Series · Comedy, News
Saturday Night Live (1975)Season 1
The first season of Saturday Night Live, the weekly late-night 90-minute American sketch comedy/variety show on NBC, aired during the 1975–1976 television season. Saturday Night Live 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 host Johnny Carson requested that the weekend broadcasts of "Best of Carson" come to an end, 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 or CBS. To fill the gap, the network drew up some ideas and brought in Dick Ebersol – a protégé of legendary ABC Sports president Roone Arledge – to develop a 90-minute late-night variety show. Ebersol's first order of business was hiring a young Canadian producer named Lorne Michaels to be the show-runner.
- Creator
- Dick Ebersol, Lorne Michaels
- Writers
- Lorne Michaels, Jim Downey, Robert Smigel
- Network
- NBC
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- First aired
- October 11, 1975
- Status
- Returning
- Next episode
- S52E4 · October 31, 2026
Cast
Kenan ThompsonSelf - Various Characters
Darrell HammondDonald Trump (uncredited)
Colin JostEmployee (uncredited)
Seth MeyersSelf - Host
Michael CheSelf - Various Characters
Fred ArmisenSelf - Host
Al FrankenThe Life of Vlad the Impalere announcer (voice) (uncredited)
Cecily StrongSelf - Cameo (uncredited)
Kate McKinnonSelf - Host
Mikey DaySelf - Cameo (uncredited)
Aidy BryantSelf - Cameo (uncredited)
Tim MeadowsLeon Phelps (uncredited)
Bobby MoynihanSelf
Kyle MooneySelf - Various Characters
Maya RudolphSelf - Host
Kevin NealonFranz (uncredited)
Jason SudeikisPolice Officer (uncredited)
Pete DavidsonSelf - Cameo (uncredited)
Bill HaderSelf - Various Characters
Tina FeyLaughing Writer (uncredited)
Episodes
0/24 watched- Episode 1: George Carlin with Billy Preston and Janis Ian1 h 6 min · Oct 11, 1975
- Episode 2: Paul Simon with Randy Newman and Phoebe Snow1 h 6 min · Oct 18, 1975
- Episode 3: Rob Reiner1 h 6 min · Oct 25, 1975
- Episode 4: Candice Bergen with Esther Phillips1 h 8 min · Nov 8, 1975
- Episode 5: Robert Klein with ABBA and Loudon Wainwright III1 h 7 min · Nov 15, 1975
- Episode 6: Lily Tomlin1 h 5 min · Nov 22, 1975
- Episode 7: Richard Pryor with Gil Scott-Heron1 h 7 min · Dec 13, 1975
- Episode 8: Candice Bergen with Martha Reeves and The Stylistics1 h 7 min · Dec 20, 1975
- Episode 9: Elliott Gould with Anne Murray1 h 7 min · Jan 10, 1976
- Episode 10: Buck Henry with Bill Withers and Toni Basil1 h 7 min · Jan 17, 1976
- Episode 11: Peter Cook & Dudley Moore with Neil Sedaka1 h 7 min · Jan 24, 1976
- Episode 12: Dick Cavett with Jimmy Cliff1 h 7 min · Jan 31, 1976
- Episode 13: Peter Boyle with Al Jarreau1 h 7 min · Feb 14, 1976
- Episode 14: Desi Arnaz with Desi Arnaz Jr.1 h 7 min · Feb 21, 1976
- Episode 15: Jill Clayburgh with Leon Redbone1 h 7 min · Feb 28, 1976
- Episode 16: Anthony Perkins with Betty Carter1 h 7 min · Mar 13, 1976
- Episode 17: Ron Nessen with the Patti Smith Group1 h 7 min · Apr 17, 1976
- Episode 18: Raquel Welch with Phoebe Snow and John Sebastian1 h 7 min · Apr 24, 1976
- Episode 19: Madeline Kahn with Carly Simon1 h 7 min · May 8, 1976
- Episode 20: Dyan Cannon with Leon & Mary Russell1 h 7 min · May 15, 1976
- Episode 21: Buck Henry with Gordon Lightfoot1 h 7 min · May 22, 1976
- Episode 22: Elliott Gould with Leon Redbone and Harlan Collins & Joyce Everson1 h 7 min · May 29, 1976
- Episode 23: Louise Lasser with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band1 h 7 min · Jul 24, 1976
- Episode 24: Kris Kristofferson with Rita Coolidge1 h 7 min · Jul 31, 1976
