NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� was built with a performing countercultural comedy. Fifty years later, it is firmly part of the culture, dictating mainstream comedy instead of throwing spitballs from the margins.
The show has become an incubator of talent 鈥� think Will Ferrell, Chris Rock, Amy Poehler, Billy Crystal, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Phil Hartman, Pete Davidson and Tracy Morgan. Its sketches have sparked Hollywood movies, from 鈥淭he Blues Brothers鈥� and 鈥淲ayne's World鈥� to 鈥淢acGruber鈥� and 鈥淐oneheads.鈥�
But 鈥淪NL鈥� has embedded itself in our culture in deeper ways, from slogans like 鈥淲e're not worthy!鈥� to 鈥淵ou look mahvelous!鈥� It inspires , connects viewers to the news via 鈥淲eekend Update鈥� and may even have
As the show here are 12 moments over the past five decades when the show didn't just reflect pop culture 鈥� it drove it.
鈥淲olverines,鈥� 1975
This was the first sketch from the first show, an absurdist-meets-physical comedy interaction between a student 鈥� played by John Belushi 鈥� and his English teacher, played by head writer Michael O鈥橠onoghue. 鈥淚 would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines,鈥� the teacher asks his pupil to repeat.
The show, then called 鈥淣BC's Saturday Night,鈥� would have George Carlin as the first host. Jim Henson鈥檚 Muppets had a sketch and Andy Kaufman lip-synched the 鈥淢ighty Mouse鈥� theme song. Billy Preston played his hit 鈥淣othing From Nothing鈥� and later folk singer Janis Ian sang 鈥淎t Seventeen鈥� and 鈥淚n the Winter.鈥� Preston closed things out with 鈥淔ancy Lady.鈥�
New York magazine called its promise 鈥渆normous鈥� and the Chicago Tribune said it 鈥減remiered in superb fashion.鈥� The Los Angeles Times said it was 鈥渂right and bouncy鈥� and even suggested it move to prime time.
鈥淜ing Tut,鈥� 1978
saw this off-the-wall novelty song about ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun capture the nation鈥檚 imagination during a goofy performance. It eventually reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over 1 million copies after he performed it on 鈥淪NL.鈥�
The comedian was parodying the hysteria and commercialization surrounding a traveling Tutankhamun exhibit, dancing sideways as he sang 鈥淜ing Tut/Buried with a donkey/Funky Tut/He鈥檚 my favorite honky!鈥�
The song was riddled with errors: King Tut was not 鈥渂orn in Arizona,鈥� he did not live in a 鈥渃ondo made of stone-a鈥� and he was not 鈥渂uried in his jammies.鈥� Nevertheless, the song went viral long before there was an internet.
鈥淭he French Chef,鈥� 1978
parodied iconic chef Julia Child in a cooking segment gone horribly wrong: She cuts 鈥渢he dickens鈥� out of her finger, releasing staggeringly large spurts of blood, tries first aid and then collapses face-first in a puddle of her own blood.
It was inspired by a real injury on the set of Child's 鈥淭he French Chef鈥� and was written by Tom Davis and Al Franken (the future former senator was also under the table pumping blood out of a tube on Aykroyd鈥檚 arm).
Instead of being offended, Child enjoyed Aykroyd鈥檚 parody of herself so much that the book 鈥淏aking With Julia鈥� recounts she would play the tape at her own dinner parties, crying out, 鈥淪ave the liver!鈥欌��
鈥淲hite Like Me,鈥� 1984
Long before white privilege became a mainstream concept, in a landmark sketch put on white face makeup to see how he would be treated as a white man in New York.
It was a parody of the famous 1961 book 鈥淏lack Like Me,鈥� in which a white journalist went undercover as a Black man. You can see the legacy in 鈥淐happelle鈥檚 Show,鈥� Whoopi Goldberg鈥檚 鈥淭he Associate鈥� and 鈥淲hite Chicks.鈥�
In the skit, a cashier won鈥檛 take his money for a newspaper (鈥淪lowly, I began to realize that when white people are alone, they give things to each other for free鈥�), a city bus turns into a party after the lone Black passenger gets off and a bank clerk simply hands him $50,000 in cash. 鈥淪o what did I learn from all of this?鈥� Murphy asks at the end. 鈥淚 learned that we still have a very long way to go in this country before all men are truly equal.鈥�
Sin茅ad O鈥機onnor, 1992
capped her a cappella cover of Bob Marley鈥檚 鈥淲ar鈥� by holding up a photo of Pope John Paul II and tearing it into pieces. 鈥淔ight the real enemy,鈥� she said. 鈥淪NL鈥� was blindsided. During rehearsals, O鈥機onnor had instead held up an image of a refugee child.
She was protesting child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, a decade before the systematic cover-up that forced the church to apologize and pay millions.
NBC banned O鈥機onnor from 鈥淪NL鈥� for life, Joe Pesci mocked her during the next week鈥檚 show and Frank Sinatra called her 鈥渙ne stupid broad.鈥� Her albums . Less than two weeks later, O鈥機onnor made her first public appearance following the incident at a Bob Dylan concert at Madison Square Garden and she was jeered as
White House vs. 鈥淲ayne's World,鈥� 1993
White House figures are a long-standing In 1993, the White House fired back.
In a 鈥淲ayne鈥檚 World鈥� sketch, Mike Myers and Dana Carvey鈥檚 immature, basement-dwelling characters suggested first daughter Chelsea Clinton, then 13, wasn鈥檛 as attractive as then-vice president Al Gore鈥檚 daughters.
Hillary Clinton scolded and his writers for 鈥渉aving nothing better to do than be mean and cruel to a young girl.鈥� Michaels issued an apology, Myers apologized to the Clintons and the joke was cut from subsequent reruns of the sketch.
鈥淢ore Cowbell,鈥� 2000
Another was when Christopher Walken, playing a producer as Blue 脰yster Cult recorded 鈥�(Don鈥檛 Fear) the Reaper,鈥� insisted: 鈥淚 gotta have more cowbell.鈥�
The sketch 鈥� widely regarded as one of the show's greatest 鈥� lampooned the excess of 鈥�70s rock and became a shorthand for adding one too many layers. The irony is that the idea was submitted some seven times before finally airing.
Blue 脰yster Cult had to ban people from bringing actual cowbells to their concerts and Walken has said people tease him about cowbells everywhere he goes. The sketch was so influential that producers of the four-part 鈥淪NL50: Beyond Saturday Night鈥� dedicated an entire episode to the parody.
First show
after 9/11, 2001
Less than three weeks after 9/11, 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� aired one of its most memorable openings. was flanked by firefighters and police officers who had just left ground zero.
Calling 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� one of New York鈥檚 greatest institutions, Giuliani said: 鈥淗aving our city鈥檚 institutions up and running sends a message that New York City is open for business.鈥�
鈥淐an we be funny?鈥� Michaels asked, to which the mayor responded with perfect timing, 鈥淲hy start now?鈥�
That joke told everyone that things could be all right.
Ashlee Simpson, 2004
The younger sister of Jessica Simpson, making her 鈥淪NL鈥� musical debut, first performed her hit 鈥淧ieces of Me.鈥� All good. But when she came back to play the title track from her album 鈥淎utobiography,鈥� the audience heard the vocal track from the first song by mistake.
Awkwardness ensued. Simpson did a silly shuffle and then walked off stage as her group continued to play and the show cut to commercial. She later said a case of acid reflux forced her to lip-sync that night.
The incident drew attention to one of pop culture鈥檚 worst-kept secrets: than performers or the music industry wanted us to think. Billboard magazine ranked it second among lip-sync scandals in modern pop history 鈥� after
鈥淟azy Sunday,鈥� 2005
鈥淪NL鈥� is live, of course, but sometimes the funniest bits are pretaped, like the digital shorts from Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer. They crafted 101 digital shorts between 2005 and 2012 鈥� many of them destined for virality, from 鈥淒ick in a Box,鈥� with Justin Timberlake, to 鈥淣atalie's Rap鈥� with Natalie Portman and 鈥淪hy Ronnie鈥� with Rihanna.
鈥淟azy Sunday鈥� was the second video 鈥淪NL鈥� viewers got from the trio, starring Samberg and Chris Parnell rapping about hilariously mundane yuppie activities, like grabbing cupcakes and using Google Maps. It inspired an entire genre of video-shot joke raps and fed a fast-growing site that people had only just become aware of 鈥� YouTube.
鈥淟azy Sunday鈥� was the first TV show clip to have a viral second life online, with 2 million-plus viewings in its first week alone. That week, YouTube鈥檚 traffic was up 83%.
Tina Fey does Sarah Palin, 2008
Many people believe that Republican vice-presidential candidate Palin once uttered: 鈥淚 can see Russia from my house.鈥� She never said that. That was Fey in her first appearance as Palin on 鈥淪NL.鈥�
鈥� later leaning into the more ridiculous sayings the candidate had offered 鈥� and therefore influenced the presidential election, an amazing thing for a comedy show. CNN coined the phrase the 鈥淭ina Fey Effect.鈥�
People actually did studies on the 鈥淭ina Fey Effect鈥� after the 2008 election and found Republican and independent voters liked Palin less after watching the 鈥淪NL鈥� rendition of the politician, even though Palin herself appeared on the show alongside Fey to show she was in on the joke.
鈥淲elcome to Hell,鈥� 2017
鈥淪NL鈥� addressed with a pitch-perfect video 鈥� a bubblegum song with lyrics about how women have suffered abuse and harassment for centuries.
Guest host Saoirse Ronan was joined by cast members Melissa Villase帽or, Leslie Jones, Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong, many of whom had teamed up for hysterical pop girl group songs like and
This time, the comedy was bleak: 鈥淣ow 鈥楬ouse of Cards鈥� is ruined,鈥� goes the song, 鈥渁nd that really sucks. Well, here鈥檚 a list of stuff that鈥檚 ruined for us: parking, and walking, and Uber, and ponytails, and bathrobes, and nighttime, and drinking, and hotels, and vans.鈥�
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
