Have you ever been bored on a Saturday night, with no energy to go out but you don’t know what to do? Well then you should watch Saturday Night Live.
Saturday Night Live, commonly known as SNL, is a comedy institution started in 1975 by creator Lorne Michaels and producer Dick Ebersole. The show was originally created because Johnny Carson wanted to stop airing reruns during the weekend and instead air them during the week so he could get a day off. And that is how the show was born.
As someone who has upwards of 50 episodes, some from early seasons, and knows a lot of the backstage drama, this is my qualified review of the show.
The general consensus for the best season is season 3. This season features the original cast most known as “The Not Ready For Prime Time Players,” minus Chevy Chase. Some notable hosts are Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Hugh Hefner, Ray Charles, and O.J Simpson (yes that O.J.) One episode even had the Blues Brothers, popular recurring SNL characters, as musical guests. A lot of famous sketches came from this season including King Tut, which is Steve Martin poking fun at the King Tut attractions. The “two wild and crazy guys,” and the famous line “Jane, you ignorant slut” said by Dan Aykroyd and referenced by Michael Scott in “The Office.”
The worst season of SNl is season 6, only 13 episodes due to a writers strike, this season was cursed from the beginning. After Michaels took a break from producing the show he left his duties to Jean Doumanian. She hired a whole new round of cast members after the rest of the cast left. The only people to stay from this new cast was Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo. NBC executives did not like Doumanian, as her leadership made the ratings worse. She was fired and replaced by Ebersole after Charles Rocket said the f word live on air.
People often say the best era or season is the one from your teenage years. I agree, even though I’m still a teen myself. My favorite era is the Bill Hader years, because that is what I watched my freshman year, and what got me into SNL. He’s my favorite actor, and Stefon is my favorite character from this show.
