by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 03, 2008   Last Updated: February 01, 2009

"Saturday Night Live" launched in 1975, and has now aired over 600 episodes. It's the perfect time to look back over the show's 34 years - including some of its highlights and lowlights.

Did you know...

* The first season included 24 live appearances by Jim Henson's Muppets in a recurring caveman sketch called "the Land of Gorch."

* In 1978, Marvel released a Spider-Man comic book in which Peter Parker attends the taping of a "Saturday Night Live" episode. A villainous samurai arrives to retrieve a rare jewel, but the samurai is initially mistaken for John Belushi.

* "Weekend Update," the show's news parody, has been running for the full 32 years, making it the longest-running continuous sketch in television history. Over its 34-year run, it's had more than 12 different newscasters, as well as dozens of guest commentators.

* Guest host Louise Lasser was banned from performing on Saturday Night Live. Lasser starred in a soap opera parody called "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," but her 1975 on SNL began with Lasser refusing to come out of her dressing room. She returned to the stage after Lorne Michaels is shown threatening that she'll never work in television again (though this may have been a joke). But Michaels was so dissatisfied with this episode that he insisted it that it never be shown again.

* John Belushi filmed a skit in which he appears as himself as an old man, seated outside the "Not Ready For Prime Time Cemetery" as the last surviving cast member. In fact, Belushi was the first to die, at age 33, and the writers had already begun joking about his high-risk lifestyle. Another episode ends with a giant lobster attacking the show, and as Belushi is supposedly killed, Buck Henry tells the audience that "He had his whole life ahead of him. Or at least a few more good years."

* On the day Gilda Radner died in 1989, the SNL band played a tribute led by her former husband, G.E. Smith and the SNL Band.

* One 1990 skit referenced the show's past history by imagining a "Five Timer's Club." When Tom Hanks made his fifth appearance, he was welcomed into an exclusively society by previous "five-timers" Steve Martin, Elliot Gould, and Paul Simon. (The doorman was played by a young man who would go on to be a famous late night comedian - Conan O'Brien.) Soon guest hosts would also describe the imaginary club when making their fifth appearance, including Danny DeVito, John Goodman, Christopher Walken, Drew Barrymore, and Alec Baldwin

* David Spade became famous for his vicious commentary on celebrities in the "Hollywood Minute" segment of "Weekend Update." But in one of the most memorable moments, as he began mocking actor Steve Martin, Steve Martin appeared behind him and chased him off the stage!

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.