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It’s easy to get lost watching “Saturday Night”: Jason Reitman’s new film drops us backstage at a moment of maximum confusion — 90 minutes before the 1975 debut of a new NBC show called “Saturday Night.” At the center of all the hubbub is creator-producer Lorne Michaels (played by Gabriel LaBelle), who’s been the one constant at “S.N.L.” over most of the show’s 50 seasons. But what about all the other characters rushing about, wringing their hands over whether this show will actually make it to air? Here’s a guide:
The Original Cast
CHEVY CHASE AND GARRETT MORRIS These members of the original cast, known as the Not Ready for Prime Time Players, were hired as writers, not actors. Chase (played by Cory Michael Smith) had written for Alan King and the Smothers Brothers. As the anchor for “Weekend Update,” Chase, a master of mugging and pratfalls, became the show’s first breakout star and left in 1976 to embark on a film career. (He would return to guest host in 1978, when he reportedly got into fisticuffs with Bill Murray, the cast member who replaced him.)
Morris (Lamorne Morris, no relation) was a Broadway performer and a playwright with no improv or sketch comedy background. He was underused but became known for his impersonations of Sammy Davis Jr. and Tina Turner, as well as for yelling on “Weekend Update” (as the News for the Hard of Hearing interpreter). After the show, he stuck with TV comedy, appearing on sitcoms like “Martin,” “The Jamie Foxx Show” and “2 Broke Girls.”
GILDA RADNER, JANE CURTAIN AND LARAINE NEWMAN The movie doesn’t try very hard to differentiate among the show’s female cast members — Gilda Radner, who died in 1989, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman. But the three women had very distinct styles. Radner (Ella Hunt), a former member of Second City in Toronto, was the first performer Michaels signed and soon became a star beloved for her fragile, goofy style and characters like Roseanne Roseannadanna. It was her advocacy for fellow Second City veteran and ex-boyfriend Dan Aykroyd that persuaded Michaels to hire him.
Newman (Emily Fairn), a founding member of the Los Angeles improv troupe the Groundlings, knew Michaels from working together on a Lily Tomlin special. Her character Sherry the Valley Girl helped kick off a national fad mocking Southern California mall-speak. Newman’s expertise with accents and dialects paved the way for a post-“S.N.L.” career as a voice artist.
Curtin (Kim Matula), a member of the Boston improv group the Proposition, was one of the last cast members hired. She was often presented as the foil to more outrageous characters and helped ground many a sketch. As the first female anchor of “Weekend Update,” she was called upon to weather Aykroyd’s contemptuous catchphrase, “Jane, you ignorant slut.” After “S.N.L.,” Curtin became a sitcom star (“Kate & Allie,” “3rd Rock From the Sun”).
DAN AYKROYD Played by Dylan O’Brien, he was the youngest cast member but seemed older. He’d already worked with Michaels in Canada, joined Second City in Toronto and run the first of a series of nightclubs. He had a remarkable ability to disappear into characters and impersonations (Richard Nixon, Julia Child), but he was also known as a team player, pairing well with the female cast members, his Blues Brothers partner John Belushi and the writing staff, which he later joined. Since he left, Aykroyd has had one of the most successful film careers of the original cast (hello, “Ghostbusters”).
JOHN BELUSHI He was finally (and reluctantly) hired by Michaels, after much lobbying by the likes of Chase, according to the 2015 book “Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live.” The scene-stealing Belushi (Matt Wood) enjoyed a bad reputation; he was unpredictable on- and offscreen, ultimately dying from a drug overdose at the age of 33 in 1982. With this impersonations of William Shatner and Marlon Brando, his recurring samurai character and star turns in “Animal House” and “Blues Brothers,” he remains a comedy icon.
Guest Performers
GEORGE CARLIN The first-ever host of “Saturday Night” (who died in 2008) was this boundary-pushing comic (played by Matthew Rhys), already the bane of censors with his “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” routine. The network hoped to clean up Carlin’s act by making him wear a suit (and threatening a six-second delay).
BILLY PRESTON, JANIS IAN They were the musical guests. Played by Jon Batiste, Preston (who died in 2006) was a keyboardist known for working with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and for a string of his own hits (including “You Are So Beautiful”). Ian (Naomi McPherson), a singer-songwriter, performed a breakout teen angst number (1975’s “At Seventeen”) in that first episode.
ANDY KAUFMAN, JIM HENSON These semiregular “Saturday Night” guests (Nicholas Braun for both) seemed unlikely additions. But Kaufman, virtually unknown during that first broadcast, soon developed a cult following. Years after his 1984 death, he was celebrated in the 1999 Jim Carrey film “Man on the Moon.” Puppeteer Henson (who died in 1990) was known mainly for his work on “Sesame Street.” His “Land of Gorch” bits on “S.N.L.” were ill-received, and he soon departed to produce “The Muppet Show.”
BILLY CRYSTAL, VALRI BROMFIELD “Saturday Night” the movie spends a lot of time on a young comic named Billy Crystal (Nicholas Podany), who runs the risk of being cut and tries to get support from fellow comic Valri Bromfield (Corinne Britti). At the time, Crystal was a rising star in stand-up, while Bromfield had paired with Aykroyd as a comedy duo and worked with Michaels on a Lily Tomlin special. In the end Crystal was dropped from the premiere, and Bromfield went on as planned. Crystal eventually returned as a guest, a host and a cast member with his own catchphrase, “You look mahvelous,” before going on to a successful film career (“When Harry Met Sally …,” “City Slickers”).
Creative Couples
LORNE MICHAELS AND ROSIE SHUSTER Over the course of the film, Michaels has a confusing relationship with a show writer, Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott) — she’s his wife, at least officially. Friends with Michaels since childhood, she’s the daughter of Frank Shuster (part of the Canadian comedy team Wayne and Shuster and a mentor to Michaels). The couple divorced in 1980, but Shuster continued writing for the show until 1988, turning out sketches for Radner characters like Roseanne Roseannadanna and Baba Wawa.
MICHAEL O’DONOGHUE AND ANNE BEATTS Involved romantically at the time, these veterans of the National Lampoon magazine shared a dark sensibility they called “cut and slash” humor. Played by Tommy Dewey, the temperamental O’Donoghue (who died in 1994) was the show’s first head writer, and most often teamed up with Newman (“The Exorcist 2”) and Belushi (“Godfather Therapy”). He was also featured in his own recurring sketch as Mr. Mike and co-wrote the 1988 comedy “Scrooged.” Beatts (Leander Suleiman) specialized in parodies of TV commercials and often collaborated with Shuster (the Nerds characters). Beatts (who died in 2021) also created the TV series “Square Pegs.”
AL FRANKEN AND TOM DAVIS This writing team can be seen in the movie, though Franken (Taylor Gray) and Davis (Mcabe Gregg) didn’t get a sketch on the air until the fourth show. Friends since high school, they wrote the Julia Child sketch “The French Chef” (1978) and appeared in the recurring segment “The Franken and Davis Show.” Davis (who died in 2012) also cocreated popular characters like the Coneheads (with Aykroyd). Franken was best known on air for his self-help guru Stuart Smalley. He later transitioned from political satire to real-life politics, serving as a U.S. senator from Minnesota for 9 years but resigning amid sexual misconduct accusations, which he denied.
HERB SARGENT AND ALAN ZWEIBEL They formed a less likely writing team. Sargent (Tracy Letts) was a former head writer for Johnny Carson and had been hired as a script supervisor on “Saturday Night.” Due to his experience, Sargent (who died in 2005) was considered the staff’s resident father figure. Zweibel (Josh Brener), who specialized in one-liners, is depicted as coming aboard opening night. In reality, he joined the staff long before that and with Sargent helped shape the first years of “Weekend Update.” Zweibel later cocreated “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.”
The Network and the Old Guard
DICK EBERSOL AND DAVID TEBET In the film, Michaels navigates network issues with the NBC executives Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman) and David Tebet (Willem Dafoe). After working for ABC Sports honcho Roone Arledge, Ebersol was the new director of NBC’s weekend late-night programming when he was charged with filling a slot previously occupied by “Tonight Show” reruns. He hired Michaels, helped him develop the new show and protected him from network interference. Among other things, Ebersol pushed for the casting of Belushi and offered to be his minder.
Tebet (who died in 2005) was one of TV’s great power brokers and was known for protecting the stars and the network from scandal. As NBC’s vice president of talent relations and chief liaison to stars, particularly Johnny Carson, whom he had personally recruited for “The Tonight Show,” he was concerned that “Saturday Night” not compete with “The Tonight Show” for talent bookings.
MILTON BERLE Adored by the public as both Mr. Television and Uncle Miltie, Berle (who died in 2002) hosted one of the most popular Golden Age TV shows, “Texaco Star Theater” on NBC. But within the industry, Berle (J.K. Simmons) was reviled for his outdated narcissism. When hosting “S.N.L.” in 1979, he irritated cast and crew by, among other things, arranging a standing ovation for himself. (And Zweibel said in “Live From New York” that Berle exposed himself behind the scenes, as the film indicates.) Berle was never invited to return — a signal that corny showbiz clichés were over.
Photo credits: Hopper Stone/Sony Pictures (“Saturday Night” stills); Ken Regan /American Broadcasting Companies, via Getty Images (Henson); NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal, via Getty Images (Garrett Morris); Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection, via Getty Images (Shuster)
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