Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late night 91-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 SNLs contract until 2012.

History

Cast

Current repertory players

Current featured players

None, although featured players could enter the show any time.

For a full list of past and present cast, see Saturday Night Live cast.

Notable tenures

Although SNL has a rapid turnover of supporting players, some performers have had long tenures with the show. Few have broken the seven-year barrier. Among the longest-serving cast members are:

Family connections

Some cast members are related to former staff on the show. The most prominent example is Jim Belushi, younger brother of Not Ready for Prime Time player John Belushi. Before that, Bill Murray's older brother Brian Doyle-Murray was a writer and cast member. When Dan Aykroyd left the show in 1979, he was replaced by a series of short-lived featured players, one of whom was his brother Peter Aykroyd.

Other family connections are not as obvious. For instance, long-time writer and sometime performer Jim Downey is former cast member Robert Downey, Jr.'s uncle. Cast member Gilda Radner was briefly married to G.E. Smith, who later became the show's bandleader. Michael O'Donoghue was married to SNL band pianist Cheryl Hardwick. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall were an item during their tenure, and were married in 1987.

Although cast members Brad Hall, Rich Hall and Anthony Michael Hall share the same last name, they are not related.

''Saturday Night Live'' Curse

Although SNL is well-known as the launchpad for many successful careers, a few cast members (and active crew members) have died prematurely. This has given rise to a superstition known as the "Saturday Night Live Curse".^[1]^[2]^[3]

Contracts

SNL received some negative publicity in 1999 when it was leaked that, henceforth, actors joining the show would have to agree in their five-to-six year contract that, upon request, they would act in up to three movies by SNL Films, for fees of US$75,000, US$150,000, and then US$300,000; and also that, upon request, they would leave SNL and act in an NBC sitcom for up to an additional six years. This appeared to be a reaction to former cast members such as Adam Sandler and Mike Myers going on to movie stardom.

Some agents and managers characterized these long-term contracts as involuntary servitude, saying that almost any young, undiscovered comic would immediately agree to any given set of exploitative contractual restrictions for the opportunity to launch a career via the show. NBC publicly defended the new contracts, saying that SNL was doing a service to young comics by launching so many careers.

Jay Mohr reported in Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live (ISBN 1-4013-0006-5), that his starting salary of his 5 year deal was US$5,500 per episode (in 1994) plus $1,500 for his writing credit. The following year's salary was $6,500 per episode, up to $12,500 for a 5th year tenured player.

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.

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.

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.

The offices of SNL writers, producers, and other staff can be found on the 17th floor of "30 Rock". 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 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 live dress rehearsal, 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 to the 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

SNL is one of the few shows on television to have its in- and off-season reruns aired out of its original broadcast sequence. The sequence of the in-season reruns (that is, encore shows that air during the season it originally aired) are usually determined by the episodes' popularity. So, for example, if by the midway point of the season in December, a show hosted by Robert DeNiro turned out to be the highest rated show of the season thus far, it would be the first show to be repeated when SNL begins airing its reruns during one of their live breaks. 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 an event connected with the person who hosted. For example, on August 5, 2006, that prior season's show hosted by Natalie Portman was aired, as the video release for her movie V for Vendetta was the following Tuesday.

Encore showings are not always identical to the original broadcast. Frequently, successful sketches that aired later in the show during the original broadcast will be reedited to appear earlier, and segments that did not work well during the original showing are replaced by a) alternate performances or b) completely different sketches that had been taped at the dress rehearsal that preceded the live broadcast. 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.

Compilation shows

From time-to-time, SNL airs compilation shows. Such shows will feature the best of a previous season (consisting of sketches and musical segments specially selected by the producers)or of a particular cast member (such as Eddie Murphy or Adam Sandler) or guest (such as Tom Hanks), or centered on a particular theme (for example, Halloween, Christmas, or a major news event). Almost every election year since 1992, SNL airs, during primetime, a "Presidential Bash" featuring both classic and new sketches involving Presidents and presidential candidates. The 2000 Bash was notable for having self-deprecating sketches taped by the actual candidates (George W. Bush and Al Gore, though not together) in addition to the sketches with the players normally assigned to impersonate them. The 2000 Bash also featured a cameo appearance from Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura with the famous opening line "Live from New York, It's Saturday Night."

When it's less than live

The episode scheduled for October 25, 1986, hosted by Rosanna Arquette(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdGmi670S4I), was not aired until November 8. NBC was broadcasting Game 6 of the 1986 World Series on the evening of October 25; the game entered extra innings, causing that night's broadcast of SNL to be first delayed and then cancelled. The show was performed for the studio audience starting at 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time, recorded, 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 by Michaels that they were not being seen live.^[4]

Episode #594 December 17, 2005, hosted by Jack Black did not start airing in some markets until 12:50 a.m. due to a long-running NFL game.

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 Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad.

Some live shows may also be altered and edited for the West Coast (where it is broadcast at 11:30 p.m. or 11:35 p.m. Pacific Time, depending on market); in some cases recordings of sketches or performances from the program's dress rehearsal have been substituted for the later feed.

During Richard Pryor's monologue, he twice used the word "ass", which was muted on the West Coast (but has been restored for syndication). 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.

On December 16, 2006, host Justin Timberlake and cast member Andy Samberg starred in the digital short "A Special Box", where the word "dick" was performed uncensored in front of the studio audience in the live performance, but the segment was censored by NBC sixteen times during the broadcast. Incidentally, during the dress rehearsal, the short was aired censored.

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."^[5]

There were even rumors that Ashlee Simpson's live performance recording fumble in 2004 was to have been edited out of the West Coast broadcast, but publicity surrounding the fiasco forced West Coast affiliates to keep the original footage aired that night. The original uncut version aired on the mid-season rerun, and also aired uncut on E!, which syndicates the show.

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 the syndication rights to the shows made from 1980 forward (that is, rerun rights beginning two years after its original NBC airings) have been held by Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels' production company.

The home video rights have also been scattered. Warner Home Video originally released several episodes from the original incarnation (1975–1980). Paramount released a "Best of Eddie Murphy" video compilation in the 1980s (Murphy had a multi-picture deal with Paramount at the time). In the 1990s, Starmaker Entertainment held the video rights. Lions Gate Home Entertainment handled the VHS and DVD releases of SNL under a new license with NBC until 2006, when Universal Studios Home Entertainment took over releasing SNL DVDs, as Universal Studios and NBC are owned by the same company, NBC Universal.

For many years, Comedy Central aired SNL reruns from 1980-93 under license from Broadway Video. In 1998 or so, Comedy Central began getting reruns from 1993 to the (then) present. In 2001, E! Entertainment Television contracted with Orion/MGM to show reruns from the 1975-80 seasons. At the same time, a deal was signed to move the 1980-present reruns to E! starting March 2003. By fall 2003, the 1975-80 reruns were rarely programmed by E! and had disappeared entirely by 2005. The reruns currently shown on E! are edited down to 60 minutes. Many fans were displeased with this move, as E! does not show SNL reruns as frequently as Comedy Central did in the past.

The only episodes that have not been included in any syndication package (including the current deal with E!) are the prime time special at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the only time the show has originated outside of New York, and the infamous 1990 episode which Andrew Dice Clay hosted.

Note: An edited version (one hour) of the Andrew Dice Clay episode did air on one occasion, during a "Bleep Day" marathon on Comedy Central in the late 1990s. The episode also aired in its entirety in 2003 during NBC's (now defunct) Classic Saturday Night Live.

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, SNL was formerly seen on cable TV network Arena. However, as of November 2006, The Comedy Channel picked up the rights to the one-hour syndicated version, and is airing episodes from 2002-2005 Weekdays at 2 p.m. On Saturday, November 18 at 9.30 p.m. (AEST), they began airing new episodes, beginning with the premiere of the 2005-06 season.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, SNL is shown on ITV4 in varying 'graveyard' timeslots around midnight on Saturday night. The 2006-2007 season began showing on February 11, 2007. This is the one hour version of the show.

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 syndicated version is also broadcast on Saturdays 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.

Guest hosts

A separate list of Saturday Night Live hosts and musical guests is available. There have been many people who have been invited to host SNL. The hosts have ranged from stand-up comedians, like Steve Martin, Robin Williams and George Carlin, to serious character actors, like Robert DeNiro, Tom Hanks, Charlize Theron and Charlton Heston; from pop culture and music icons, like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Janet Jackson, Madonna and Britney Spears, to sports figures like Deion Sanders, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Derek Jeter. SNL has also had many of its distinguished alumni, like Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Billy Crystal, Dana Carvey, Norm Macdonald and Will Ferrell to return to host the show.

Even elected political figures, like former Vice-President Al Gore, U.S. Senate members John McCain and George McGovern and New York Mayors, Ed Koch and Rudy Guiliani have hosted the show. Other notable public figures to have hosted SNL have included Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Ralph Nader. The following are lists of notable categories of SNL hosts.

Frequent hosts (5 times or more)

There have been many people who have been invited to come back and host SNL again, but few have broken the "five time hosting" barrier. Since December 1990, performers who have either hosted SNL (or appeared as a musical guest) for five times are considered members of SNL's Five Timer's Club.

Some of these "Five Timer" hosts (such as Steve Martin, Christopher Walken, Tom Hanks, and Alec Baldwin) have hosted so many times that special episodes of SNL have been compiled and aired as "Best of ..." episodes. Hosts who have been the subject of a Best of SNL videotape, DVD, or compilation special are marked with a (•) in the "Other Notes" section on the list below. The following people have hosted SNL at least five times:

Cast members who have hosted

As of May 2007, there have been 23 performers who have hosted SNL who, at one point in their careers, were either a repertory or featured member of the SNL cast. The following performers have hosted SNL either before, during or after their tenure as a member of the SNL cast.

Hosts who auditioned (or were offered) to join the cast

The following is a list of guest hosts who had previously auditioned for the show earlier in their careers only to be turned down. This list does not include the names of hosts, like Billy Crystal, who were rejected but eventually joined the cast at a later date. The list of the hosts and dates of their auditions are as follows:

Four notable names that auditioned for SNL yet never hosted were comedians Dom Irrera and Robert Townsend, who both auditioned to be castmembers for the 1980-1981 season. MADtv comedienne Stephnie Weir also auditioned for SNL for its 1999-2000 season, but lost to Rachel Dratch. Up-and-coming comedienne Maria Bamford auditioned for the show prior to the 2003-2004 season.

Political figures who have hosted

As of March 2007, there have been 11 political figures who have hosted SNL. These public figures include elected officials and/or political activists. The following is a list of such hosts.

Sports figures who have hosted

As of March 2007, there have been 27 sports figures who have hosted SNL. These sport figures include athletes, coaches, one team owner, and sports commentators. The following is a list of such hosts.

Musical guests

Frequent musical guests

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

Musical guests who simultaneously hosted

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

Recurring characters and sketches

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.

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)
The Ladies Man (2000)

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-70's 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.

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 SNLs 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.^[6]

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 50 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 SNLs 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 Star Wars. 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 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.

Citations

[1] Saturday Night Live Curse?, Who2?.
[2] The SNL Curse, Saturday-Night-Live.com.
[3] http://www.snlra.com/curse.html, Worek, Steven, Live From Up There, SNLRA.com.
[4] It's Saturday Night Delayed!, Studio Briefing, 2001-02-13.
[5] Martin Lawrence's Monologue (Transcript), JTORG, 2003-04-12.
[6] 'Saturday Night Live' in the post-Tina Fey, YouTube unknown

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