Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic and today we’re looking at the television series
Saturday Night Live.
We’re going to discuss breakout stars, little-known facts, and other things you should know.
SNL began in 1975, with creator Lorne Michaels crafting a parody and satire show,
focusing on current events.
This first season featured comedians such as Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi.
The show’s first ever celebrity host was comedian George Carlin.
In these early days, there was a concern of doing the show live and there was even a debate
of delaying the show by a few seconds to catch foul language, but Lorne Michaels was able
to fight back these efforts and the show continues to be truly live,
at least on East Coast time in the United States.
"We've got a great show and I totally care that I'm here cuz it's the coolest ****ing thing ever."
Chevy Chase left the show at the end of the second season, allowing another new comedian
to come on, a young guy named Bill Murray.
"Hello I'm Bill Murray. You can call me Billy but around here everyone just calls me the new guy."
Eventually most of the original cast left and the show entered one of its first slumps
and you’ll notice a trend of ups and downs with Saturday Night Live.
The next big star was Eddie Murphy, followed by Billy Crystal and Martin Short.
During this time, a few surprising faces appeared including Joan Cusack for only a season and
Robert Downey Jr, also for only a season.
Then began a resurgence of popularity as they hired new talent like Dana Carvey, Mike Myers,
Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, and more.
It went through a bit of a dip before the next wave arrived, including Will Ferrell,
Tina Fey, and Jimmy Fallon.
The next big successful transition came with the addition of Kristen Wiig,
Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, and more.
We’re in a bit of a slump now as the show rebuilds, centered around the superstar of
the moment which is Kate McKinnon.
You may notice a lack of people of color.
Actors like Tracy Morgan and Chris Rock may find success here but the roles are limited.
Some actors of color like Jay Pharoah have left the show because of being boxed in to
only playing celebrities of color as opposed to creating new original characters.
Kenan Thompson, who has been on the show since 2003, has had tiffs with the writers about
them continually asking him to crossdress, resulting in him ex-naying his popular portrayal
of Whoopi Goldberg.
Following these incidents led to more black women being hired, including the currently
running Leslie Jones and Sasheer Zamata.
Roles for other minorities are still rare on SNL.
Aside from one-fourth Japanese Fred Armisen and one-half Filipino Rob Schneider, there
has never been as Asian cast member.
Nasim Pedrad, who is Iranian, is the first and only Middle-eastern cast member.
While we’ve been talking about who has been hired on SNL, it’s interesting to look at who hasn't.
Comedic heavyweight Jim Carrey was denied twice by SNL before we was eventually picked
up by In Living Color, where he became a breakout star.
Ben Stiller appeared on the show four times before leaving due to creative differences,
though he’s come back a few times to host since then.
As of 2017, SNL holds a record for how many Emmys its won, since it’s been on for 43 seasons.
It’s currently won 64 Primetime Emmys, for things like outstanding directing, guest stars,
outstanding performers, and outstanding writing.
SNL has also seen success on the big screen, with 11 feature films spun off from popular skits.
Unfortunately most of them are duds, with movies like “It’s Pat” receiving a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The highlights so far have been Blue Brothers and Wayne’s World, both receiving a mid-80s percent approval.
Other movies include the Coneheads, A Night at the Roxbury, and the Ladies Man.
While we’ve been talking about the cast members a lot, much of the show’s success
relies on hosts that can come in and blend perfectly with the cast.
Great hosts get to come back again.
This has been made into a bit of a joke, introducing what’s called the Five-Timers Club for those
hosts who have done at least five times.
The highest record is held by Alec Baldwin, who has hosted 17 times, not counting his
special appearances throughout the years.
Steve Martin comes in second, with 15 times.
The show has also gotten quite a reputation for focusing on politics, usually lampooning
the current president or presidential nominees.
Most sitting presidents have appeared on SNL in some capacity, usually acknowledging the
digs and jokes at their own expense.
It’s said that playing the President is one of SNL’s highest honors.
Thanks for watching our video on Saturday Night Live! If you want to learn more about the Emmys, check out this video right here,
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