Saturday Night Live (Season 1)
Encyclopedia
The first season of Saturday Night Live, the weekly late-night 90-minute American sketch comedy/variety show on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

, aired during the 1975–1976 television season
1975–1976 United States network television schedule (late night)
These are the late night Monday-Friday schedules on all three networks for each calendar season beginning September 1975. All times are Eastern/Pacific.Talk/Variety shows are highlighted in yellow, Local News & Programs are highlighted in white....

.
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

premiered on October 11, 1975 and consisted of a total of 24 episodes, the last of which aired on July 31, 1976.

In 1974, NBC
Tonight Show
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....

host Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...

 requested that the weekend broadcasts of "Best of Carson" (officially known as
The Weekend Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) come to an end (back then, The Tonight Show was a 90-minute program), so that Carson could take two weeknights off and NBC would thus air those repeats on those nights rather than feed them to affiliates for broadcast on either Saturdays or Sundays. Given Carson's undisputed status as the dean of late-night television, NBC heard his request as an ultimatum, fearing he might use the issue as grounds to defect to either ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 or CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

. To fill the gap, the network drew up some ideas and brought in Dick Ebersol
Dick Ebersol
Duncan "Dick" Ebersol is an American television executive and a senior adviser for . He had previously been the chairman of NBC Sports, producing large scale television events such as the Olympic Games and National Football League broadcasts....

 – a protégé of legendary ABC Sports president Roone Arledge
Roone Arledge
Roone Pickney Arledge, Jr. was an American sports broadcasting pioneer who was chairman of ABC News from 1977 until several years before his death, and a key part of the company's rise to competition with the two other main television networks, NBC and CBS, in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.-Early...

 – to develop a 90-minute late-night variety show. Ebersol's first order of business was hiring a young Canadian producer named Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...

 to be the show-runner.

Television production in New York was already in decline in the mid-1970s (The Tonight Show had departed for Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 two years prior), so NBC decided to base the show at their studios in Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...

 to offset the overhead of maintaining those facilities. Michaels was given Studio 8H, a converted radio studio that prior to that point was most famous for having hosted Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...

 and the NBC Symphony Orchestra
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...

 from 1937 to 1951, but was being used largely for network election coverage by the mid-1970s.

When the first show aired on October 11, 1975 with George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....

 as its host, it was called NBC's Saturday Night because ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 featured a program at the same time titled Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell
Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell
Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell was a program that ran on ABC from September 1975 to January 1976, hosted by Howard Cosell and executively produced by Roone Arledge. The series ran for 18 episodes before being cancelled...

. After ABC cancelled the Cosell program in 1976, the NBC program changed its name to Saturday Night Live on March 26, 1977 (and subsequently picked up Bill Murray
Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...

 from Cosell's show in 1977, as well). Don Pardo
Don Pardo
Dominick George "Don" Pardo is an American radio and television announcer. He is best known as the voice of the long-running late night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live....

 introduced the cast on the first show as the "The not for ready, prime time players" instead of their actual name as "The Not Ready For Prime Time Players."

The show was intended to have just six episodes. The original concept was for a comedy-variety show featuring young comedians, live musical performances, short films by Albert Brooks
Albert Brooks
Albert Lawrence Brooks is an American actor, voice actor, writer, comedian and director. He received an Academy Award nomination in 1987 for his role in Broadcast News...

, and segments by Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...

 featuring atypically adult and abstract characters from the Muppets world. Rather than have one permanent host, Michaels elected to have a different guest host each week (Albert Brooks was originally booked to be a permanent host, and claims it was his idea to have a different host each week). The first episode featured two musical guests (Billy Preston
Billy Preston
William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...

 and Janis Ian
Janis Ian
Janis Ian is an American songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author. Ian first entered the folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-sixties; most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century...

), and the second episode, hosted by Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

 on October 18, was almost entirely a musical variety show with various acts. The Not Ready For Prime-Time Players did not appear in this episode at all, other than as the bees with Simon telling them they were cancelled and Chase in the opening and "Weekend Update". Over the course of Season 1, sketch comedy would begin to dominate the show and SNL would more closely resemble its current format.

The first cast member hired was Gilda Radner
Gilda Radner
Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...

. The rest of the cast included fellow Second City
The Second City
The Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...

 alumni Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...

 and John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

, as well as National Lampoon
National Lampoon Inc
National Lampoon, Incorporated is a company formed in 2002 in order to use the brand name "National Lampoon" in comedy and entertainment. In the words of its prospectus, the role of the company is to "develop, produce, provide creative services and distribute National Lampoon branded comedic...

 "Lemmings" alumnus Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...

 (whose trademark became his usual falls and opening spiel that cued the show's opening), Jane Curtin
Jane Curtin
Jane Therese Curtin is an American actress and comedienne. She is commonly referred to as Queen of the Deadpan.First coming to prominence as an original cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1975, she went on to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on the 1980s...

, Laraine Newman
Laraine Newman
Laraine Newman is an American comedienne, actress, and writer, and was part of the original Saturday Night Live cast.-Personal life:...

, and Garrett Morris
Garrett Morris
Garrett Gonzalez Morris is an American comedian and actor from New Orleans. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live, appearing from 1975 to 1980.-Early life and career:...

. The original head writer
Head writer
A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits, but in prime time series this function is generally performed by an...

 was Michael O'Donoghue
Michael O'Donoghue
Michael O'Donoghue was a writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to National Lampoon magazine, and was the first head writer of Saturday Night Live.-Childhood:O'Donoghue was born Michael Henry Donohue in Sauquoit, New York...

, a writer at National Lampoon who had worked alongside several cast members while directing The National Lampoon Radio Hour
The National Lampoon Radio Hour
The National Lampoon Radio Hour was a comedy radio show which was created, produced and initially written by staff from National Lampoon magazine. The show ran weekly, for a little over a year, from November 17, 1973 to December 28, 1974...

. The original theme music was written by future Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

–winning composer Howard Shore
Howard Shore
Howard Leslie Shore is a Canadian composer, notable for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he won three Academy Awards. He is also a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg,...

, who – along with his band (occasionally billed as the "All Nurse Band" or "All Angel Band") – was the original band leader on the show. Paul Shaffer
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.-Early years:...

, who would go on to lead David Letterman's band on
Late Night and then The Late Show, was also band leader in the early years. George Coe
George Coe
George Coe is an American film, stage, and television actor. He is best known for having been a cast member on the first three episodes of Saturday Night Live, as well as for his work on various television shows.-Career:...

 was hired because NBC wanted to have an older person in the cast.

Much of the talent pool involved in the inaugural season was recruited from the
National Lampoon Radio Hour, an inventive, nationally syndicated comedy series that often satirized current events. Actors and writers from Radio Hour received much more exposure and recognition on Saturday Night.

Andy Kaufman
Andy Kaufman
Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman was an American entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as a comedian, Kaufman did not consider himself one...

 made several appearances that were popular with the audience over the season, while
The Muppets
The Muppets
The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference...

' Land of Gorch bits were very unpopular with the audience and would be dropped from the show in the following season.

This would be the only season for Coe and O'Donoghue. While Coe left the show all together, O'Donoghue would continue to work for the show as a writer.

Cast

Repertory cast members
  • Dan Aykroyd
    Dan Aykroyd
    Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...

  • John Belushi
    John Belushi
    John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

  • Chevy Chase
    Chevy Chase
    Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...

  • George Coe
    George Coe
    George Coe is an American film, stage, and television actor. He is best known for having been a cast member on the first three episodes of Saturday Night Live, as well as for his work on various television shows.-Career:...

  • Jane Curtin
    Jane Curtin
    Jane Therese Curtin is an American actress and comedienne. She is commonly referred to as Queen of the Deadpan.First coming to prominence as an original cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1975, she went on to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on the 1980s...

  • Garrett Morris
    Garrett Morris
    Garrett Gonzalez Morris is an American comedian and actor from New Orleans. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live, appearing from 1975 to 1980.-Early life and career:...

  • Laraine Newman
    Laraine Newman
    Laraine Newman is an American comedienne, actress, and writer, and was part of the original Saturday Night Live cast.-Personal life:...

  • Michael O'Donoghue
    Michael O'Donoghue
    Michael O'Donoghue was a writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to National Lampoon magazine, and was the first head writer of Saturday Night Live.-Childhood:O'Donoghue was born Michael Henry Donohue in Sauquoit, New York...

  • Gilda Radner
    Gilda Radner
    Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...



Featured cast members
(none)
bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

The original writing staff included Anne Beatts
Anne Beatts
- Early life:Born to parents Beatts describes as "beatniks", Beatts grew to have what has been called an "aggressive, dark sensibility" which she later put to use in the world of comedy. Growing up in Somers, New York she later attended McGill University....

, Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...

, Tom Davis
Tom Davis (comedian)
Tom Davis is an American writer and comedian. He is an Emmy Award winner, and is best known for his former partnership with Al Franken, as half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis" on Saturday Night Live.-Life and career:...

, Al Franken
Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

, Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...

, Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Michael O'Donoghue
Michael O'Donoghue
Michael O'Donoghue was a writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to National Lampoon magazine, and was the first head writer of Saturday Night Live.-Childhood:O'Donoghue was born Michael Henry Donohue in Sauquoit, New York...

, Herb Sargent
Herb Sargent
Herbert Sargent was an American television writer, a producer for such comedy shows as The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live, and a screenwriter...

, Tom Schiller
Tom Schiller
Tom Schiller is an American Emmy Award winning writer best known for his eleven-year stint writing and directing short films for Saturday Night Live...

, Rosie Shuster and Alan Zweibel
Alan Zweibel
Alan Zweibel is an American producer and writer who has worked on such productions as Saturday Night Live, PBS' Great Performances, and It's Garry Shandling's Show.-Early life:...

.

Episodes

Episode
Number
Date Host Musical Guest Remarks
1 October 11, 1975 George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....

Billy Preston
Billy Preston
William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...

 
Janis Ian
Janis Ian
Janis Ian is an American songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author. Ian first entered the folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-sixties; most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century...

  • This is the first episode of the series.
  • The first sketch is John Belushi
    John Belushi
    John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

     as a foreign man learning English which Andy Kaufman, later in his career, adopts as his Foreign Man character
  • According to the cast list shown on screen, the Players include George Coe
    George Coe
    George Coe is an American film, stage, and television actor. He is best known for having been a cast member on the first three episodes of Saturday Night Live, as well as for his work on various television shows.-Career:...

     and Michael O'Donoghue
    Michael O'Donoghue
    Michael O'Donoghue was a writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to National Lampoon magazine, and was the first head writer of Saturday Night Live.-Childhood:O'Donoghue was born Michael Henry Donohue in Sauquoit, New York...

    .
  • Future cast member Billy Crystal
    Billy Crystal
    William Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes...

     was scheduled to appear, but his stand-up segment was cut when the dress rehearsal ran long.
  • Andy Kaufman
    Andy Kaufman
    Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman was an American entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as a comedian, Kaufman did not consider himself one...

    's segment, which consisted of him playing the Mighty Mouse
    Mighty Mouse
    Mighty Mouse is an animated superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox.-History:The character was created by story man Izzy Klein as a super-powered housefly named Superfly. Studio head Paul Terry changed the character into a cartoon mouse instead...

     theme on a record player, survived editing cuts.
  • On June 28, 2008, NBC cancelled a re-airing of the season 33 episode hosted by Ellen Page
    Ellen Page
    Ellen Philpotts-Page , known professionally as Ellen Page, is a Canadian actress. Page received both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Actress for her role as the title character in the film Juno...

     to air this episode following the death of George Carlin.
  • Comedians Valri Bromfield
    Valri Bromfield
    Valri Bromfield is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, and television producer who started her career as one half of a comedy team with Dan Aykroyd. Together, they joined the first Toronto company of The Second City where she was one of the original players.-Television appearances:Bromfield was a...

     and Andy Kaufman
    Andy Kaufman
    Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman was an American entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as a comedian, Kaufman did not consider himself one...

     made guest appearances.
  • Billy Preston performed "Nothing from Nothing
    Nothing from Nothing (Billy Preston song)
    "Nothing From Nothing" was a song written by Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher. It was performed by keyboardist/vocalist Billy Preston for his 1974 album The Kids and Me...

    " and "Fancy Lady."
  • Janis Ian performed "At Seventeen
    At Seventeen
    "At Seventeen" is a song by Janis Ian, released in 1975 on Between the Lines and as a single. Ian's most successful recording, the song is a commentary on adolescent cruelty, the illusion of popularity, and teenage angst, as reflected upon from the maturity of adulthood...

    " and "In the Winter."
2 October 18, 1975 Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....


Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow was a fictional character created by Earnest Elmo Calkins to promote the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The advertising campaign, based on a live model, using impressionistic techniques and a fictional character, was one of the first of its kind.-The advertising...


Art Garfunkel
Art Garfunkel
Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel...


Jessy Dixon Singers
Jessy Dixon
Jessy Dixon was an American gospel singer, songwriter, and pianist, with success among audiences across racial lines. He garnered seven Grammy nominations during his career....

  • This episode contains an all-time record 11 musical performances. The Not Ready for Prime Time Players appear only as the Bees, in a sketch in which they break character
    Breaking character
    Breaking character, "to break character", is a theatrical term used to describe when an actor, while actively performing in character, slips out of character and behaves as his or her actual self...

     while the host tells them their piece has been cut. Chevy Chase appears only in the cold opening and Weekend Update
    Weekend Update
    Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance...

    .
  • Basketball player Connie Hawkins
    Connie Hawkins
    Cornelius L. Hawkins is a former National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association player, Harlem Globetrotter and New York City playground legend...

    , sports commentator Marv Albert
    Marv Albert
    Marv Albert is an American television and radio sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he is commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball." From 1967–2004, he was also known as "the voice of the New York Knicks."Including Super Bowl XLII, Marv has called...

    , and activist Jerry Rubin
    Jerry Rubin
    Jerry Rubin was an American social activist during the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s, he became a successful businessman.-Early life:...

     made cameo appearances.
  • Most of the sketches were cut in order to extend Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel's musical set. They performed "The Boxer
    The Boxer
    "The Boxer" is a folk rock ballad written by Paul Simon in 1968 and first recorded by Simon & Garfunkel. It was released as the follow-up single to their number one hit "Mrs. Robinson", and reached #7 in the US charts. It later appeared on their last studio album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, along...

    ," "Scarborough Fair" and their then-new single "My Little Town
    My Little Town
    "My Little Town" is a 1975 song by the American duo Simon & Garfunkel. It was written by Paul Simon, who produced the track along with Art Garfunkel and Phil Ramone...

    ."
  • Paul Simon performed the songs "Still Crazy After All These Years
    Still Crazy After All These Years
    Still Crazy After All These Years is the fourth studio album by Paul Simon.Recorded in 1975, the album produced four US Top 40 hits, "Gone at Last" , "My Little Town" , "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" and the title track . It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1976...

    ," "Marie" and "American Tune
    American Tune
    "American Tune" is a song written and first performed by Paul Simon. The song first appeared on There Goes Rhymin' Simon , Simon's second solo album following the breakup of Simon and Garfunkel...

    " solo, and performed "Loves Me Like a Rock
    Loves Me Like a Rock
    "Loves Me Like a Rock" is a 1973 song recorded by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Simon wrote the song, which appears on his solo album There Goes Rhymin' Simon....

    " with the Jessy Dixon Singers and "Gone at Last" with Phoebe Snow.
  • Art Garfunkel performed the song "I Only Have Eyes for You
    I Only Have Eyes for You
    "I Only Have Eyes for You" is a popular song by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, written in 1934 for the film Dames where it was introduced by Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler....

    ."
  • Randy Newman performed the song "Sail Away
    Sail Away (Randy Newman song)
    "Sail Away" is a song by Randy Newman, the title track of his 1972 album.-Lyrics and interpretation:"Sail Away" is representative of Newman's trademark unconventional and clever approach to songwriting: it takes the form of a "come on" or a "pitch" from an American slave trader to potential slaves...

    ."
  • Phoebe Snow performed the song "No Regrets."
  • George Coe and Michael O'Donoghue are removed from the opening credits.
  • 3 October 25, 1975 Rob Reiner
    Rob Reiner
    Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...

  • Rob Reiner is the first host to appear in full sketches with the regular cast.
  • Denny Dillon
    Denny Dillon
    Denise "Denny" Dillon is an American comedian and former cast member of Saturday Night Live. At 4'11" , Dillon is the shortest cast member in the show's history...

     appears as a "special guest" with Mark Hampton in a sketch as nuns running a parish talent show. Dillon would later become a cast member during the show's sixth season.
  • Rob Reiner's then-wife Penny Marshall
    Penny Marshall
    Penny Marshall is an American actress, producer and director.After playing several small roles for television, she was cast as Laverne DeFazio in the sitcom Laverne and Shirley...

     made three cameo appearances.
  • Comedian Andy Kaufman
    Andy Kaufman
    Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman was an American entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as a comedian, Kaufman did not consider himself one...

     made a cameo appearance.
  • George Coe and Michael O'Donoghue's final appearance as cast members. Although they were no longer listed in the cast after this, Coe would continue to appear regularly until the end of the season and O'Donoghue would appear regularly until the end of the 4th season. George Coe is not listed in the opening credits.
  • There was no billed musical guest for this episode. At host Reiner's request, John Belushi did his impersonation of Joe Cocker while performing "With a Little Help from My Friends
    With a Little Help from My Friends
    -Joe Cocker version:Joe Cocker's version was a radical re-arrangement of the original, in a slower, 6/8 meter, using different chords in the middle eight, and a lengthy instrumental introduction...

    " (which originated during Belushi's stint in National Lampoon's Lemmings
    National Lampoon's Lemmings
    National Lampoon's Lemmings, a spinoff of the humor magazine National Lampoon, was a 1973 stage show which helped launch the performing careers of John Belushi, Christopher Guest, and Chevy Chase. The show was co-written and co-directed by a number of people including Sean Kelly...

    ).
  • The show ended without a goodbye from the host or final credits. Credits were not created until the episode was rerun in 1978.
  • 4 November 8, 1975 Candice Bergen
    Candice Bergen
    Candice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...

    Esther Phillips
    Esther Phillips
    Esther Phillips was an American singer. Phillips was known for her R&B vocals, but she was a versatile singer, also performing pop, country, jazz, blues and soul music.-Early life:...

  • Bergen is the first woman to host the show.
  • First appearance of the Landshark.
  • Chevy Chase proclaims for the first time on Weekend Update, "I'm Chevy Chase... and you're not."
  • Comedian Andy Kaufman
    Andy Kaufman
    Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman was an American entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as a comedian, Kaufman did not consider himself one...

     made a cameo appearance.
  • Esther Phillips performed the songs "What a Diff'rence a Day Made
    What a Diff'rence a Day Made
    "What a Diff'rence a Day Made" is a popular song originally written in Spanish by María Méndez Grever , a Mexican composer, in 1934. Originally, the song was known as Cuando Vuelva A Tu Lado...

    " and "I Can Stand a Little Rain."
  • 5 November 15, 1975 Robert Klein
    Robert Klein
    Robert Klein is an American stand-up comedian, singer and actor.-Early life:Klein was born in the Bronx, the son of Frieda and Benjamin Klein, and was raised in a "prototypical 1950s Bronx Jewish" environment. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School, Klein planned to study medicine...

    ABBA
    ABBA
    ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...


    Loudon Wainwright III
    Loudon Wainwright III
    Loudon Snowden Wainwright III is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To...

  • ABBA
    ABBA
    ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...

     makes two appearances, singing "S.O.S.
    SOS
    SOS is the commonly used description for the international Morse code distress signal...

    " on board the sinking "Titanic," and lip-synch their second number, "Waterloo." Captions informed the audience that "It's not their fault. The tapes didn't arrive from Sweden."
  • Loudon Wainwright III performed the songs "Bicentennial" and "Unrequited to the Nth Degree."
  • Host Robert Klein performed the song "I Can't Stop My Leg."
  • First appearance of Emily Litella.
  • 6 November 22, 1975 Lily Tomlin
    Lily Tomlin
    Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...

    Tomlin with Howard Shore & the All Nurse Band
  • Lily Tomlin is the first host to interact with the Muppets. She is also technically the first to host and be in the musical act, but the show was listed without a musical act. She performed the songs "St. James Infirmary Blues
    St. James Infirmary Blues
    "St. James Infirmary Blues" is based on an 18th century traditional English folk song of anonymous origin, though sometimes credited to the songwriter Joe Primrose . Louis Armstrong made it famous in his influential 1928 recording.-Authorship and history:"St...

    " and "Bee Bop."
  • 7 December 13, 1975 Richard Pryor
    Richard Pryor
    Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...

    Gil Scott-Heron
    Gil Scott-Heron
    Gilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author known primarily for his work as a spoken word performer in the 1970s and '80s...

  • This episode had the first seven-second delay for "SNL."
  • Pryor was first African-American to host "SNL."
  • The West Coast airing of this episode bleeped out Richard Pryor saying "ass" during one of his stand-up routines. It has since been shown intact.
  • Garrett Morris says "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!
    Live from New York, It's Saturday Night!
    "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" is the famous line featured on the American comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live which runs on the NBC broadcast network...

    " in this episode, one of only two Season One episodes in which the line is said by someone other than Chevy Chase.
  • Pryor's ex-wife Shelley Pryor makes a cameo appearance.
  • Gil Scott-Heron performed the songs "Johannesburg" and "A Lovely Day."
  • The episode introduces the recurring catchphrase "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead
    Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead
    "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead" is a catchphrase mocking the weeks-long media reports of the Spanish dictator's impending death that originated in 1975 during the first season of NBC's Saturday Night...

    " during Weekend Update."
  • 8 December 20, 1975 Candice Bergen
    Candice Bergen
    Candice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...

    Martha Reeves
    Martha Reeves
    Martha Rose Reeves is an American R&B and Pop singer and former politician, and was the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. During her tenure with The Vandellas, they scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Jimmy Mack", "Dancing in the Street" and "Nowhere to Run"...


    The Stylistics
    The Stylistics
    The Stylistics are a soul music vocal group, and were one of the best-known Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. They formed in 1968, and were composed of lead Russell Thompkins, Jr., Herbie Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith, and James Dunn. All of their US hits were ballads, graced by the...

  • Candice Bergen became the first person to host the show a second time and the first to host more than once in the same season.
  • Maggie Kuhn
    Maggie Kuhn
    Maggie Kuhn was an American activist known for founding the Gray Panthers movement in 1971 after being forced into retirement by the Presbyterian Church...

     made a cameo appearance.
  • Martha Reeves performed the songs "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher
    (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher
    " Higher and Higher" is a hit R&B song originally performed by Jackie Wilson in 1967. The song was notably recorded by Rita Coolidge in 1977.-Overview:...

    " and "Silver Bells."
  • The Stylistics performed the song "You Make Me Feel Brand New
    You Make Me Feel Brand New
    "You Make Me Feel Brand New" was a 1974 hit by the Philadelphia soul group The Stylistics. The song was written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed.An R&B ballad, it was the fifth track from their 1974 album, Let's Put It All Together and was released as a single and reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot...

    ."
  • Candice Bergen performed the song "Winter Wonderland
    Winter Wonderland
    "Winter Wonderland" is a winter song, popularly treated as a Christmastime pop standard, written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith . Through the decades it has been recorded by over 150 different artists.-History:...

    " with the cast (in which Garrett Morris sang the lead).
  • The "Homeward Bound" short film from this episode was included in the prime-time special "SNL: Just Shorts."
  • 9 January 10, 1976 Elliott Gould
    Elliott Gould
    Elliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. Some of his most notable films include M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received an Oscar nomination...

    Anne Murray
    Anne Murray
    Morna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....

  • The first of Gould's six hosting stints.
  • The last episode to feature a film by Albert Brooks.
  • Paula Kahn made a cameo appearance.
  • Anne Murray performed the songs "The Call" and "Boogie with You."
  • Lorne Michaels
    Lorne Michaels
    Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...

     makes his first appearance on the show.
  • Future SNL cast member and writer Al Franken
    Al Franken
    Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

     makes an appearance along with future writer and occasional performer Tom Davis
    Tom Davis (comedian)
    Tom Davis is an American writer and comedian. He is an Emmy Award winner, and is best known for his former partnership with Al Franken, as half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis" on Saturday Night Live.-Life and career:...

    .
  • Features the Interior Demolitionists sketch.
  • This episode was submitted for the Emmy Award Consideration and won SNL their first Emmy in 1977
  • 10 January 17, 1976 Buck Henry
    Buck Henry
    Henry Zuckerman, better known as Buck Henry , is an American actor, writer, film director, and television director.-Early life:...

    Bill Withers
    Bill Withers
    William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...


    Toni Basil
    Toni Basil
    Antonia Christina Basilotta , better known by her stage name Toni Basil, is an American singer-songwriter, actress, filmmaker, film director, choreographer, and dancer, best known for her multi-million-selling worldwide #1 hit "Mickey" from 1982.-Early life:Basil was born Antonia Christina...

  • The first appearance of The Blues Brothers
    The Blues Brothers
    The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live...

    , in the Bees costumes, the first and last time the costumes would be used in the act.
  • The first of Henry's ten hosting stints.
  • Bill Withers performed the song "Ain't No Sunshine
    Ain't No Sunshine
    "Ain't No Sunshine" is a song by Bill Withers from his 1971 album Just as I Am, produced by Booker T. Jones. The record featured musicians Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass guitar and Al Jackson, Jr. on drums, as well as Withers on lead vocals and guitar. The song was released as a single in September...

    ."
  • Toni Basil performed the song "Wham."
  •  
    11 January 24, 1976 Peter Cook
    Peter Cook
    Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...


    Dudley Moore
    Dudley Moore
    Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...

    Neil Sedaka
    Neil Sedaka
    Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...

  • Don Pardo
    Don Pardo
    Dominick George "Don" Pardo is an American radio and television announcer. He is best known as the voice of the long-running late night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live....

     reads the names of the regular cast members during the opening credits for the first time.
  • Cook and Moore are the first British performers to host and the first co-hosts.
  • Neil Sedaka performed the songs "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" and "Lonely Nights."
  • 12 January 31, 1976 Dick Cavett
    Dick Cavett
    Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues...

    Jimmy Cliff
    Jimmy Cliff
    Jimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican musician, singer and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences...

  • Humorist Marshall Efron
    Marshall Efron
    Marshall Efron is an American humorist originally known for his work on the listener-sponsored Pacifica radio stations WBAI New York and KPFK Los Angeles, and later for the PBS television show The Great American Dream Machine...

     and Al Alen Petersen made cameo appearances.
  • Jimmy Cliff performed the songs "The Harder They Come
    The Harder They Come
    The Harder They Come is a 1972 Jamaican crime film directed by Perry Henzell.The film stars reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who plays Ivanhoe Martin, a character based on Rhyging, a real-life Jamaican criminal who achieved fame in the 1940s...

    ," "Many Rivers to Cross
    Many Rivers to Cross
    - Song information :This is one of the few Cliff tracks to use an organ, which helps to supplement the gospel feel provided by the backing vocalists. Cliff released the song, with production work by Leslie Kong, on his 1969 album, Jimmy Cliff. It was also released on the 1972 soundtrack album for...

    " and "Wahjahka Man."
  • This was the second show to end without credits, as the show ran long with only the two bumpers appearing on the show before it ended. The ending was replaced with the closing credits from Cavett's second show in the following years.
  • 13 February 14, 1976 Peter Boyle
    Peter Boyle
    Peter Lawrence Boyle, Jr. was an American actor, best known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and as a comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof Young Frankenstein ....

    Al Jarreau
    Al Jarreau
    Alwin "Al" Lopez Jarreau is a seven-time Grammy Award winning jazz singer.- Background :Jarreau was born in Milwaukee, the fifth of six children. His web site refers to Reservoir, Inc., the name of the street where he lived. His father was a Seventh-Day Adventist Church minister and singer, and...

  • The Shapiro Sisters dance and lip-sync the song "This Will Be
    This Will Be
    "This Will Be" is a song performed by Natalie Cole and composed by Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy. It was Natalie Cole's debut single in 1975 and one of her biggest hits, becoming a number-one R&B and number-six pop smash in the U.S. and also reaching the UK Top 40...

    ." One of the sisters, Jenny, also appears in a sketch.
  • Al Jarreau performs the songs "We Got By" and "Somebody's Watching You."
  • Steven Spielberg
    Steven Spielberg
    Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

     makes an appearance in the audience while Peter Boyle sings a love song to his "wife".
  • 14 February 21, 1976 Desi Arnaz
    Desi Arnaz
    Desi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American musician, actor and television producer. While he gained international renown for leading a Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, he is probably best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American TV series I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to...

    Desi Arnaz
    Desi Arnaz
    Desi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American musician, actor and television producer. While he gained international renown for leading a Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, he is probably best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American TV series I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to...

     & Desi Arnaz Jr.
  • Though he is not the first host to perform musically on the show, Arnaz is the first host to be simultaneously credited as musical guest. Arnaz and his son performed the songs "Cuban Pete" and "Babalu
    Babalu (song)
    Babalu is the title of a Cuban song, written by Margarita Lecuona, the cousin of composers Ernestina and Ernesto Lecuona. The song title is either a reference to the Santería deity Babalu Aye or to Babalawo, the title of a Santería priest and diviner....

    ."
  • Actor Taylor Mead
    Taylor Mead
    Taylor Mead is an American writer, actor, and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films including Tarzan and Jane Regained.....

     made a filmed cameo appearance.
  • 15 February 28, 1976 Jill Clayburgh
    Jill Clayburgh
    Jill Clayburgh was an American actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles in An Unmarried Woman and Starting Over.-Personal life:...

    Leon Redbone
    Leon Redbone
    Leon Redbone is a singer and guitarist specializing in interpretations of early 20th-century music, including jazz and blues standards and Tin Pan Alley classics....


    The Singing Idlers
    The Idlers
    The Idlers of the United States Coast Guard Academy are an all-male collegiate a cappella ensemble specializing in the performance of sea shanties and patriotic music.-Overview:...

  • A cappella group The Idlers
    The Idlers
    The Idlers of the United States Coast Guard Academy are an all-male collegiate a cappella ensemble specializing in the performance of sea shanties and patriotic music.-Overview:...

     and comedian Andy Kaufman
    Andy Kaufman
    Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman was an American entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as a comedian, Kaufman did not consider himself one...

     made cameo appearances. Host Jill Clayburgh also appeared with these guests.
  • This is Kaufman's fourth appearance
  • Photographer and video artist William Wegman appears with his dog in Gary Weis's filmed piece.
  • Leon Redbone performed the songs "Ain't Misbehavin'
    Ain't Misbehavin' (song)
    "Ain't Misbehavin" is a 1929 song written by Thomas "Fats" Waller, Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf . Waller recorded the original version that year for Victor Records and also later performed the song in the 1943 film Stormy Weather. It was used in the off-broadway musical Connie's Hot Chocolates...

    " and "Big Time Woman."
  • The first appearance of Mister Bill in response to the show's request for home movies.
  • Lorne Michaels
    Lorne Michaels
    Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...

     makes his second appearance in a sketch, imploring Chevy to once again start the show with a pratfall.
  • 16 March 13, 1976 Anthony Perkins
    Anthony Perkins
    Anthony Perkins was an American actor, best known for his Oscar-nominated role in Friendly Persuasion and as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho , and its three sequels.-Early life:...

    Betty Carter
    Betty Carter
    Betty Carter was an American jazz singer renowned for her improvisational technique and idiosyncratic vocal style...

  • This is the first episode to feature pictures of the cast in the opening credits.
  • Betty Carter performed the songs "Music Maestro, Please / Swing Brother Swing" and "I Can't Help It."
  • 17 April 17, 1976 Ron Nessen
    Ron Nessen
    Ronald Harold Nessen was White House Press Secretary for President Gerald Ford from 1974 to 1977. He replaced Jerald terHorst, who resigned in the wake of President Ford's pardon of former president Richard Nixon....

    Patti Smith Group
  • Ron Nessen, press secretary for President Gerald Ford
    Gerald Ford
    Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

    , is the first political figure to host the show. Ford himself appears in a filmed segment during the cold opening where he opens the show with "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" after Chevy Chase's signature pratfall.
  • Future cast member Billy Crystal
    Billy Crystal
    William Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes...

     appears on the show for the first time, performing a monologue.
  • First appearance of Dan Aykroyd as talk show host Tom Snyder
    Tom Snyder
    Thomas James "Tom" Snyder was an American television personality, news anchor and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows The Tomorrow Show, on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Late Late Show, on the CBS Television Network in the 1990s...

    .
  • Patti Smith Group performed the song "Gloria" and "My Generation."
  • 18 April 24, 1976 Raquel Welch
    Raquel Welch
    Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...

    Phoebe Snow
    John Sebastian
    John Sebastian
    John Benson Sebastian Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and autoharpist. He is best known as a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, a band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000...

  • Lorne Michaels appears on air, offering the Beatles $3,000 to perform three songs.
  • This episode was originally supposed to have a sketch called "Planet of the Enormous Hooters," where a woman (Raquel Welch) gets banned from a planet of women who all have enormous breasts, but the sketch was cut after dress rehearsal. A version of the sketch would finally be used on the season 14
    Saturday Night Live (Season 14)
    Saturday Night Live aired its fourteenth season during the 1988 - 1989 television season on NBC. The season began on October 8, 1988, and ended on May 20, 1989. 20 episodes were produced....

     episode hosted by Dolly Parton
    Dolly Parton
    Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

    .
  • Raquel Welch performed the song "Superstar
    Superstar (Delaney and Bonnie song)
    "Superstar" is a 1969 song written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell that has been a hit for many artists in different genres and interpretations in the years since; the best known version is by the Carpenters in 1971.-Original Delaney and Bonnie version:Accounts of the song's origin vary...

    " with John Belushi as Joe Cocker, as well as "It Ain't Necessarily So
    It Ain't Necessarily So
    "It Ain't Necessarily So" is a popular song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The song comes from the Gershwins' opera Porgy and Bess where it is sung by the character Sportin' Life, a drug dealer, who expresses his doubt about several statements in the Bible.The role of...

    ."
  • Phoebe Snow performed the songs "All Over" and "Two-Fisted Love."
  • John Sebastian performed the song "Welcome Back" with John Belushi as Joe Cocker.
  • 19 May 8, 1976 Madeline Kahn
    Madeline Kahn
    Madeline Kahn was an American actress. Kahn was known primarily for her comedic roles in films such as Paper Moon, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, What's Up, Doc?, and Clue.-Early life:...

    Carly Simon
    Carly Simon
    Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...

  • Carly Simon performed the songs "Half a Chance / You're So Vain
    You're So Vain
    "You're So Vain" is a song written and performed by Carly Simon and released in December 1972. The song is a critical profile of a self-absorbed lover; Simon asserts "You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you." The subject's identity has been the matter of speculation, fueled by...

    " in a pre-taped segment.
  • 20 May 15, 1976 Dyan Cannon
    Dyan Cannon
    Dyan Cannon is an American film and television actress, director, screenwriter, editor, and producer.-Early life:...

    Leon
    Leon Russell
    Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....

     and Mary Russell
  • Leon and Mary Russell performed the songs "Satisfy You" and "Daylight," the latter of which featured John Belushi as Joe Cocker.
  • 21 May 22, 1976 Buck Henry
    Buck Henry
    Henry Zuckerman, better known as Buck Henry , is an American actor, writer, film director, and television director.-Early life:...

    Gordon Lightfoot
    Gordon Lightfoot
    Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...

  • Lorne Michaels appears again, offering the Beatles $3,200 and free hotel accommodations to perform three songs.
  • Gordon Lightfoot performed the songs "Summertime Dream" and "Spanish Moss."
  • 22 May 29, 1976 Elliott Gould
    Elliott Gould
    Elliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. Some of his most notable films include M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received an Oscar nomination...

    Leon Redbone
    Leon Redbone
    Leon Redbone is a singer and guitarist specializing in interpretations of early 20th-century music, including jazz and blues standards and Tin Pan Alley classics....


    Harlan Collins
    Harlan Collins
    Paul Harlan Collins, more often known as Harlan Collins, is a composer, arranger, musician, and writer. His daily feature, "Today's Chuckle", which was started by his father Tom in 1948, is the most widely syndicated front page feature in the world....

     & Joyce Everson
  • Leon Redbone performed the songs "Shine On, Harvest Moon
    Shine On, Harvest Moon
    "Shine On, Harvest Moon" is the name of a popular early-1900s song credited to the married vaudeville team Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth. It was one of a series of moon related Tin Pan Alley songs of the era. The song was debuted by Bayes and Norworth in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1908 to great acclaim...

    " and "Walking Stick."
  • Harlan Collins & Joyce Everson performed "Heaven Only Knows."
  • The sketch called The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise
    The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise
    "The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise" is a comedy sketch that first aired during episode 22 of the first season of The NBC variety show, Saturday Night Live on May 29, 1976. The twelve-minute sketch, written by Michael O'Donoghue, became an instant cult classic hit among Star Trek fans as...

     written by Michael O'Donoghue
    Michael O'Donoghue
    Michael O'Donoghue was a writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to National Lampoon magazine, and was the first head writer of Saturday Night Live.-Childhood:O'Donoghue was born Michael Henry Donohue in Sauquoit, New York...

    , a parody of the Star Trek
    Star Trek
    Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

     TV series involving the crew trying to deal with the show's cancellation in 1968 became an instant cult classic among Star Trek fans and science fiction fans in general.
  • 23 July 24, 1976 Louise Lasser
    Louise Lasser
    Louise Lasser is an American actress. She is known for her portrayal of the title character on the soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. She was married to Woody Allen and appeared in several of his films.-Personal life:...

    Preservation Hall Jazz Band
    Preservation Hall Jazz Band
    Preservation Hall Jazz Band is the name for numerous groups of Dixieland Jazz and traditional jazz bands at Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana, and on tours as organized by the Preservation Hall...

  • Actor Michael Sarrazin
    Michael Sarrazin
    Michael Sarrazin was a Canadian film and television actor who found fame opposite Jane Fonda in the drama film They Shoot Horses, Don't They? .- Early life :...

     made a filmed cameo appearance.
  • Preservation Hall Jazz Band performed the song "Panama
    Panama (jazz standard)
    Panama is a jazz standard. It is by William H. Tyers, originally entitled "Panama, a Characteristic Novelty", published in 1912....

    ."
  • 24 July 31, 1976 Kris Kristofferson
    Kris Kristofferson
    Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...

    Rita Coolidge
    Rita Coolidge
    Rita Coolidge is a multiple Grammy Award-winning American vocalist. During the 1970s and 1980s, she charted hits on Billboard's Pop, Country, Adult Contemporary and Jazz charts.-Career:...

  • Rita Coolidge performed the songs "Hula Hoop" and "Eddie the Eunuch."
  • Host Kris Kristofferson performed the aforementioned guest vocal and performed the song "I've Got a Life of My Own."
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