Collin Gossel Per. 4 SNL in the 70 s
The Predecessors In the 1970 s, Comedy went through a drastic revolution. It went from often being clichéd and predictable, to anarchic, original and groundbreaking. When SNL premiered in 1975, it became the TV representation of this new comedy, but long before it debuted many comics were working to develop this new style:
Richard Pryor
Steve Martin
George Carlin
Humble Beginnings Lorne Michaels, 1976 In late 1974, Johnny Carson (host of the Tonight Show) said that he didn t want reruns of his show replayed on weekends, as they had been. In response, NBC executives immediately started looking for a replacement late night show to air at 11:30 P.M. on Saturdays. After a small amount of time, they found a Canadian television producer named Lorne Michaels, who had revolutionary ideas about a satirical variety show to fill the slot.
Humble Beginnings, Con. After a period of time to prepare, Lorne Michaels put together an all-star cast of 7, with the help of NBC executive Dick Ebersol.
The First Season Andy Kaufman, performing Mighty Mouse on the first episode of SNL When the show premiered on Oct. 11 1975, it was largely ignored by the public, and only one major New York paper made a revue. Within several episodes however, it started to gain a huge following, and was unanimously praised for its groundbreaking and hilarious techniques.
The Cast The 7 original repertory players, commonly referred to as the not ready for Prime-time players, came predominately improv comedy backgrounds, with a few exceptions. They have been remembered since by many as the greatest cast of all time, for several reasons. Some say it is because they were simply the funniest. A far more likely reason is that they were the first people to do it, and set the first precedent, which all other generations would have to live up to. They are listed now in Alphabetical order, by last name:
Dan Akroyd Came from Toronto, Canada Already good friends with Gilda Radner Had the lion s share of political impersonations Left in 1978 Second City Alumni
John Belushi Second City Alumni Good Friends with Dan Akroyd The Charismatic actor of the cast Had a very antagonistic relationship with Chevy Chase. Died at age 33 of a drug overdose
Chevy Chase First breakout star of the show Hosted Weekend Update segment Known for his deadpan humor Left after first year to pursue a movie career Hated by a great majority of the cast
Jane Curtain First woman anchor of weekend update Only cast member with any sort of home life Known for playing the strait woman to characters Stayed entire 5 years
Garrett Morris Most underused player of original cast. Was originally a high school teacher in New York Stayed all five years
Laraine Newman Most underused woman of the cast Stayed all five years Was addicted to heroin Originally lived in L.A.
Gilda Radner First breakout woman of the cast Was bulimic Believed by many to be the greatest woman cast member of all time Died of Ovarian cancer at the age of 43
Bill Murray Second City Alumni Had a fight with Chevy Chase backstage when he came back to host Underused the first couple of seasons he was a player Loved character pieces
Cultural Relevance (Then and Now) Since its debut, SNL has had a cultural relevance few shows can boast. One example is it s extremely topical humor. Since it airs live, the only fictional program that does so in the United States (Walken). Because of this, should an event happen even as late as Saturday Evening, it is possible to be included or lampooned in the show. This, combined with the comedic talent of the cast, provided the public a singular show that lampooned current events better than any other. In this past presidential election, as well as several others, it is theorized that SNL had a major part in swaying voters towards the democratic side after satirizing presidential candidate John McCain and Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin. It is this satire that many think lost Gerald Ford the 1977 presidential election.
Cultural Relevance, Con. (Then and Now) Another way that SNL shows itself to be culturally relevant, both then and now, is its cutting edge social satire. Though it shares this feature with most comedy shows, it takes its own spin on things, often display our flawed perception of reality through absurdity or mimicry rather than direct mockery. Though SNL is known for its political humor, many of its most popular sketches are character pieces satirizing human behavior.
Cultural Relevance Bullet Points A live televised event These were the funniest people in comedy Painted comedians basically goofing off as cool and rebellious, rather than older quirky Comedy took a turn for the absurd, it could be almost anything you wanted. Impact on Drug Culture THE CHILDREN!! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!! 20
The Sketches In the first 5 seasons of SNL, the cast and writers created a plethora of hilarious and memorable sketches. Here are but a few: The Bees The Czech Brothers Emily Litella Roseanne Rosanadana The Coneheads Weekend Update Larry the Lounge Singer The Nerds The Blues Brothers Landshark Uncle Roy Stunt Baby Don t Look Back in Anger
Writers For purposes of time I focused mainly on the cast members of the show, but in all honesty, there is another group of people doing almost the same work and never get as much credit. They are the writers of SNL, and I d like to honor them here for their hard work and genius on the 70 s shows. Thank you to Anne Beatts, Alan Zweibel, Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Michael O Donaghue, James Downey, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Herb Sangent, Rosie Shuster, and most especially LORNE MICHAELS.