How has Saturday Night Live evolved over 50 years and what does the future hold for this comedy icon?

Former Saturday Night Live cast member and host Bill Murray is seen with producer Lorne Michaels during rehearsals in New York on March 19, 1987. (AP Photo/G. Paul Burnett)

By  NEWS BLEND 360

Updated 3:13 PM EST, February 13, 2025

NEW YORK (NB360) — Watch the premiere episode of “Saturday Night Live” from October 11, 1975 — before “live” was part of its title — and you might be surprised at how many elements of the show remain unchanged today.

The episode features a cold open skit with cast members John Belushi and Michael O’Donoghue. At the conclusion, Chevy Chase carefully steps over the two actors, pretending to be dead, to deliver the first-ever call of “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”

NBC is airing that episode again on Saturday, as part of a celebration of 50th anniversary programming including a three-hour special on Sunday that brings together many former cast members and friends, along with a homecoming concert from Radio City Music Hall being streamed live on Peacock Friday night.

The original cast would likely have mocked such a display of showbiz extravagance, similar to how the characters in last year’s fictional backstage portrayal of opening night in the movie “Saturday Night” couldn’t conceal their disdain for Hollywood icon Milton Berle.

Not ready for prime time? Hardly

Back then, they were called the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. Success has long since turned that name into a joke. Among viewers under age 50, the late-night show is more popular than anything NBC broadcasts during so-called prime time, and this doesn't even account for the way many people now watch it, through online highlight clips.

“Saturday Night Live” is a powerhouse of comedy, creating generations of stars from Belushi to Bill Murray to Eddie Murphy to Adam Sandler to Will Ferrell to Amy Poehler to Kristen Wiig to Kate McKinnon to Bowen Yang. It launched countless movie franchises, and NBC’s late-night comedy lineup featuring Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers traces its roots back to “SNL.” It remains the first choice for those seeking comedic interpretations of current events.

At its core, both then and now, is the enigmatic figure of Lorne Michaels, the executive producer who was 30 during the first season and turned 80 last fall — on a show night, of course.

Michaels departed from "SNL" for a period of five years and, when he came back in 1985, discovered the formula that ensured its ongoing significance.

He understood, as author Susan Morrison notes in the biography “Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live,” set to be published on Tuesday, that “nearly everyone who has ever watched SNL thinks that its funniest years were during their high school days.”

Lorne Michaels, producer of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” speaks in his office in New York, Nov. 23, 1977. (AP Photo/Marty Reichenthal, File)

This involves constantly progressing, always introducing fresh talent, and sometimes being ruthless about it. It means relying on young writers to maintain relevant cultural references and create new ones. It involves booking musical acts that Michaels and his close friend, singer Paul Simon, might not know but are recommended by his team as being cutting-edge.

It’s not flawless. It never was.

“The history of the show resembles an EKG,” said James Andrew Miller, co-author with Tom Shales of the 2002 book, “Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live.” “There are fantastic years, there are developmental years, there are years that make you feel queasy, and there are years that make you question if it should continue.”

Replace “years” with “shows” in that quote, and it remains accurate.

Creating viral moments before ‘viral’ was a thing

"Saturday Night Live" is frequently — and usually — quite inconsistent. However, it created viral moments even before the internet was around. Garrett Morris’ news for the hard of hearing, Murphy’s grumpy Gumby, “Lazy Sunday,” the cowbell sketch, Tina Fey’s portrayal of Sarah Palin: These memories alone bring laughter. The failures, ideas that didn’t succeed, or hosts who couldn’t meet the challenge, fade away. Or perhaps they are the cost of brilliance.

It's easy to overlook how challenging this truly is, noted Bill Carter, an experienced chronicler of television comedy and author of “The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night.” A 90-minute show is created from scratch each week, sets are built in a New York office building, and hosts with varying levels of talent are accommodated.

Ready or not, the show must proceed on Saturday at 11:30 p.m. The clock is relentless.