It's hard to believe Saturday Night Live will soon be celebrating its 40th year on the air. Through the decades the show has brought us some hilarious sketches and multi-talented performers like Bill Murray, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell.
Many people have a hard time agreeing on the best cast, but it's hard to forget how hilarious some of the original "not for primetime players" were including Bill Murray, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris and three of the funniest women in the history of sketch comedy: Laraine Newman, Jane Curtin and the late, Gilda Radner.
Over the next few years the show brought on some more incredible talent with the likes of Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal, Martin Short and even the first professional job of Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Do you remember some of these hilarious sketches from the first 10 years of the show? Please SHARE this if you remember some of these hilarious characters and scenes. In the comments section, leave some of your favorite characters and sketches. There's almost too many great ones to name!
The Killer Bees
The killer bees sketch featured the cast in bee costumes usually just telling bee puns and became the show's first recurring characters. Initially NBC told producer, Lorne Michaels, to "cut the bees" and just to spite the producers he had the bees appear 11 times in the first season alone. Un-bee-lievable.
The SNL Samurai
John Belushi will forever be remembered as one of the show's most dedicated sketch performers. His physical commitment to the comedy was evident on every show including his performance as the SNL Samurai, a traditional samurai in very un-traditional situations for a samurai such as being a bellhop or running a sandwich shop.
The Coneheads
It's hard to forget the Coneheads from Remulak, er, I mean… France. One of the show's most bizarre sketches has also become one of its most enduring eventually spawning an animated special and a feature film in 1993.
The Landshark
The summer Jaws came out, thousands of people were scared to go into the water. When SNL first premiered its Landshark sketch, thousands laughed at this Chevy Chase bit featuring a landshark knocking on victims' doors pretending to be a plumber or telegram. This simple, but visually hysterical bit eventually was used in 5 different seasons of the show.
Roseanne Roseannadanna
Gilda Radner is proof positive that women are funny. She was more than funny– she was hilarious! A highlight of the early seasons of SNL was a Gilda Radner appearance on Weekend Update such as brash Roseanne Roseannadanna, the brash consumer affairs reporters whose monologs would often make Jane Curtin "sick" or little old Emily Litella whose hearing problem was bound to bring some hilarity to the news desk.
The Nerds
"That's so funny I forgot to laugh."
Lisa and Todd "the Nerds" gave the opportunity for two of the show's best actors, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray, to demonstrate their impeccable timing and gift for character together.
Baba Wawa
One of the show's first celebrity impressions featured Gilda Radner doing an exaggerated version of Barbara Walters named Baba Wawa that highlighted Barbara Walters' not pronouncing her "r"s.
Though Barbara Walters claimed that she didn't think she talked like that, she did appear on the show many years later to pay homage to Gilda's hilarious impression.
Sadly, Gilda passed away from ovarian cancer in 1989. She made the world a funnier place and her legacy lives on through Gilda's Club, a community organization that helps women living with cancer.
Gumby (And Buckwheat, and Mr. Robinson...)
A few years later most of the original cast was gone and the show was under threat of being cancelled. Enter young comedian Eddie Murphy who breathed new life into the show with memorable characters like Buckwheat, Gumby, Mr. Robinson and others. Eddie Murphy went on to become one of the biggest Hollywood stars, but do you remember some of his original SNL characters?
Fernando Lamas
Billy Crystal as Fernando Lamas gave us one of the show's most memorable catchphrases: "You look mahvelous."
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