Honoree Lorne Michaels at the 2021 Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Ceremony at the Library of Congress, December 4, 2021. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.
Saturday Night Live is celebrating its 50th season. The show has lost some of its former glory with a hard left political turn in recent years, but the incredible original cast, featuring greats like John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Chevy Chase, will sit in America’s collective memory for decades to come. Leanne Italie of the Associated Press discusses SNL’s 50 seasons, writing:
NEW YORK — Live from New York! It’s 50 seasons later for “SNL.”
The landmark NBC sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” premiered Oct. 11, 1975, with drop-dead dark humor and pratfalls, George Carlin as host and not one but two musical guests: Billy Preston and Janis Ian.
On Saturday nights, in those early years, young people gathered around TVs to watch the Lorne Michaels production that served up counterculture to the mass market via the Not Ready for Prime Time Players.
Fast forward to this year, Sept. 28, when the first episode of “SNL’s” half-century season is set to air in a lead-up to a three-hour live primetime special Feb. 16 on, gasp, a Sunday. Jean Smart will host to open the season.
Over the decades, some seasons were better than others, with breakout stars like Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell and more. So what became of the freshman “SNL” class?
John Belushi
“National Lampoon’s Animal House,” “Continental Divide,” “Neighbors” and all things The Blues Brothers. Belushi left “SNL” in 1979 to pursue music and film projects.Belushi birthed his “Joliet” Jake Blues, joining fellow “SNL” cast member Dan Aykroyd as brother Elwood. Their TV debut as the brothers blue came on “SNL” in 1978.
The sunglass-wearing, dark-suited Blues Brothers took on a fame of their own with the self-titled 1980 movie.
Following years of drug use, he died March 5, 1982, at 33 after overdosing at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.
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