The Television Debut Of The SNL Original Cast…Rare & Surprising!
The Television Debut Of The SNL Original Cast…Rare & Surprising!
As it turns out, “The Not Ready For Prime Time Players” were not even ready for late night television! Really! Here’s the story…
NBC’s new 90 minute, live comedy show ‘Saturday Night Live’ was scheduled to debut at 11:30 on October 4, 1975. The plane truth is, they just could not get the show ready in time for a number of reasons, with timing and blocking among the biggest hurdles to overcome.
Although Tom Snyder’s ‘Tomorrow’ show was a one hour, Monday – Friday production, NBC called on him at the last minute to do special 90 minute Saturday show to cover the SNL hole in their schedule. Fortunately, Jerry Lewis was in town and agreed to do the show. For the first 85 minutes, he was the single guest. The last five minutes were reserved for the introduction of the SNL cast and it’s producer Lorne Michaels.
In this clip, you will see the first ever network appearance of the original cast of ‘Saturday Night Live’. Break a leg tonight SNL and happy 40th Anniversary! Enjoy and SHARE! -Bobby Ellerbee
Funny watching this introduction by Tom Snyder, especially knowing that Akroyd would go on to do a great impression of him… loved those early days!!!
I’ve often wandered about that SNL that was not meant to be on October 4th…..was it intended to be the same program that was put together one week later with George Carlin hosting or was it going to be a different host/musical guest all together?