The landmark 50th season of Saturday Night Live will premiere on September 28, just one day after Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night opens in select markets. In preparation for these events, as well as our weekly SNL50 screen time breakdowns, we have gathered screen time data for the NBC sketch series’ very first episode, which—as depicted in said new film—first aired on October 11, 1975.
Scroll down to see how the first SNL episode’s nine credited cast members and six named guests stacked up against each other in terms of screen time. Note that our calculation method prioritizes face time, meaning that contiguous (offscreen but in-scene) moments and partial body appearances do not count. Screen time in the opening credits, bumpers, and goodnights are also not included.
George Carlin – 12:58 / 20.74%
The first episode of what was then known as NBC’s Saturday Night consisted of a whopping 24 segments, none of which lasted for more than six minutes. George Carlin, who hosted just once more in 1984, headlined the series premiere by performing stand-up bits at four different points throughout the night.
Janis Ian – 6:43 / 10.74%
Janis Ian’s sole SNL appearance to date involved her filling the episode’s second and fourth music slots with pensive performances of “At Seventeen” and “In the Winter.” Both songs derive from the then-24-year-old’s seventh studio album, Between the Lines, which was released that March.
John Belushi – 6:20 / 10.13%
John Belushi, this episode’s most prominent Not Ready for Primetime Player, took part in five sketches, including the cold open entitled “The Wolverines.” He later appeared for almost three minutes in “Trojan Horse Home Security,” the night’s second longest live sketch after “The Land of Gorch” (which exclusively starred Jim Henson’s Muppets).
Chevy Chase – 6:18 / 10.08%
After becoming the first person to ever deliver the iconic “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night” line, Chevy Chase came very close to matching Belushi’s screen time by showing up in six more segments. Just over 40 percent of his time was spent anchoring “Weekend Update,” which he continued to do until he exited the show one year later.
Billy Preston – 6:04 / 9.70%
Like Ian, Billy Preston never returned to SNL following his two-part appearance in this episode. After making history as the show’s first musical performer with a rendition of his No. 1 hit, “Nothing From Nothing,” he sang the more recent “Fancy Lady” from his tenth studio album, It’s My Pleasure.
Dan Aykroyd – 5:16 / 8.42%
At just 23 years old, Dan Aykroyd was the youngest member of the original SNL cast by a margin of four months. He made his biggest impression in this episode with his three-and-a-half-minute performance as company president and pitchman Kenny Vorstrather in “Trojan Horse Home Security.”
Gilda Radner – 4:58 / 7.94%
Although Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin both took part in four of this episode’s sketches, Radner comfortably emerged as its most heavily utilized female cast member by amassing almost twice as much screen time as her colleague. She was the last of the nine credited players to be given a speaking role, with her first line having been delivered after the 41-minute mark in “Bee Hospital.”
Garrett Morris – 3:31 / 5.63%
SNL’s first repertory player of color—who today is the oldest living former cast member—was seen four times throughout the show’s first episode. Over 56 percent of his time was devoted to his portrayal of machine gun-wielding “Trojan Horse Home Security” vice president Harvey Morgomaster.
Jane Curtin – 2:33 / 4.08%
A year before she took over for Chase as the first female “Weekend Update” anchor, Curtin made memorable introductory appearances in sketches such as “Trial” and “Victims of Shark Bite.” She and most of her original co-stars (save Belushi, Aykroyd, Radner, and Morris) were only seen in the first two-thirds of this episode, which carried on for 23 minutes without them.
Michael O’Donoghue – 2:12 / 3.52%
Although he only retained his credited cast member position for four weeks, Michael O’Donoghue holds the impressive distinction of being the first person to appear on screen in an SNL episode. After his demotion, he was sporadically seen and heard on the show until 1981 and shared in its 1976 and 1977 writing Emmy wins.
Valri Bromfield – 2:11 / 3.49%
Canadian comedian Valri Bromfield, who had previously worked in partnership with Aykroyd, was reportedly promised a five-minute slot in this episode that wound up being slashed in half after dress rehearsal. Her truncated routine was built around her acting out a scenario in which a flustered high school teacher introduced a speech by a ditzy volleyball team captain.
George Coe – 2:05 / 3.33%
After taking on small roles in “Trial,” “Bee Hospital” and “Academy of Better Careers,” George Coe finished his SNL tenure with uncredited performances in seven more first season episodes and single appearances in Seasons 4 and 12. In the four decades between his demotion and his death in 2015, he amassed more than 60 TV credits.
Andy Kaufman – 1:52 / 2.99%
Andy Kaufman’s first of 16 SNL guest spots involved his stand-up character, Foreign Man, lip syncing to the Mighty Mouse theme song. Although he never hosted an episode prior to his untimely death in 1984, he performed at least once during seven of the show’s first eight seasons (except Season 6), including three times in 1975.
Laraine Newman – 0:54 / 1.44%
Laraine Newman, SNL’s youngest original female cast member, was significantly underutilized in this episode despite the fact that she played three distinct roles. Before appearing with all of her cast mates in “Bee Hospital” and most of them in “Academy of Better Careers,” she racked up over half a minute of screen time as a “Weekend Update” field reporter.
Paul Simon – 0:14 / 0.37%
Just before the inaugural edition of “Weekend Update” began, Simon revealed himself as the next week’s host and teased musical performances by Randy Newman, Phoebe Snow, and Art Garfunkel. This technically marked his first of 19 SNL appearances, the most recent of which occurred in October 2018.
Season 50 of SNL premieres on September 28; Hacks star Jean Smart is hosting with musical guest Jelly Roll.
