A Who’s Who of the Famous Faces in Saturday Night

As I delve into the lives and careers of these iconic figures who graced our television screens and made us laugh, I find myself awestruck by their talent, their tenacity, and their ability to push boundaries.

Originating on October 11, 1975, this iconic comedy series, which continues to air today as it approaches its 50th year, was conceptualized by Lorne Michaels. In the current cast, Gabriel LaBelle from “The Fabelmans” portrays the show’s lead character. This program has become a cultural institution, launching the careers of numerous comedians into stardom in Hollywood—people like Jimmy Fallon, Eddie Murphy, and Amy Poehler, to mention a few. Its political satires have significant impact, with presidential candidates occasionally making appearances (occasionally controversial) during election seasons. The musical guest spots often signify that an artist has achieved success.

On Saturday Night, there’s a thrilling ride through the hurdles of launching a show, with fake blood spattering everywhere at one instant and the stage catching fire in another during the chaotic build-up. This production, co-written and directed by Jason Reitman (known for films like Juno and Up in the Air, as well as a brief stint as a Saturday Night Live writer), showcases a wide array of talented comedians embodying some of comedy’s most iconic figures, along with a few who didn’t quite achieve that level of fame. Here’s a rundown of the entertainers depicted in the movie and their most recognized works.

Dan Aykroyd

In their home country of Canada, Dan Aykroyd crossed paths with Lorne Michaels during their shared pursuit of sketch comedy. From 1975 to 1979, he graced the stage on SNL, earning an Emmy for writing in 1977. Some of his most iconic sketches include Blues Brothers, a takeoff on blues musicians starring John Belushi, and Coneheads, where Aykroyd played the head of an alien family with cone-shaped heads. Following his time on SNL, he gained widespread recognition for movies like Ghostbusters and Trading Places, acting alongside another comedian who originated on the show, Eddie Murphy. In the movie, Aykroyd is portrayed by Dylan O’Brien, and the character uses the same pickup line on every female cast member he encounters. Interestingly, a sketch depicted in the film where the women reverse roles and catcall Aykroyd while dressed as construction workers actually occurred in real life.

John Belushi

In the movie, Matt Wood portrayed John Belushi, a cast member on Saturday Night Live during the 1970s who won an Emmy for writing in 1977. He was Dan Aykroyd’s partner in the Blues Brothers skits, which later became the film “The Blues Brothers” (1980). Belushi’s most iconic role was in “Animal House” (1978), a satire of college Greek life. Unfortunately, he passed away due to a drug overdose at age 33 in 1982. TIME magazine described him as the “archangel of the grotesque,” noting his versatile face that could transform into various characters such as a menacing mafioso, slashing samurai, killer bees, Joe Cocker, or Marlon Brando. Notable sketches featuring Belushi on Saturday Night included “The Killer Bees” and “The Wolverines,” the first sketch ever to air on the show.

Chevy Chase

Chevy Chase, initially propelled by Saturday Night Live (SNL), embarked on a successful acting journey, winning two Emmy Awards for writing and exceptional supporting performance. He was the inaugural host of SNL’s long-lasting segment Weekend Update, where he humorously mimicked broadcast journalists, his catchphrase being, “Good evening, I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not.” (In the movie, Corey Michael Smith portrays him in this role.) He is most recognized for the comedy films ‘Caddyshack’ and the National Lampoon series. In the movie, Kaia Gerber depicts his first wife, Jacqueline Carlin, who was an extra on SNL.

Jane Curtin

Known as “the Mistress of Deadpan Humor,” Curtin is well-known for her appearances alongside Aykroyd, notably a spoof of TV pundits where Aykroyd would label her an “ignorant slut.” She also gained fame from the Coneheads sketch with Aykroyd, which later became the hit 1993 movie Coneheads. Curtin received two Emmy Awards for her role in the ’80s sitcom Kate & Allie, spent several years on 3rd Rock from the Sun during the late ’90s, and has recently been seen on TV shows like The Good Fight and Broad City. In the latest portrayal of her life, Kim Matula (from The Bold and the Beautiful and The Sex Lives of College Girls) depicts her in Saturday Night.

Garrett Morris

Originally, Morris, the first African-American cast member on ‘SNL’, honed his skills at Juilliard and collaborated with Harry Belafonte’s folk singers. As stated in ‘Saturday Night’, he was also a playwright. Lorne Michaels admired one of his plays and invited him to contribute to ‘SNL’. In ‘Live from New York’, Morris admitted that writing for the show’s short timeframe was challenging, leading Michaels to audition him for the first episode’s cast. In the movie portrayed by Emmy winner Lamorne Morris, he expresses worry about being stereotyped due to his background, as exemplified in a scene where he sings, “I’m going to get me a shotgun and kill at the whiteys I see.” In ‘Live From New York’, he expressed openness to taking risks: “If things were on the line either racially or sexually, I didn’t care.” Some of his most notable roles include those in ‘The Jeffersons’, ‘2 Broke Girls’, and ‘The Jamie Foxx Show’.

Laraine Newman

In 1975, Michael had employed Newman for a Lily Tomlin television special. Later, he asked her to join the initial cast of SNL. During her stint on the show in the 1970s, she satirized journalists, appearing as an anchor on Weekend Update and a public access TV host, where she made suggestive jokes. Her filmography includes roles in Coneheads, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Jingle All the Way. Emily Fairn portrays her in the movie Saturday Night.

Gilda Radner

Ella Hunt’s character, Radner, was the initial SNL cast member selected by Michaels, and her sketches went on to become some of the most iconic in Saturday Night Live’s history. She portrayed a personal advice expert named Roseanne Roseannadanna and mimicked legendary television journalist Barbara Walters, whom she affectionately referred to as “Baba Wawa.” In a memorable Weekend Update segment, her character voiced her thoughts on “violins on television,” while Chevy Chase corrected her, stating that the actual topic was supposed to be “violence on television.” Tragically, she passed away at 42 due to ovarian cancer in 1989. Although she continued working in film and TV after leaving SNL in 1980, her enduring influence is closely linked to her time and characters on that groundbreaking show.

Rosie Shuster

In the world of Saturday Night Live (SNL), one of the original writers, Marilyn Suzanne Miller, who has won two Emmys for her contributions to the show, had a longstanding friendship with Lorne Michaels that dated back to their childhood years. As she humorously puts it in her narration, “I swear to God, there wasn’t a pubic hair in sight when he arrived on my doorstep.” Despite being married from 1967 to 1980, their relationship wasn’t romantic during the show’s premiere in 1975, as depicted in the movie (with Rachel Sennott portraying Miller). In an interview for Live from New York, she clarified, “I wasn’t actually in a couple with Lorne when the show started. But I never really actually got divorced from him, I don’t think, until like 1980 or something. I just didn’t want to deal with that. And so I didn’t.” Miller continued writing for SNL up until 1988 and later gained recognition for her work on The Larry Sanders Show. Gilda Radner, a renowned actress, starred in some of Miller’s most iconic sketches, including the first Roseanne Roseannadanna appearance, the Baba Wawa impersonation, and the Nerds sketches featuring Bill Murray and Gilda Radner as awkward teenagers.

Lorne Michaels

As a devoted movie enthusiast, I’ve been reminiscing about my journey as the showrunner of Saturday Night Live (SNL) since its debut almost half a century ago. Back then, when the show was conceived, legendary host Johnny Carson wasn’t too fond of airing his shows on weekends. So, NBC took a daring leap of faith with my concept for a variety show featuring rising stars that would take over the 11:30 pm slot on Saturdays. And as they say, the rest is history! In 2015, esteemed actor Jack Nicholson honored me by encapsulating my philosophy as “be funny and move on.

Valri Bromfield

A comedian from the esteemed comedy group Second City, which has been a breeding ground for Saturday Night Live (SNL), was once a member of a comedy duo with Dan Aykroyd and held a regular spot on David Letterman’s morning show. On SNL (where she is portrayed by Corinne Britti), she featured in the first episode, but Lorne Michaels requested her to trim her act from 5 minutes to just 2 minutes at the last moment. Besides SNL, she also made appearances on Lorne Michaels’ other NBC sketch comedy show, The New Show.

Billy Crystal

On a Saturday Night, the character Nicholas Podany portrayed Billy Crystal who was in turmoil because he had to shorten his stand-up act from nearly five minutes to just about two minutes, much like Bromfield. However, he ultimately decided not to perform – as actually occurred in real life – but later returned to the show in the mid-1980s as both a cast member and host. Some of his most famous comedy films include “When Harry Met Sally,” “Throw Mamma from the Train,” “America’s Sweethearts,” and the Monsters Inc. series. He is a Tony Award winner, has hosted the Academy Awards nine times, won six Emmy Awards, and taken home two Grammy Awards.

Al Franken

In the movie, Taylor Gray portrayed Franken, who won four Emmys for his work on SNL during the ’70s to ’90s. He joined the cast in the late ’80s and early ’90s, with his most iconic character being Stuart Smalley, a spoof of self-help leaders. From 2000 to 2018, he represented Minnesota as a U.S. Senator, but was forced to resign due to accusations of sexual misconduct.

Milton Berle

In Saturday Night, the character portrayed by J.K. Simmons (notably remembered for a scene showcasing his efforts to assert masculinity) was actually a renowned vaudeville comedian. He graced the cover of TIME magazine in 1949, earning the title of “the undisputed No. 1 performer on U.S. TV” during his tenure as host of NBC’s variety show, Texaco Star Theater. Today, he boasts two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but his reputation among comedians is complex—some admire him, while others might say he was notorious for exposing himself in public. This aspect of his life is detailed in the book Live from New York. In the film, he represents the traditional approach to comedy TV, contrasting sharply with Michaels’ more revolutionary methods.

George Carlin

George Carlin, renowned for his 1972 joke about taboo words on TV, surprisingly became the first host of Saturday Night Live despite that. As TIME wrote in his 2008 obituary, “When cultural norms started shifting in the late ’60s—with traditional one-liner comics on The Ed Sullivan Show appearing outdated and disconnected from a youthful audience experimenting with drugs and protesting the Vietnam War—George Carlin stood as America’s most influential stand-up comedian.” Matthew Rhys, known for his role in The Americans, portrays the grumpy Carlin on Saturday Night Live.

Billy Preston

The musician who played the keyboard on the premiere of Saturday Night, a performance that earned him a spot with some legendary bands like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Sly and the Family Stone, and Little Richard, is notable for his collaborations. The Beatles song “Get Back” was officially credited to “The Beatles with Billy Preston,” marking the only time they shared credit. Alongside Bruce Fisher, he penned the heartfelt tune “You Are So Beautiful” (“You are so beautiful to me/ can’t you see?”). His songs “Nothing From Nothing” (1974) and “Will It Go Round in Circles” (1973), which were hits, are noteworthy, with Jon Batiste reprising the former in the Saturday Night film. Interestingly enough, Batiste also created the score for Saturday Night.

Janis Ian

In the debut episode of SNL, the award-winning musician played her hit song “At Seventeen”. This tune was dedicated to girls who, like herself, struggled with self-image during their adolescence. Having been guided by Leonard Bernstein, she has often been compared to Bob Dylan in terms of her impact on music. In 2013, she added another Grammy to her collection for best spoken word album. On Saturday Night, she is portrayed by Naomi McPherson, who is a part of the band Muna.

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2024-09-28 00:07