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History Of Saturday Night Live (1975–1980)
'' Saturday Night Live'' is an American sketch comedy series created and produced by Lorne Michaels for most of the show's run. The show has aired on NBC since 1975. ''Saturday Night Live'' was not an immediate hit, but the show soon developed its own identity with help from the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players". After an unstable first season, more and more sketch comedy got on the air, and ''SNL'' became something of a New York institution. The first four seasons of the show were a hit both commercially and critically, catapulting the original cast into stardom. For the 1979–80 season, cast members Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi left the show. This season is considered underwhelming by most standards. After this season, Michaels attempted to take a break and appoint featured player/writer Al Franken his successor, only to be replaced behind his back with associate producer Jean Doumanian for the 1980–81 season. Background Conception and development In 1974, NBC '' To ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves as the program's showrunner. The show premiere was hosted by George Carlin on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title ''NBC's Saturday Night''. The show's comedy sketches, which often parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers the opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, with featured performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", properly beginning the show. In 1980, Michaels left the series to explore other opportunities. He was r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilda Radner
Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian, and one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). In her routines, Radner specialized in parodies of television stereotypes, such as advice specialists and news anchors. In 1978, she won an Emmy Award for her performances on the show. She also portrayed those characters in her highly successful one-woman show on Broadway in 1979. Radner's ''SNL'' work established her as an iconic figure in the history of American comedy. She died from ovarian cancer in 1989. Her autobiography dealt frankly with her life, work, and personal struggles, including her struggles with that illness. Her widower, Gene Wilder, carried out her wish that information about her illness would be used to help other cancer victims, founding—and inspiring the founding of—organizations that emphasize early diagnosis, attent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The National Lampoon Radio Hour
''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' was a comedy radio show which was created, produced and written by staff from ''National Lampoon'' magazine. The show ran weekly, for a little over a year, from November 17, 1973 to December 28, 1974. Originally an hour in length, after 13 weeks it was cut down to half-an-hour due to the difficulty of putting together the very considerable amount of material required for a one-hour show. Original Series The show was created and produced by Michael O'Donoghue. When O'Donoghue left, later producers included Sean Kelly, Brian McConnachie and John Belushi. Performers on the show included John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, John DeBella, Gilda Radner, and Harold Ramis, who was one of the co-writers for ''National Lampoon's Animal House''. Other writers and performers on the show included Anne Beatts, Richard Belzer, Christopher Cerf, Brian Doyle-Murray, Joe Flaherty, Christopher Guest, who did many of the show's musical parodies, Ed Subi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman'' on NBC and ending with the May 20, 2015 broadcast of ''Late Show with David Letterman'' on CBS. In total, Letterman hosted 6,080 episodes of ''Late Night'' and ''Late Show'', surpassing his friend and mentor Johnny Carson as the longest-serving late night talk show host in American television history. In 1996, Letterman was ranked 45th on ''TV Guide''s 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.Miller, Gregory E.; Schneider, Michael (December 31, 2015). "2015 by the Numbers", ''TV Guide''. p. 10. In 2002, ''The Late Show with David Letterman'' was ranked seventh on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. He is also a television and film producer. His company, Worldwide Pants, produced his shows as well as '' The Late Late Show'' and several p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, composer, actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both '' Late Night with David Letterman'' (1982–1993) and '' Late Show with David Letterman'' (1993–2015). Early years Shaffer was born in 1949 in Toronto, and raised in Fort William (now part of Thunder Bay), Ontario, Canada, the son of Shirley and Bernard Shaffer. His father, a lawyer, was a jazz aficionado while his mother loved show tunes. When Shaffer was 12, his parents took him on a trip to Las Vegas where they took in Nat King Cole and other shows; this was an experience Shaffer described later as "life changing" and led to his decision to become a performer. As a child, Shaffer took piano lessons, and in his teenage years played the organ in a band called Fabulous Fugitives with his schoolmates in Thunder Bay. Later, he performed with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howard Shore
Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer and conductor noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'' film trilogies. He won three Academy Awards for his work on ''The Lord of the Rings'', with one being for the song " Into the West", an award he shared with Eurythmics lead vocalist Annie Lennox and writer/producer Fran Walsh, who wrote the lyrics. He is also a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg, having scored all but one of his films since 1979. Shore has also composed a few concert works including one opera, '' The Fly'', based on the plot of Cronenberg's 1986 film, which premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on July 2, 2008; a short piece named ''Fanfare for the Wanamaker Organ and the Philadelphia Orchestra''; and a short overture for the Swiss 21st Century Symphony Orchestra. Shore has also composed for television, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment industry worldwide. Given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the awards are an international recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements, as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette as a trophy, officially called the "Academy Award of Merit", although more commonly referred to by its nickname, the "Oscar". The statuette, depicting a knight rendered in the Art Deco style, was originally sculpted by Los Angeles artist George Stanley from a design sketch by art director Cedric Gibbons. The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929 at a private dinner hosted by Douglas Fairbanks in The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The Academy Awards cerem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Lampoon (magazine)
''National Lampoon'' was an American humor magazine that ran from 1970 to 1998. The magazine started out as a Spin-off (media), spinoff from the ''Harvard Lampoon''. ''National Lampoon'' magazine reached its height of popularity and critical acclaim during the 1970s, when it had a far-reaching effect on American humor and comedy. The magazine spawned National Lampoon's Vacation (film series), films, The National Lampoon Radio Hour, radio, live theater, various sound recordings, and print products including books. Many members of the creative staff from the magazine subsequently went on to contribute creatively to successful media of all types. During the magazine's most successful years, parody of every kind was a mainstay; surrealist content was also central to its appeal. Almost all the issues included long text pieces, shorter written pieces, a section of actual news items (dubbed "True Facts"), cartoons and comic strips. Most issues also included "Foto Funnies" or Photonove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael O'Donoghue
Michael O'Donoghue (January 5, 1940 – November 8, 1994) was an American writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to ''National Lampoon'' magazine, and was the first head writer of ''Saturday Night Live''. He was also the first performer to utter a line on that series. Early life O'Donoghue was born Michael Henry Donohue in Sauquoit, New York. His father, Michael, worked as an engineer, while his mother, Barbara, stayed home to raise him. O'Donoghue's early career included work as a playwright and stage actor at the University of Rochester where he drifted in and out of school beginning in 1959. His first published writing appeared in the school's humor magazine ''Ugh!'' After a brief time working as a writer in San Francisco, California, O'Donoghue returned to Rochester and participated in regional theater. During this period, he formed a group called Bread and Circuses specifically to perform ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Coe
George Coe (born George Julian Cohen; May 10, 1929 – July 18, 2015) was an American actor. He was a cast member for the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' and voiced the character of Woodhouse in ''Archer''. Early life Coe was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York. Career His Broadway theater career began in 1957 and included turns as "M. Lindsey Woolsey" opposite Angela Lansbury in the original production of ''Mame''; as "Owen O'Malley" in ''On The Twentieth Century'', and creating the role of David in the original Broadway production of '' Company''. Coe was an original member of the " Not Ready For Prime Time Players", the original cast of ''Saturday Night Live''. He was only credited as a cast member for the first show, October 11, 1975. Coe was used in several other episodes of ''SNL'', but was never again credited. In 1979 he appeared as the head of Dustin Hoffman's character's advertising firm in the Academy Award-winning ''Kramer vs. Kramer''. Coe was nominated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garrett Morris
Garrett Isaac Morris (born February 1, 1937) is an American actor, comedian and singer. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program ''Saturday Night Live'', appearing from 1975 to 1980, and played Jimmy on ''The Jeffersons'' (1983–1984). Morris also had a role as Junior "Uncle Junior" King on the sitcom ''The Jamie Foxx Show'', which aired from 1996 to 2001. Morris had a starring role as Earl Washington on the CBS sitcom ''2 Broke Girls'', from 2011 to 2017. He is also known for his role in the sitcom ''Martin'' as Stan Winters, from 1992 to 1995, and the film ''Cooley High''. He played Slide in ''Car Wash'' (1976), and Carl in '' The Census Taker'' (1984). Early life and career Morris was born on February 1, 1937, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and grew up in the poverty-stricken Gert Town neighborhood in its 17th Ward. A church-choir singer from his youth, he trained at the Juilliard School of Music and graduated from Dillard University in 1958. Early in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laraine Newman
Laraine Newman (born March 2, 1952) is an American actress, writer and comedian. She was part of the original cast of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''. She took an interest at improv in high school. After graduating, she studied mime with Marcel Marceau for a year in Paris. She then moved to Los Angeles and became a founding member of comedy improvisational group The Groundlings. She was first hired by Lorne Michaels for a Lily Tomlin TV special in 1974. The next year Newman became one of the original cast members of ''Saturday Night Live'', working there from 1975 to 1980 and creating characters like Connie Conehead, proto-Valley girl Sherry, and Christie Christina. In 2017, she and the rest of the original cast members of ''SNL'' were among the honorees of Television Academy's Hall of Fame. She has appeared in movies like ''Stardust Memories'', ''Problem Child 2'', ''Coneheads'', and ''The Flintstones''. She is also a voice actor with appearances in both TV shows and movies, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
