11 Oct 1975: George Carlin hosts SNL debut

On this day in 1975, NBC’s Saturday Night made its debut, with George Carlin its first host.

NBC changed the show’s name to Saturday Night Live in 1977 after the cancelation of a competing show on ABC: Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell.

Here are some more facts on SNL:

• created by Lorne Michaels, who later produced Late Night and The Tonight Show
• developed by Dick Ebersol, better known for his work on sports programming
• broadcast from Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza
• while several movies have come out of SNL skits, only two were successful:
  • Blues Brothers (1980)
  • Wayne’s World (1992)

There have been several incidents. Perhaps the most notable were:

• Sinead O’Connor ripped a photo of Pope John Paul II in half in 1992 to protest the church’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse
• Ashlee Simpson is the only musical guest to walk off the stage; in 2004, she was caught lipsynching after vocals for the track “Pieces of Me” came on as she was supposed to be singing “Autobiography”

The only non-celebrity to host the show was Miskel Spillman, an 80-year-old woman from New Orleans who won a contest called “Anyone Can Host” in 1977. Betty White broke Spillman’s record for oldest host in 2010, at age 88.

Four people have hosted the show ten or more times:

• Alec Baldwin (16 – last September 24, 2011)
• Steve Martin (15 – January 31, 2009)
• John Goodman (13 – December 14, 2013)
• Buck Henry (10 – May 24, 1980)

Image: NBC