Saturday Night Live introduced a new type of comedy to television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3).

Producer Lorne Michaels (1944–) was inspired to create Saturday Night Live by the British comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4). Michaels felt that the unbound energy and creativity found in America's comedy clubs was missing from its TV screens. The show debuted on October 11, 1975, on NBC. Michaels landed an 11:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time (EST) time slot. At the time, this late hour was TV's graveyard, a time when not many people would be watching. But Michaels'...