Broadcast date
11-10-1975 • 24 episodes
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.
Episodes of this season
1. George Carlin with Janis Ian and Billy Preston
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include: "Wolverines", "George Carlin's Monologue", "New Dad Insurance", "The Courtroom", "Andy Kaufman", "George Carlin Stand-Up I", "Victims Of Shark Bite", "Jamitol", "Triopenin", "Triopenin", "Triple-Trac", "George Carlin Stand-Up II", "The Impossible Truth", "Bee Hospital", "Academy of Better Careers", "Show Us Your Guns", George Carlin Stand-Up III, "Trojan Horse Home Security"
2. Paul Simon with Randy Newman, Phoebe Snow, and Art Garfunkel
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include: "The Berkeley Collection of Grafitti Wallpaper," "Paul Simon vs.Connie Hawkins," The Bees Have Been Cut, and "The Mighty Favog," and "Try-Hard 1-11."
3. Rob Reiner
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Live from New York, it's.. Sketeches Include: Wheelchair Bound, A Trip to the Doctor, Fashion Show, Surgery Free Healing, Dangerous But Inept, National Pancreas Association PSA, At The Blaine Hotel, What Gilda Ate, Square Dancing, Smoking Craters, and Operation.
John Belushi (as Joe Cocker) performed "A Little Help From My Friends."
4. Candice Bergen with Esther Phillips
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Live from New York, It's... Sketches include: Gerald Ford adressess the nation, Ambassador Training Institute spot, "Jaws II", Garrett Morris confronts unorganized CIA, Catherine Deneuve, Black Perspective, "Midnight Probe", Andy Kaufman as Foreign Man, Crank Call to Airline Stewardess, Obnoxious journalist interviews world ruler.
5. Robert Klein with ABBA and Loudon Wainwright III
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Live from New York, It's... Sketches include: Pagent winner Sherry refuses crown, Minute Mystery, Bee-Cenntinial Minute, Greg Allman dodges question about his love-life, The Eternal Crawl: Roaches Through History, Sam Peckinpah, Female fireman tips, Looks at Books.
6. Lily Tomlin
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Live from New York, it's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include "Gerald Ford Addresses the Nation," "Beethoven Sings My Girl," Jaws III, "Edith Ann On Ice," "Spud Beer," "How To Harass Men," "Beethoven's Second," "The Clumsy Bellhop and the Interracial Couple," "Suzy Forgives Patty Hearst," "Beethoven as Ray Charles," and "Skred In Love" (Muppets).
7. Richard Pryor with Gil Scott-Heron
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On A Seven Second Delay from New York, it's...Garrett Morris
Sketches include: The Clumsy Waiters, Samurai Hotel, Looks At Books, New Dad (repeat from the first episode of the series), Police Line-Up #1, Racist Word Association, SNL Film: Pong, When White Family Members Turn Black, Spud Beer, Police Line-Up #2, Early Suicide Pill, The Muppets: Ploobis and Scred Get Drunk, Police Line-Up #3, Exorcist II, SNL Film: Albert Brooks Is Home Sick, and Richard Pryor Stand-Up.
Gil-Scott Heron performs: "Johannesburg" and "A Lovely Day"
8. Candice Bergen with Martha Reeves and The Stylistics
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include-- Fireside Chat with Gerald Ford, "Mel's Char Palace", "What Gilda Ate", Billy is guilty of murder, Teddy the Elf, "The Fritzie Kringle Show", "Minute Mystery", Candice and the cast perform 'Winter Wonderland', The Bees Christmas Party, Homeward Bound.
9. Elliott Gould with Anne Murray
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Live from New York, it's... Chevy Chase
Sketches include "The Dead String Quartet," "Interior Demolitionists," "Vito Corleone in Therapy," "The Killer Bees," "Birthright", "Gilda and Elliot," "New Shimmer," The Muppets, "Play Misty for Me" (film), "Jamitol," "Try-Hard 1-11," and "Powwow With the Press" (stand-up).
Anne Murray performed "Long Distance Call" and "Boogie With You."
10. Buck Henry with Bill Withers and Toni Basil
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include--Suicide Prevention, "Samurai Deli", Operation Stumblebum, "Citizen Kane II", King Bee(the Blues Brothers), Auto mechanic tells bedtime story, "Presidential Foreplay", Chevy misuses a joint, The Constipated Man, The Muppets and the Japanese sex Device.
11. Peter Cook & Dudley Moore with Neil Sedaka
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include-- Bomb Squad, Prisoner Auditions, "Don Pardo's Holiday on A Elevator", "Table Talk", "Backstage Banter", Sonny and Cher, The Baby Jesus, Chevy talks to Angola's roommate, The Muppets.
12. Dick Cavett with Jimmy Cliff
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include--Voodoo on Chevy Chase, Alcohol and Firearms, Lowell Brock of H&R Brock, "Looks at Books", Dick Cavett's School of Hydroplane Operation, Dance To The Nation, "The Apple Follies", Our Town.
13. Peter Boyle with Al Jarreau
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include "The Valentine's Day Massacre," "Samurai Divorce Court," "Jason and Sunshine," "The Corrida." "All Pro Wrestling," "Remembering of Things Past", "Dueling Brandos," "A Home Movie" (film), and "The Orgy." Al Jarreau performs "We'll Get By."
14. Desi Arnaz with Desi Arnaz Jr.
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include-- Gerald Ford gives a word association, Literary Recital, Very White(Chevy Chase)sings unsoulful songs, "The Failed Pilots of I Love Lucy", Cuban accupunture, Lucille Ball talks about Desi's book, Bisexual Minute.
15. Jill Clayburgh with Leon Redbone
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include-- No More Falls, "Great Moments in Herstory", White Guilt Relief Fund, Inquisitive Girlfriend, Grable and Lombard, Car Yummies, Paying the Milkman, Jill Carson Guidance Counselor!, Andy Kaufman sings "Old Macdonald", "The Mr. Bill Show".
16. Anthony Perkins with Betty Carter
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include--'SNL is not ad-libbed' says Chevy Chase, A President's View on Marijuana, Dominatrix Cleaning Tips, "Norman Bates School of Hotel Management", Low-budget Movie Trailers, Sherry protest her B(ee), Policemen Dance Party, "Hello Dolly".
17. Ron Nessen with the Patti Smith Group
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Live from New York, It's...Gerald Ford
Sketches include-- "The Dead String Quartet", Super Bass-O-Matic 76, An Oval Office, David Eisenhower is Anti-Nixon, Thomas Jefferson denies slavery, The New Stoner Volunteer Army, Catherine the Great, Disgusting Jam, Autumm Fizz--The Carbonated Douche, "Tomorrow With Tom Snyder".
18. Raquel Welch with Phoebe Snow and John Sebastian
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include-- "Get to the fall Chevy!", Purina Rat Chow, Joseph Franklin's 10-letter Metric Alphabet, "The Claudine Longet Ski Invitational", "One Flew Over The Hornest Nest", Chevy tries to convince Raquel to take off her shirt, Baba Wawa, Bisexual Moment, The Muppets are finished on SNL.
19. Madeline Kahn with Carly Simon
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Live from New York, it's Chevy Chase! Sketches are "Ronald Reagan's Jam Session," Not for Ladies Only, Wilderness Comedian, "Slumber Party," Bride of Frankenstein, "Fondue Pots for Namibia," "The Muppets Can Reunite the Beatles," New York's My Home (film), "Super Absordent Dry Hose," and "The Final Days." Carly Simon performs You're So Vain.
20. Dyan Cannon with Leon & Mary Russell
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include--Chevy has to do the fall again, "Hearing Test," "The Adulterer," "Vacationland Adventure", "Minister with Hiccups," "Dyan Cannon's Dream," "Orange Juice," "The Bathwater of The Stars", "Johnny Angel", "Cresk Toothpaste,"" and "The Hubcap Thief" (film). Leon Russell and Joe Cocker (Belushi) perform "Daylight".
21. Buck Henry with Gordon Lightfoot
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include--Emmy winner Chevy tries to get Laraine todo the fall, Samurai Tailor, "Talk Back!", "Dell Stator's Toad Ranch Resturaunt", "Looks at Books", The Crowd Audition, Peter Lemon Moodring, "Not For Ladies Only", Lorne Micheals offer to the Beatles.
22. Elliott Gould with Leon Redbone and Harlan Collins & Joyce Everson
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Sketches include "Wax Museum," "Phone Operator Academy," "European Poker Player," "Babs's Uvula," "The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise," "The Bee Honeymooners," "Shirley Temple Black," "Vibramatic," "Uncle Charlie's School," and "Show Us Your Guns."
Leon Redbone performed "Shine On Harvest Moon."
23. Louise Lasser with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include--Belushi thinks Chevy has a big head, Louise Lasser locks herself dressing room, General "V.D" Amin, Sven and Inger, John Belushi tries to sell his clothes, Ode to Television, Louise apologizes to her dog, Jimmy Carter talks about the campagin.
24. Kris Kristofferson with Rita Coolidge
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Live from New York, It's...Chevy Chase
Sketches include--Kristofferson signs "Help Me Make it Through The Night", new SNL employer Sherry, Samurai General Practitioner, the Great White Athelete, Gerald Ford dosent want to talk about local issues, "Talk Country", My Blind Date is My Gynocologist, Andrew Young is a Suckup, Police State, "Waiting For Don Pardo".
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This season's cast
John Belushi
Self - Various Characters
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Laraine Newman
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Gilda Radner
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Jane Curtin
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Self - Various Characters
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Dan Aykroyd
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Garrett Morris
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Chevy Chase
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Self - Various Characters
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