Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC
On this day · 11 October 1975
On October 11, 1975, a scrappy late-night sketch show debuted from Studio 8H and quietly rewrote American comedy.
At 11:30 p.m. on October 11, 1975, NBC aired the first episode of a 90-minute live sketch show then called NBC’s Saturday Night — the rival title Saturday Night Live belonged to an ABC program until 1976. Broadcast from Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center, it was hosted by comedian George Carlin, with musical guests Billy Preston and Janis Ian.
The debut introduced the “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” — among them John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and Chevy Chase — a cast that would launch decades of film and television careers.
The very first sketch ended with a line still spoken every week: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
Fifty years on, the show airs from the same studio, making it one of the longest-running and most influential programs in American television.
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