‘SNL’: NBC To Air First Ever Episode Ahead Of 50th Anniversary

Saturday Night Live is getting nostalgic ahead of its 50th anniversary.

NBC will air the first ever episode of the show on February 15 at 11:30pm ET, the night before it premieres SNL50: The Anniversary Special.

Originally titled NBC’s Saturday Night, the episode aired on October 11, 1975 with George Carlin as host and Billy Preston and Janice Ian as musical guests.

The episode featured a cast including Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner.

It was this episode that served as the entrance to Jason Reitman’s recent feature film Saturday Night.

The cold open feature Belushi as a foreign man learning English, being taught by writer Michael O’Donoghue, before Chase appeared with a headset on to shout “Live From New York, It’s Saturday Night” for the first time.

Carlin performed stand up including three monologues but did not appear in any sketches, because, per Live From New York by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales, he was too stoned.

Andy Kaufman appeared in the infamous Mighty Mouse moment, where he played the theme song on a record player but mimed along.

George Coe appeared as a cast member, Valri Bromfield, Jacqueline Carlin, and Wendy Craig made a guest appearances, while Paul Simon appeared to promote his performance the following week.