The long-running American late-night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) first premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, and its fifty-first and most recent season premiered on October 4, 2025. Created by Lorne Michaels, who is the original and current showrunner, its history has been shaped by its large and constantly-changing cast of performers, as well as changes in its writing staff from year to year. It has played a prominent role in American popular culture and television since its inception, and changing attitudes towards cultural diversity have been evident particularly in its recent history.
Initially called NBC's Saturday Night and envisioned as something closer to a traditional variety show, the program was developed as a replacement for reruns of The Tonight Show and quickly became a staple of late-night television. The early years of SNL were dominated by its initial cast of performers, which became known as the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players", and included such performers as Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Gilda Radner. The cast members soon became famous during the first season, and the show became immediately known for its mix of satirical humor, political commentary, and celebrity impersonations, quickly developing a cult following.
Michaels left the program in 1980; the program was executive produced by associate producer Jean Doumanian for a year, then Dick Ebersol for several years, before Michaels returned in 1985. After an unstable 1985–1986 season, he introduced a new cast featuring performers like Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey, stabilising the show's production and helping to restore its popularity. He also reintroduced political satire of figures such as George H. W. Bush, an element of the series that had been deprioritised during the Ebersol era. Subsequent decades saw the rise of cast members like Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, and Kate McKinnon, helping to keep the show relevant to new generations of viewers.
Throughout its history, SNL has experienced fluctuations in critical reception and ratings. The show has launched the careers of numerous comedians and actors, with many cast members going on to successful careers in film and television. As of its fiftieth season in 2024, Saturday Night Live is one of the longest-running programs in television history, and has produced over 970 episodes. It has won numerous awards, including multiple Primetime Emmy Awards, and is often cited for its influence on popular culture and its impact on political satire.
Development: 1974–1975
Beginning in 1965, NBC network affiliates broadcast reruns of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on Saturday or Sunday nights. In 1974, Johnny Carson petitioned to NBC executives for the weekend shows to be pulled and saved so they could be aired during weeknights, allowing him to take time off. In response, NBC president Herbert Schlosser approached the vice president of late-night programming, Dick Ebersol, and asked him to create a show to fill the Saturday night time slot. The network had a weak Saturday night lineup at the time that garnered poor ratings, and networks had little interest in late-night Saturday shows until the mid-1970s.
At the suggestion of Paramount Pictures executive Barry Diller, Schlosser and Ebersol then approached Lorne Michaels. Over the next three weeks, Ebersol and Michaels developed the latter's idea for a variety show featuring high-concept comedy sketches, political satire, and music performances that would attract 18- to 34-year-old viewers. NBC decided to base the new show at their studios in 30 Rockefeller Center. Michaels was given Studio 8H, a converted radio studio that was home to NBC's election and Apollo moon landing coverage. It was revamped for the premiere at a cost of $250,000. By 1975, Michaels had assembled the show's initial cast, including Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner, and George Coe. The cast was nicknamed the "Not Ready For Prime-Time Players", a term coined by show writer Herb Sargent. Much of the talent pool involved in the inaugural season was recruited from The National Lampoon Radio Hour, including the original head writer, Michael O'Donoghue.
Radner was the first person hired after Michaels himself. Chase was initially hired as a writer but then became a performer. Newman was brought aboard after having already worked with Michaels on a Lily Tomlin special in 1974. Morris was initially brought in as a writer, but attempts to have him fired by another writer led Michaels to have Morris audition for the cast, where he turned in a successful performance. Curtin and Belushi were the last two cast members hired. Belushi had a disdain for television and had repeatedly turned down offers to appear on other shows, but decided to work with the show because of the involvement of Radner and writers Anne Beatts and O'Donoghue. Michaels was still reluctant to hire Belushi, believing he would be a source of trouble for the show, but Beatts, O'Donoghue, and Ebersol successfully argued for his inclusion. NBC executives insisted that Coe join the cast to balance out Michaels's younger selections.
The original theme music was written by Howard Shore, who was the original bandleader. The show was originally conceived with three rotating permanent hosts: Lily Tomlin, Richard Pryor, and George Carlin. According to Ebersol, consideration was given to Steve Martin and singer Linda Ronstadt also being included as a duo. When Pryor dropped out because his brand of comedy was not censor-friendly, the concept was dropped.
Debut and early years: 1975–1980 First seasons and cult success NBC's Saturday Night debuted on October 11, 1975, with an episode featuring Carlin as host. The cast was initially paid $750 per episode, and essentially lived at the offices, according to Michaels. Chase was the first performer to say the show's introduction line in the first episode, and would say it in all but two episodes for the rest of the season. Michaels said it would take a few weeks for the show to find itself on-air. Early episodes were more experimental with the show's format; segments from The Muppets were frequently featured in the first season, and the second episode featured eleven musical performances from host Paul Simon. The fourth episode, hosted by Candice Bergen, was seen as a turning point, with the cast featuring in most segments. The cast and crew were particularly happy with a "Jaws II" sketch, which was longer than was typical and featured multiple sets. Each cast member handed Bergen a red rose during the goodnights, and the show's format became more established following this episode.
The seventh episode hosted by Richard Pryor was an important one for Michaels, who had insisted on booking Pryor as host, feeling that he could aid in making the show more modern. However, network officials were concerned about Pryor's content and the possibility of profanity, and ordered Michaels to run the episode on a five-second tape delay. He was initially disallowed as host entirely, until Michaels threatened to walk off the show in protest. Pryor, as the first person of color to host the show, found the delay to be an insult when informed after the broadcast, and objected to being treated differently from other comedians. The Pryor episode was considered one of the show's best episodes, according to authors Doug Hill and Josh Weingrad. The episode's "Word Association" sketch, featuring Pryor and Chase, is considered one of the greatest SNL sketches of all time, according to Rolling Stone.
SNLs humor soon began to be seen as refreshing and daring, in comparison to previous sketch and variety shows that would rarely deal with controversial topics and issues, and the show soon developed a cult following. Michaels resisted the network censors on many occasions, and learned to effectively exploit the network's appeals process in order to maintain creative control and keep controversial sketches in production. The cast's improvisational backgrounds allowed them to experiment with different forms of comedy. Iconic characters during this period of the show included Belushi's samurai, the Coneheads (Aykroyd, Curtin, Newman), and Radner's Roseanne Roseannadanna.
Some NBC executives were not satisfied with the show's Nielsen ratings. Michaels and Ebersol successfully argued that baby boomers constituted a majority of the show's viewers according to Nielsen metrics, and many of them watched little else on television. Young adults were the most desirable demographic for advertisers, and executives eventually decided to keep the show on the air despite angry letters and phone calls from viewers who were offended by certain sketches.
Chase was the first anchor of the show's recurring "Weekend Update" segment, and therefore received more screen time than the rest of the cast. Physical comedy and exaggerated pratfalls became his trademarks, and he became the show's first breakout star. His impression of Gerald Ford during the 1976 presidential campaign was later cited as a factor in Ford losing the November 2, 1976 election. Chase's success led to tensions with the rest of the cast, particularly Belushi. Network executives also wanted him for a potential prime-time show, and he soon left the show during the 1976–1977 season. He was replaced by Bill Murray, whom Michaels had intended to hire for the initial cast but was unable to because of budget restrictions. Murray had a shaky start, but by the end of the second season, had begun to develop a following, with a sleazy know-it-all persona and characters such as Nick the Lounge Singer that became popular with viewers. The show became a mainstream hit by 1978, and spawned "Best of Saturday Night Live" compilations that also reached viewers who could not stay awake for the live broadcasts.
Cast tensions Chase returned to host in 1978; during the live telecast, Murray, goaded by Belushi, got into a physical altercation with Chase while musical guest Billy Joel was performing, according to Newman and Michaels in 2002. Chase later said the incident actually happened right before he delivered the opening monologue. Chase's departure to work in movies had made Michaels possessive of the show's talent; he threatened to fire Aykroyd if he accepted the role of D-Day in the 1978 comedy Animal House (which Belushi starred in), and later refused to allow SNL musician/performer Paul Shaffer to participate in The Blues Brothers with Aykroyd and Belushi. Animal House was a major box office success in 1978, which led to a further spike in SNLs popularity. Belushi's independent success began to cause jealousy and discontent in the other cast members, and Michaels became concerned that some cast members considered the show primarily a launching pad for movies and popular music.
Radner starred in a successful one-woman Broadway show titled Gilda Live in the fall of 1979, produced by Michaels. Tensions developed between Radner and some SNL writers because she and Michaels had spent much of the year working on the project. She had also recently broken off a relationship with Murray, and the two could barely speak to one another. Her Broadway show was filmed by director Mike Nichols for release to cinemas, but the project was a critical and financial disappointment upon its release in March 1980, despite the success of the Broadway show itself. The stress of these projects caused "exhaustion" for Radner during SNLs 1979–1980 season, according to SNL historians Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad.