Saturday Night Live

From ArticleWorld

Saturday Night Live, or SNL, is a late night television show featuring comedy and musical acts from various singers, bands, actors, actresses, and stand-up comedians. SNL began in October, 1975 and has been seen on NBC nearly every Saturday night since then, putting it in television history as one of the longest running network shows.

ABC had a show entitled Saturday Night Live With Howard Cosell, so SNL was first named and called NBC’s Saturday Night. When Cosell's show was canceled, the name was changed to the current, Saturday Night Live.

SNL: The Place to Begin

SNL is known as being the place where many of today’s major comedy stars began their career. John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Robert Downey Jr., Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Robert DeNiro, Chevy Chase, and Tom Hanks are just some of the well-known comedians who got their start on Saturday Night Live. NBC is very pleased with Saturday Night Live and in January, 2005, they renewed their contract for seven more years, guaranteeing them a spot on the air until 2012. Many attribute this new contract in part to the incredible success of former cast member Adam Sandler.

The Continuous Cast

SNL is known for its changing cast members; most of the actors and actresses only stay with the show for one season, and often less time than that. However, there are some performers who have stayed with SNL for a record amount of time. Darrell Hammond has been with SNL for eleven seasons. He began in 1995, and is still going strong, SNL style. Tim Meadows and Kevin Nealon both spent nine seasons with the show, and Phil Harmant was present for eight seasons. Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz both began in 1998, have been performing for eight seasons, and are still counting.