles.

Musical guests

Frequent musical guests

The following performers have been musical guests on ''SNL'' at least five times:

'Musical Guest'	'Number of Episodes'	'First Musical Appearance'	'Last Musical Appearance'	'Other Notes'
Paul Simon	7	October 18, 1975	May 13, 2006	Simon also hosted or co-hosted three shows. He co-hosted with Catherine Oxenberg on May 10, 1986, during the 11th season. He solely hosted the second show on October 18, 1975 where he performed with Art Garfunkel and Phoebe Snow and on November 20, 1976, where he was one of two musical guests. Is also best friend of show creator Lorne Michaels.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	7	November 10, 1979	April 10, 1999
Dave Grohl	7	January 11, 1992	November 12, 2005	He was the drummer for Nirvana in their two performances, was a drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on one performance, and performed with his most recent band, Foo Fighters, four times.
Randy Newman	6	October 18, 1975	October 22, 1988
James Taylor	6	September 18, 1976	November 13, 1993
Beck	6	January 11, 1997	October 28, 2006	He appeared as musicial guest two times in 1999 (with hosts Bill Paxton and Christina Ricci).
Sting	5	October 17, 1987	November 20, 1999	Only non-American performer to appear as a musical guest at least five times; has also performed in at least one sketch during each of his appearances.

Musical guests who simultaneously hosted

The following performers have pulled a double duty as both musical guests and host during the same ''SNL'' episode:

'Musical Guest'	'Date of Hosting/Musical Appearance'	'Other Notes'
Desi Arnaz	February 21, 1976	Served as a memorable guest host on Saturday Night Live with his son, Desi, Jr (Jerson.N.F)
Paul Simon	November 20, 1976	He is the first performer to appear simultaneously as host and musical guest.
Ray Charles	November 12, 1977
The Rolling Stones	October 7, 1978	Are the only band to host and be musical guests on SNL (even though Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, and Ron Wood were the only band members to appear in sketches)
Frank Zappa	October 21, 1978
Olivia Newton-John	May 22, 1982
Stevie Wonder	May 7, 1983
Willie Nelson	February 21, 1987
Dolly Parton	April 15, 1989
Quincy Jones	February 10, 1990	Jones' hosting stint had ten musical guests on one night, an SNL record.
Sting	January 19, 1991
MC Hammer	December 7, 1991
Garth Brooks	February 28, 1998 and November 13, 1999	He is one of only three performers to simultaneously act as host and musical guest more than once. Garth appeared in the second episode as himself as host, and his alter ego Chris Gaines as musical guest.
Jennifer Lopez	February 10, 2001
Britney Spears	May 13, 2000 and February 2, 2002	At 18, she was the youngest person in SNL History to act as a host and musical guest the same time on May 13, 2000. She is also the only female in SNL History to host and perform in the same episode more than once.
Justin Timberlake	October 11, 2003 and December 16, 2006	He became the third simultaneous host and musical guest to appear more than once on the show when he appeared on December 16, 2006.
Christina Aguilera	February 21, 2004
Janet Jackson	April 10, 2004
Queen Latifah	October 9, 2004
Ludacris	November 18, 2006

Recurring characters and sketches

See also:

★ 'Character lists:' ''Alphabetical'' and ''Chronological''

★ 'Character categories:'

★
★ ''Weekend Update characters''

★
★ ''TV show sketches''

★
★ ''Animal sketches''

★
★ ''Musical sketches''

★
★ ''Short-lived characters''
Below is a short list of some of SNL's most popular recurring sketches.

★ Weekend Update (Currently with Seth and Amy)
★ Pong (Al Franken & Tom Davis)
★ E. Buzz Miller (Dan Aykroyd)
★ Fred Garvin: Male Prostitute (Dan Aykroyd)
★ The Festrunk Brothers ("Two Wild and Crazy Guys")(Dan Aykroyd, Steve Martin)
★ The Coneheads (Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman)
★ Leonard Pinth-Garnell (Dan Aykroyd)
★ The Blues Brothers (John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd)
★ Olympia Cafe (John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Laraine Newman and Bill Murray)
★ Samurai Futaba (John Belushi)
★ The Land Shark (Chevy Chase)
★ Chico Escuela (Garrett Morris)
★ Roseanne Roseannadanna (Gilda Radner)
★ Emily Litella (Gilda Radner)
★ Nick The Lounge Singer (Bill Murray)
★ The Nerds (Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris)
★ Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello)
★ Stuart Smalley (Al Franken)
★ Buckwheat (Eddie Murphy)
★ Gumby (Eddie Murphy)
★ Tyrone Green (Eddie Murphy)
★ Mister Robinson's Neighborhood (Eddie Murphy, Tim Kazurinsky)
★ Dion & Blaire (Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo)
★ Pudge & Solomon (Joe Piscopo, Eddie Murphy)
★ Paulie Herman (Joe Piscopo)
★ The Whiners (Joe Piscopo, Robin Duke)
★ Mrs. T (Robin Duke)
★ I Married A Monkey (Tim Kazurinsky)
★ Havnagooiim Vishnuuerheer (Tim Kazurinsky)
★ Dr. Jack Badofsky (Tim Kazurinsky)
★ Alfalfa (Mary Gross)
★ Siobhan Cahill (Mary Gross)
★ Chi Chi & Consuela (Mary Gross, Julia Louis-Dreyfus)
★ Dwight MacNamara (Gary Kroeger)
★ April May June (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)
★ That White Guy (Jim Belushi)
★ Fernando's Hideaway (Billy Crystal)
★ Willie & Frankie ("The Guys That Hurt Themselves") (Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest)
★ Ed Grimley (Martin Short)
★ Jackie Rogers, Jr. (Martin Short)
★ Nathan Thurm (Martin Short)
★ The Pat Stevens Show (Nora Dunn)
★ The Jones Brothers (Anthony Michael Hall, Damon Wayans
★ Tommy Flanagan (Jon Lovitz)
★ Master Thespian (Jon Lovitz, John Lithgow)
★ Tales of Ribaldry (Jon Lovitz)
★ That Black Girl (Danitra Vance)
★ The Stand-Ups (Dennis Miller, Damon Wayans and Jon Lovitz)
★ Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
★ Toonces the Driving Cat (Victoria Jackson), (Dana Carvey)
★ The Church Lady (Dana Carvey)
★ Hans and Franz (Kevin Nealon, Dana Carvey)
★ Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer (Phil Hartman)

★ The Sweeney Sisters (Jan Hooks, Nora Dunn)
★ Mr. Subliminal (Kevin Nealon)
★ Wayne's World (Mike Myers, Dana Carvey)
★ Sprockets (Mike Myers)
★ Coffee Talk (Mike Myers)
★ Bill Swerski's Superfans (George Wendt, Joe Mantegna, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Robert Smigel)
★ Rich, the photocopy guy (Rob Schneider)
★ Matt Foley (Chris Farley)
★ Bennett Brauer (Chris Farley)
★ The Dark Side with Nat X (Chris Rock)
★ I'm Chillin' (Chris Rock, Chris Farley)
★ Pat (Julia Sweeney)
★ Total Bastard Airlines (David Spade, Ellen Cleghorne)
★ Dick Clark's Receptionist (David Spade)
★ The GAP Girls (David Spade, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler)
★ The Ladies Man (a.k.a Leon Phelps) (Tim Meadows)
★ Perspectives (a.k.a Lionel Osbourne) (Tim Meadows)
★ G-Dog (Tim Meadows)
★ Captain Jim & Pedro (a.k.a Lionel Osbourne) (Tim Meadows, Adam Sandler)
★ Canteen Boy (Adam Sandler)
★ Opera Man (Adam Sandler)
★ Cajun Man (Adam Sandler)
★ Stan Hooper (Norm MacDonald)
★ Queen Shenequa (Ellen Cleghorne)
★ Zoriada (Ellen Cleghorne)
★ Scottish Soccer Hooligan Weekly (Mark McKinney, Mike Myers)
★ Lucien Callow & Fagan (Mark McKinney, David Koechner)
★ Mary Katherine Gallagher (Molly Shannon)
★ Passive Aggressive Pam (Ana Gasteyer)
★ Delicious Dish (Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon, Rachel Dratch, Alec Baldwin)
★ Goat Boy (Jim Breuer)
★ The Joe Pesci Show (Jim Breuer, Colin Quinn)
★ Gerald Tibbins (David Koechner)
★ The Spartan Cheerleaders (Cheri Oteri, Will Ferrell)
★ The Butabi Brothers (Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan)
★ Dog Show (Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell)
★ Celebrity Jeopardy! (Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, Norm MacDonald, Jimmy Fallon)
★ Mango (Chris Kattan)
★ Brian Fellow's Safari Planet (Tracy Morgan)
★ Astronaut Jones (Tracy Morgan)
★ Pimp Chat (Tracy Morgan, Tim Meadows)
★ Lenny the Lion (Colin Quinn)
★ Jarret's Room (Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz)
★ Barry Gibb Talk Show (Jimmy Fallon), (Justin Timberlake)
★ The Falconer (Will Forte)
★ Debbie Downer (Rachel Dratch)
★ Deep House Dish (Kenan Thompson, Rachel Dratch, Andy Samberg)
★ Carol! (Horatio Sanz)
★ The Target Lady (Kristen Wiig)
★ SNL Digital Shorts (Andy Samberg)
★ Penelope (SNL) (Kristen Wiig)

Films based on SNL sketches

The early days of SNL spawned a few movies and low-budget films. However, it wasn't until the huge success of ''Wayne's World'' that Broadway Video (Lorne Michaels' production company) became encouraged to feature more film spinoffs, with several popular 1990s sketch characters (and a few unlikely ones) becoming adapted into movies. Producers tried their luck with a revival of 1970s characters The Coneheads, followed by movies based around Pat, Stuart Smalley, The Ladies Man, The Butabi Brothers and Mary Katherine Gallagher. Some did moderate business but others bombed disastrously — notably ''It's Pat!'' and ''Stuart Saves His Family'', with the latter losing US$15 million despite good reviews.

''Wayne's World'', the highest grossing movie ever based on an SNL sketch.

★ ''The Blues Brothers'' (1980)

★ ''Mr. Bill's Real Life Adventures'' (1986)

★ ''Bob Roberts'' (1992)

★ ''Wayne's World'' (1992)

★ ''Wayne's World 2'' (1993)

★ ''Coneheads'' (1993)

★ ''It's Pat!'' (1994)

★ ''Stuart Saves His Family'' (1995)

★ ''A Night at the Roxbury'' (1998)

★ ''Blues Brothers 2000'' (1998)

★ ''Superstar'' (1999)

★ ''Office Space'' (1999)

★ ''The Ladies Man'' (2000)

★ ''Key Party'' (TBA)

DVD release and controversy

On 13 October 2006 it was announced that ''Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season'' would be released by Universal Studios on 5 December 2006, in its full, 90-minute uncut format with all musical performances and sketches intact. Also, there will be a raft of bonus material to accompany the set. [1]
After the set was released, it was picked apart by online reviewers and newsgroups of ardent fans, many of whom had original live (not rerun) bootleg copies with which to compare the "complete" episodes against. [2] Each episode has been edited to appear as one continuous 66-minute performance, with the commercial breaks edited out. As such, the bumper art used in each commercial break is missing, save for the final bumper of each episode, which marks the transition to the goodnights and credits. At least two episodes in the set -the Rob Reiner and Dick Cavett shows - are confirmed as being the rerun versions, as opposed to the original live versions. There is one original commercial parody (Wrigley's) missing, from the Rob Reiner show (the parody was cut from the rerun because the show went long live, and there were no goodnights and credits; the parody was cut to allow time for a makeshift credit roll in the repeat. Since Broadway Video used the rerun to master the DVD, they likely were unaware of this omission. This practice would also seem to suggest that Broadway Video defaulted to the repeat version for the majority of this set, though the aforementioned shows are the only confirmed instances thus far. A repeat of the Wrigley's commercial, which aired in a Buck Henry episode later that season, has also been cut. These factors seem to negate the set's claim that the shows are complete and as originally aired.
Besides these issues, no other discrepancies have yet to be found between the original shows and the DVDs. However, the wildly-fluctuating run times of each episode suggests that there's more cut from these shows that has yet to be identified, as the show had a steady, unchanging run time each week of 01:29:30, 00:20:40 of that being designated commercial and station breaks, leaving 01.08.50 for show content (including usually one in-show billboard for promotional services, which would be expected to be cut, though these were never longer than 5 seconds each.) Each episode would have originally contained 9 bumpers at app. 5 seconds each. Since 8 of these are cut from the DVD versions, that trims off about 40 seconds. One can safely add the 5-second in-show promos and excessive black video due to mid-70s video technology would add up to anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds over a show. This 1 minute or so still doesn't explain DVD run times such as the following:
Disc 4 (3:20:02)
Buck Henry (1:06:06)
Peter Cook & Dudley Moore (1:06:42)
Dick Cavett (1:07:14)
Disc 5 (3:15:49)
Peter Boyle (1:02:53)
Desi Arnaz (1:06:34)
Jill Clayburgh (1:06:22)
If the set contained truly complete, uncut episodes, each would have a run time of 01.08.50, give or take a few seconds.
The complete 2nd season is scheduled to be released on December 4, 2007.

Criticism

Notably, the show's quality has been called into question during various points in its history and has been the source of criticism by fans and critics due to its changing of castmembers and writers, starting with Chevy Chase's departure in 1976 and Bill Murray being hired in his place, though this would be short-lived when Bill Murray finally found his niche on the show. This would later resurface when Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi left ''SNL'' in 1979, with Harry Shearer, Dan Aykroyd's brother Peter, and several ''SNL'' writers such as Alan Zweibel, Brian Doyle-Murray, Tom Davis, Don Novello, and Al Franken being hired as replacements.
However, the most well-known change occurred when Lorne Michaels and the remaining original castmembers left ''SNL'' in May 1980. Though now a normal occurrence, the cast change that occurred in Fall 1980 is the most infamous because it followed the departure of the original cast and series creator/producer Lorne Michaels. The entire season was dogged with criticism for its poor casting, weak writing, and Jean Doumanian's position as producer. But the real shocker was in the infamous February 1981 episode where new cast member Charles Rocket uttered the word "fuck" on national television. After that, the entire cast, with the exception of Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo, and all of the writing staff, except Brian Doyle-Murray, were fired at the end of the season. Dick Ebersol was brought in after Doumanian was fired and remained until spring of 1985. When Lorne Michaels decided to come back for the show's 11th season, most were hoping for a return to the show's quality during his first period as producer (1975–80). Unfortunately, Michaels' first season back was dogged yet again with criticism, only the criticisms were directed at the fact that Lorne chose a cast of up-and-coming (or already somewhat known) celebrities who weren't experienced in comedy as a cover-up for the show's waning popularity. Michaels subsequently fired the majority of the Season 11 cast (retaining cast members Jon Lovitz, Nora Dunn, and Dennis Miller, featured player A. Whitney Brown, and longtime writer/featured player Al Franken) and hired new castmembers (Dana Carvey, Jan Hooks, Phil Hartman, Victoria Jackson, and Kevin Nealon) to replace them.
Of course, criticisms over ''SNL's quality haven't stopped. Lorne Michaels would hear them again later in the early and mid-1990s (when Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Rob Schneider, and Chris Rock--a.k.a "The Bad Boys of ''SNL''" were hired and Phil Hartman left the show after the nineteenth season, leaving Season 20 to be yet another critical and ratings low point, much like seasons six and eleven), and once again in early and mid 2000s (after Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer left the show).
Usually the season after a castmember or castmembers have left, the show is questioned as to whether the upcoming season will be better than the previous.^[5]

Trivia

★ George Carlin was the show's first host. According to some entertainment news sources, Carlin was too high on cocaine to perform in sketches. Instead, he performed snippets of his stand up comedy routines. Carlin returned to host on Season 10 and actually appeared in sketches. Carlin was also the first host of ''Fridays'', an early 1980s sketch show modeled after SNL.

★ Mike Myers based his character Dieter, host of the avant-garde German TV talk show ''Sprockets'', after a real person, a student whom Myers met in art college. The real Dieter would often say things like ''"I once had a course where we had to touch tapioca, styrofoam and monkeys. Michael, perhaps we can go to the zoo and touch monkeys."'' (thus giving rise to the TV Dieter's catchphrase "Would you like to touch my monkey?")

★ A film version of ''Sprockets'' was planned, but abandoned after Mike Myers became dissatisfied with his own script. It would have involved Dieter travelling to the USA to rescue Klaus, his pet monkey. This aborted production would later be the crux of a 2000 lawsuit between Myers and Ron Howard, which was settled by Myers' agreeing to appear in ''The Cat in the Hat''.

★ Although Darrell Hammond holds the record for longest tenure by a repertory player with 11 consecutive seasons (about 200 episodes), Al Franken has appeared in about 140 episodes over 12 seasons (1977–80) and (1985–95) as a featured player.

★ The recurring character that has appeared the most is Don Novello's Father Guido Sarducci with a whopping 31 appearances over the course of 17 years. Novello was not a cast member for most of these appearances and the Sarducci character was not even created specifically for the show.

★ Morwenna Banks holds the record for the shortest tenure of a repertory player, with only four episodes (April–May 1995). Laurie Metcalf holds the record for shortest tenure of a feature player (she only appeared in what's now considered the final episode of the 1980-1981 season, which was cut short due to a writers' strike).

★ An actress named Emily Prager was credited as a featured player during the last episode of the 1980-1981 season, yet she never appeared in this episode and wasn't brought back for the following season. She was to have appeared in a commentary during ''Weekend Update'', which was cut from the live broadcast. This makes her the only credited cast member to never appear on ''SNL''.

★ During the rebuilding of ''SNL'' in the early 1980s, Dick Ebersol wanted John Candy and Catherine O'Hara (both of whom were on ''SCTV'' at the time) to be cast members on the show. John Candy declined, and Catherine O'Hara quit after Michael O'Donoghue yelled at everyone involved with the 1980-1981 season for the lackluster writing and acting.

★ Eddie Murphy is the only person to have hosted the show while still a cast member; this occurred during Season 8 (December 11, 1982), when Murphy filled in for a sick Nick Nolte (''"Live from New York, it's The Eddie Murphy Show!"'').

★ The cold open occasionally varies from the traditional ''"Live From New York..."'', usually to follow the consistency of a certain sketch. In 1981, the traditional cold opening was done away with entirely (returning the next season) and there are some episodes in the 1984-1985 season that have a cold open (with the Pamela Sue Martin/Power Station episode being an exception since that had no cold opening to begin with), but it doesn't end with someone shouting, ''"Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!"'' The 1985-1986 season episode hosted by George Wendt and Francis Ford Coppola is one of the only Lorne Michaels-era episode to have a cold open that doesn't end with someone saying, ''"Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!"'' Another was a 2001 episode hosted by Jennifer Lopez, where Tracy Morgan (playing George W. Bush) ended the cold open with ''"Live from New York, it's Jennifer Lopez's booty!"''

★ Another older example of a different cold open was an episode that began with a ''McLaughlin Group'' parody sketch. Dana Carvey (in character) asked the panelists in the skit how the show was opened. They all answered with the show's normal opening, but John (Dana) instead said they were wrong and opened the show with the words, "Show, show, show, here we go!" (A subsequent installment had Carvey's telling everybody they were wrong, only to then say, "I'm only kidding. Start the show!")

★ John Belushi was credited in the opening montage of the Christopher Lee/Meat Loaf episode as Kevin Scott, a continuing gag from the cold open, where he was supposedly "moving up" from ''SNL'' to star as Grizzly Adams on the NBC program of the same name. Belushi had to change his name to Kevin Scott because NBC felt that his name was too synonymous with comedy and satire for ''Grizzly Adams''.

★ The opening montage of the Charlton Heston/Paul Westerberg episode from Season 19 featured the entire cast replaced with apes, a continuing gag from the cold open, where Heston, in preparing for that week's show, lies down for a nap and slips into a deep slumber, and wakes up in the distant future, where apes have taken over ''SNL''. While the cast members' names were all ''PotA''-esque, G.E. Smith and the Saturday Night Live Band were still credited as such (though their photo was modified to fit the theme of apes.) When Heston was escorted, shackled in irons, out to Home Base by the apes for his monologue where he's introduced by Don Pardo as "Captured Human Charlton Heston", the SNL Band and audience in front of Home Base were all dressed as apes. This gag ended with the monologue.

★ Dan Aykroyd and Michael McKean are the only performers to appear as cast members, hosts, and as musical guests. While a cast member, Aykroyd appeared as Elwood Blues from The Blues Brothers; McKean appeared as David St. Hubbins from ''Spinal Tap'' in May 1984, hosted six months later, and became a cast member in 1994.

★ Michael McKean and Billy Crystal are the only two people to join the cast ''after'' hosting the show.

★ Harry Shearer and Brian Doyle-Murray are the only two cast members to work under both Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. Shearer in 1979 and 1984, and Doyle-Murray in 1979 and 1981. In addition, Doyle-Murray also worked under one-season producer Jean Doumanian as a writer (as did Terry Sweeney, who worked under Doumanian from 1980 to 1981, then become a writer and castmember for Lorne Michaels in 1985). Jim Downey, a featured player and writer under Lorne in 1979-80, was also a writer during 1984-1985 (under Ebersol).

★ Cast members who have cameoed on ''SNL'' before becoming cast members include: A. Whitney Brown (performed stand-up in a 1984 episode), Yvonne Hudson (worked as an extra on some episodes from Seasons 3, 4, and 5), Denny Dillon (appeared in the first season of ''SNL'' as a guest performer), Rob Riggle (appeared in Season 29 in a fake promo for a kids' version of ''Fear Factor''), Phil Hartman (was credited as a writer for the season 11 episode hosted by Pee Wee Herman and appeared as a Pilgrim in the Pee Wee Herman Thanksgiving Special sketch), Will Ferrell (appeared in a pre-taped fake commercial on season 19 about a cruise line with basketball player Manute Bol as the captain) and Ben Stiller (appeared in an ''SNL'' short film in Season 12).

★ Other cast members who appeared before being cast members worked behind the scenes on the show, like writers Al Franken, Alan Zwiebel, Jason Sudeikis, Tom Schiller, Tina Fey, Terry Sweeney, Tom Davis, David Spade, Jim Downey, Adam Sandler, Brian Doyle-Murray, and ''SNL'' musical director from 1975-80, Paul Shaffer.

★ The eldest hosts were Ruth Gordon, at age 80 years, 2 months, 24 days, in the episode aired on January 22, 1977, who was 15 days older than Miskel Spillman, aged 80 years, 2 months, and 9 days, in the episode aired on December 17 of that same year.

★ The youngest host was Drew Barrymore, at age 7, in the episode aired on November 20, 1982 (the youngest host before Drew Barrymore was Jodie Foster, who was 14 when she first hosted in the 1976-1977 season).

★ The longest span of time between two hosting spots goes to Madeline Kahn who returned 18 years after her 1977 spot to host in 1995. The longest span between musical guest spots goes to Prince when he was a musical guest for Steve Martin in 2006. Prince first appeared on the now-notorious 1981 episode hosted by Charlene Tilton where Charles Rocket uttered the word "fuck" (Prince was said to have uttered the word "fuckin'" in the song "Partyup," but no one knew if he really said it and it didn't cause as much of an uproar as with what happened to Charles Rocket), which would make it roughly 25 years between appearances (not counting his appearance on the SNL 15th Anniversary Special).

★ The youngest cast member hired was Anthony Michael Hall, who was 17 years old when he joined the cast in 1985.

★ The oldest cast member hired was Michael McKean, who was 46 years old when he joined the show in 1994.

★ The oldest cast member to perform is Darrell Hammond, who is 51 years old and still (as of April 2007) a member of the cast.

★ The oldest person (presently) to have ever been a cast member is Garrett Morris, born in 1937.

★ Some celebrities who were almost cast members on the show were Jim Carrey (1980), John Goodman (1980), Robert Townsend (1980), Paul Reubens (1980), Geena Davis (1984), Lisa Kudrow (1990), Jennifer Aniston, and Steve Carell.

★ In 2003, Kenan Thompson became the first cast member born after ''SNL's premiere in 1975 (Thompson was born in 1978). Bill Hader and Andy Samberg (also born in 1978) followed two seasons later.

★ The highest rated (according to Nielsen) episode aired on October 13, 1979 (Steve Martin/Blondie).

★ The lowest ever rating/share for the show was 4.2/16 (on November 8, 1975) with host Candice Bergen, and musical guest Esther Phillips.

★ Though never a credited player on the show, Bruce McCulloch, cast member of another Lorne Michaels/Broadway Video production, ''Kids in the Hall'', has appeared on ''SNL'' in various cameo roles over the years, most notably in a fake commercial on the Pee-Wee Herman/Queen Ida episode from season 11 about a teenager being pressured by his peers to join the Army, and in a number of short films he directed which aired during the 1994-1995 season.

★ During the early years, the format of the show was not completely set in stone. For example, on the second episode, hosted by Paul Simon, included a reunion with his former musical partner, Art Garfunkel. Only a few comedy sketches were featured during the episode, with others dropped in order to allow Simon and Garfunkel to perform an extended musical set. On another occasion, Beat generation author William S. Burroughs appeared on the program and read passages from his books, to mixed response.

★ The Rob Reiner episode, third show of Season 1, is the only episode thus far to end without any credit/goodnight segment. The original live broadcast ran long, and by the time the last sketch ended and the two minute final internal station break began, there was exactly 2 minutes left until the scheduled programme end. The show didn't come back from break, and stations cut the feed.
:Note: In repeats of the show, a slideshow of bumper graphics with the credits superimposed over them, with the ending theme music underneath, was attached to the end of the last sketch.

★ This has come close to happening from time to time in more recent years, such as the Lindsay Lohan/Pearl Jam episode from Season 31, whose situation was actually identical to the Reiner episode. It was scheduled to end at 12:59:25 EST, but as it returned from the last internal break at 12:59:25, it went until 12:59:37. A 20 second promo scheduled to run and end at 12:59:45 the promo was replaced with a 10 second version, ending the feed at 12:59:47, only two seconds past schedule.
:Note: Occasionally, the show's ending will take up the net ID time, and some stations will simply cut off at that point, whether the feed has finished or not. The more recent (from the mid-'80s onward) use of terminal "network IDs" (typically, promos for NBC shows) at the end of ''SNL'' broadcasts allows for a "safety zone" of sorts for the director, should the show run long.

★ While ''SNL'' has used Commercial bumpers like many other late-night programmes, theirs have, since mid-way through Season 1, been different in both their unique weekly nature and their evolving and engaging art. A typical episode will feature as many as 11 unique bumper graphics, featuring the host and musical guest in a series of inventive poses. These graphics have deviated on a few occasions. The first several episodes featured more standard late-night-style bumpers, with pictures of NYC, rather than the week's host.
:Note: Until 1987, musical guests weren't usually featured in bumpers. During the Ebersol era, due to Ebersol's comparatively large number of shows without a host, the cast would be featured in bumpers of host-less episodes.

★ During the first season, besides the usual comedy sketches, Albert Brooks contributed short films and a rather adult cast of Muppets acted in a weird setting known as the Land of Gorch. The Muppet sketches were not liked by writers Al Franken and Alan Zweibel and only lasted one season.

★ Two years after leaving the show, Robin Duke made a brief (and unintentional) cameo in the 1985 episode hosted by Pee-Wee Herman, being seen in the audience during Terry Sweeney's performance as Diana Ross on the Pee-Wee Herman Thanksgiving Special sketch.

★ The first episode in which The Blues Brothers appeared was hosted by Steve Martin (April 22, 1978)

★ In issue #74 of ''Marvel Team-Up'' (cover dated October, 1978), the Not Ready For Prime Time Players (Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner) and Lorne Micheals teamed up with comic book superhero 'Spider-Man', making them among the few real people to have had a superhero team up.

★ According to his website, Dane Cook (who hosted December 3, 2005) performed the longest opening monologue in the history of the show. It consisted of jokes from his stand-up act.

★ When Kevin Spacey hosted the show in 1997, one pair of sketches spoofed the screen tests of ''. Spacey played, among others, Christopher Walken auditioning for the role of Han Solo. Walken really was considered for that role before Harrison Ford was chosen.

★ Chris Parnell isn't the only cast member to get fired and rehired. Jim Belushi was fired on the 1983-1984 season, then brought back a week later. Tim Meadows was also fired when Lorne was rebuilding his cast for Season 21, but Meadows didn't miss any episodes since the cast overhaul between Seasons 20 and 21 took place during the summer and no new episodes of ''SNL'' aired during that time. Parnell is, however, the only cast member thus far to be fired twice, both times by Michaels.

★ Linda Richman, the host of the recurring sketch ''Coffee Talk'', is based on Mike Myers' mother-in-law. Before Myers began appearing in the sketch as Richman, he appeared in it as host Paul Baldwin.

★ Comedians who have appeared on ''SNL'' to perform between sketches include Joel Hodgson (of MST3K fame), Harry Anderson, Paula Poundstone, Sam Kinison, Steven Wright, Penn and Teller, and Andy Kaufman.

★ Darrel Hammond holds the record for the number of times opening ''SNL'' with, ''"Live from New York, it's Saturday Night."''

★ Don Pardo's announcing booth is located in the exact same spot on which legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini's podium once stood, when he conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra in his famous and long-running series of radio concerts.

★ In the premiere episode, Dick Ebersol was credited as "Executive Producer for NBC." The credit drew immediate ire from NBC Vice-president of Talent David Tebet, because of a network policy that prohibited any NBC executives from taking any on-air credit for programming. According to the "Backstage History" book, Ebersol told Tebet that the credit was Lorne's idea.

★ Gerald Ford is the only U.S. President to open the show with ''"Live from New York, it's Saturday Night"'', when Ron Nessen hosted.

★ Conan O'Brien is the only ''SNL'' staff writer who was not an official member of the ''SNL'' cast to host ''SNL''. However, he did make several appearances in sketches during his tenure at ''SNL''. O'Brien hosted on March 10, 2001.

★ Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Steve Carell are the only hosts in ''SNL'' history to be married to ex-cast members (Brad Hall and Nancy Walls, respectively).

★ On April 29, 2006, Stephen Colbert, who briefly served as a ''SNL'' staff writer during the 1990s, reprised the voice of Ace from The Ambiguously Gay Duo, a frequent role during and after his writing tenure for the show, while hosting a Best of Saturday Night Live TV Funhouse special.

★ NBC received 4,484 complaints after Sinéad O'Connor tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on air, and received 725 calls supporting O'Connor.

★ The word "cheeseburger" was spoken 80 times during the Olympia Restaurant Sketch. The catchphrase "Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger! No Coke! Only Pepsi!" is coined from what the former owner of the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago would say when someone ordered a cheeseburger.

★ Roseanne Barr hosted the show three times under three different names: 'Roseanne', 'Roseanne Barr', and 'Roseanne Arnold' (she hosted the latter with her then-husband Tom Arnold).

★ In his 1980 interview in ''Playboy Magazine'', John Lennon said that he and Paul McCartney had been watching the show together at his apartment in the Dakota (where John would later be shot) when producer Lorne Michaels made his famous offer of $3200 for a Beatles' reunion ("...if you want to pay Ringo less, that's your business.") He said the pair considered heading to the studio to "accept" the offer, but had decided they were too tired to do so.

★ Eight former SNL cast members have been nominated for Academy Awards: George Coe (co-producer of the short subject ''The Dove,'' 1969), Dan Aykroyd (Best Supporting Actor, ''Driving Miss Daisy'', 1989), Bill Murray (Best Actor, ''Lost in Translation'', 2003), Joan Cusack (Best Supporting Actress, ''Working Girl'', 1988, and ''In & Out'', 1997), Robert Downey Jr. (Best Actor, ''Chaplin'', 1992), Randy Quaid (Best Supporting Actor, ''The Last Detail'', 1973), Michael McKean (co-writer of Best Original Song, ''A Mighty Wind'', 2003) and Eddie Murphy (Best Supporting Actor, ''Dreamgirls'', 2006). Despite these eight nominations, no cast member has received the award to date.

★ Three former SNL cast members (Chevy Chase, Billy Crystal and Chris Rock) have hosted the Academy Awards.

References

1. http://www.buddytv.com/articles/saturday-night-live/lebron-james-to-host-season-pr-8418.aspx
2. http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Snls-Maya-Rudolph/800021495
3. It's Saturday Night Delayed!
4. Martin Lawrence's Monologue (Transcript)
5. 'Saturday Night Live' in the post-Tina Fey, YouTube unknown

External links

★ Official NBC website

★

★ directory for ''Saturday Night Live'' at Yahoo!

★ SNL: The Complete First Season DVD Press Release[3]

★ SNL Cast Database

★ SNL Musical Guests Database

★ Saturday Night Live Transcripts

★ Saturday Night Live FAQ

★ Al Franken Fan Club and Discussion Forum

★ Bill Hader Online

★ Bill Hader

★ Knocked Up & SNL's Kristen Wiig interview

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