Saturday Night Live - Season One

Running on the treadmill on Father's Day, I finished watching the first season of Saturday Night Live.  When I started reading the oral history of Saturday Night Live in March,  I decided to start watching the first season.

It is interesting to see how the show starts to take shape and morphs towards the format that we are familiar with today. Although John Belushi is a force of nature, I was particularly impressed with Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner.

The list of hosts and musical acts for the first season includes:

1. Host: George Carlin; Musical Guest: Billy Preston & Janis Ian; October 11, 1975
2. Host: Paul Simon; Musical Guest: Randy Newman, Phoebe Snow, Art Garfunkel & Jessy Dixon Singers; October 18, 1975
3. Host: Rob Reiner; Musical Guest: none; October 25, 1975--In lieu of a musical guest, John Belushi performs "With a Little Help from My Friends" while impersonating Joe Cocker.
4. Host: Candice Bergen; Musical Guest: Esther Phillips; November 8, 1975
5. Host: Robert Klein; Musical Guest: ABBA & Loudon Wainwright III; November 15, 1975
6. Host: Lily Tomlin; Musical Guest: Tomlin with Howard Shore & the All Nurse Band; November 22, 1975
7. Host: Richard Pryor; Musical Guest: Gil Scott-Heron; December 13, 1975--This was the first appearance of John Belushi's Samurai character.
8. Host: Candice Bergen; Musical Guest: Martha Reeves & The Stylistics; December 20, 1975
9. Host: Elliott Gould; Musical Guest: Anne Murray; January 10, 1976
10. Host: Buck Henry; Musical Guest: Bill Withers & Toni Basil; January 17, 1976
11. Host: Peter Cook & Dudley Moore; Musical Guest: Neil Sedaka; January 24, 1976
12. Host: Dick Cavett; Musical Guest: Jimmy Cliff; January 31, 1976
13. Host: Peter Boyle; Musical Guest: Al Jarreau; February 14, 1976
14. Host: Desi Arnaz; Musical Guest: Desi Arnaz & Desi Arnaz, Jr.; February 21, 1976
15. Host: Jill Clayburgh; Musical Guest: Leon Redbone & The Idlers; February 28, 1976
16. Host: Anthony Perkins; Musical Guest: Betty Carter; March 13, 1976
17. Host: Ron Nessen; Musical Guest: Patti Smith; April 17, 1976
18. Host: Raquel Welch; Musical Guest: Phoebe Snow & John Sebastian; April 24, 1976
19. Host: Madeline Kahn; Musical Guest: Carly Simon; May 8, 1976
20. Host: Dyan Cannon; Musical Guest: Leon and Mary Russell; May 15, 1976
21. Host: Buck Henry; Musical Guest: Gordon Lightfoot & Garrett Morris; May 22, 1976
22. Host: Elliott Gould; Musical Guest: Leon Redbone, Harlan Collins & Joyce Everson; May 29, 1976
23. Host: Louise Lasser; Musical Guest: Preservation Hall Jazz Band; July 24, 1976
24. Host: Kris Kristofferson; Musical Guest: Rita Coolidge; July 31, 1976

I really enjoyed working my way through the season.  I am going to start season two in the near future.