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The early 1980s were a tough time for Saturday Night Live. After Lorne Michaels and the remaining members of the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players left at the end of Season Five, an all-new cast starred in a truncated Season Six before they were all fired — save for two breakout stars: Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo.

With the departing cast members went new showrunner Jean Doumanian, who was replaced by Dick Ebersol for Seasons Seven through 10 (Michaels returned in Season 11). Ebersol was a controversial figure at SNL, as the show struggled to regain its cultural relevance during his reign and suffered from frequent cast turnover.

Smack-dab in the middle of Ebersol’s run came Brad Hall, who was a cast member for all of Seasons Eight and Nine. While he was in some sketches, he mostly helmed the Weekend Update desk for a season and a half before...

Hosting "Saturday Night Live" is one of the most exclusive gigs in show business. Spanning 50 years, the late night sketch comedy show averages around 20 episodes each season, with only a few exceptions, giving us exactly 970 episodes of "SNL" so far (and counting). That might sound like a lot, but it's relatively few, especially when you consider that the show has a handful of favorites who have hosted the show multiple times. In fact, the top three actors who have hosted "SNL" the most during the show's run are spread across 45 episodes by themselves, which is basically two full seasons.

Not only is hosting "SNL" a tough job to land, but it's also not easy when you get it, which is why plenty of the biggest stars haven't done it. "Avengers" and "Captain America" franchise star Chris Evans even admitted to being terrified of potentially hosting the show. The live nature...

When Nate Bargatze returned to host Saturday Night Live earlier this month, it had been less than one calendar year since his previous headlining gig in October 2023. That’s a pretty speedy reappearance! But it doesn’t even crack the top 20 in terms of quickest returns to 30 Rock between hosting gigs.

Who got back even quicker? Here are the five SNL hosts who returned the fastest…

5 Tie: Buck Henry and Steve Martin: 126 Days

Maybe the hosting talent pool wasn’t as deep in the early days of Saturday Night Live, or maybe Lorne Michaels knew to ride a funny horse once he found one. Take Buck Henry, for instance. He hosted SNL’s 10th episode ever in January 1976, then returned in May of the same year to host the 21st as well. “Buck Henry so totally got it,” Michaels has explained. “When he got there, he said, ‘Do...

Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” has hit theaters nationwide, chronicling the chaotic 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of “Saturday Night Live” in 1975, releasing on the 49th anniversary of the long-running sketch comedy on October 11. With this movie expected to be a contender at the upcoming 2025 Academy Awards, let’s take a closer look at the filmmaker’s previous four Oscar nominations in three different categories for just two of his films.

After Reitman’s directorial debut in 2005 for “Thank You For Smoking,” he achieved commercial and critical success for his coming-of-age film “Juno” in 2007, starring Elliot Page as the titular teenage character who deals with her unexpected pregnancy and wants to give it up for adoption. While the comedy was praised for its screenplay by Diablo Cody and lead performance, Reitman’s direction was not recognized at any of the major precursor award ceremonies, which is why it...

Exclusive: Euphoria’s Maude Apatow has set the leads for her feature directorial debut, Poetic License, bringing aboard Andrew Barth Feldman (No Hard Feelings), Cooper Hoffman (Saturday Night), Leslie Mann (This Is 40) and Nico Parker (The Last of Us) for the film penned by Raffi Donatich.

Marking the first produced project for Jewelbox Pictures, Apatow’s recently launched production company with longtime collaborator and friend Olivia Rosenbloom, on which we were first to report, Poetic License follows Liz, a former therapist and soon-to-be empty nester, as she becomes the unexpected point of tension between two inseparable best friends and college seniors, Sam and Ari. Liz is forced to reexamine her life as the boys’ friendship unravels in a fierce competition for her affection.

No word on the roles today’s quartet will be playing. Producers include Jewelbox Pictures, Apatow Productions, and Levantine Films.

Perhaps best known for her role...

Michael Keaton is hosting Saturday Night Live tonight, presumably to promote his latest movie, while also ensuring that every Halloween party in America contains at least seven to nine dudes dressed like Beetlejuice.

Keaton’s first outing as host, back in 1982, didn’t go too well (producer Dick Ebersol enlisted Michael Palin to come be a backup host), but he was much more famous when he returned to host a decade later. I mean, he was literally Batman. And Keaton’s ‘92 monologue was all about how the former stand-up is such a big star now that he can, and will, throw out any audience member who rubs him the wrong way.

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In 2015, Keaton hosted for a third time, not long after his career had been rejuvenated by the Oscar-winning Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Despite the fact that he had just starred in the most recent Oscar Best Picture,...

In the movie Saturday Night, the recreation of the minutes leading up to the first-ever episode of SNL, a frantic Dick Ebersol promises Lorne Michaels that he’d get the show’s faulty sound system fixed in time for the live show. This also happened in real life — Ebersol hired a crew that had just finished a Madison Square Garden rock concert to hurry their gear into Studio 8H on the day of the first broadcast.

Life imitated art imitating life last night, as the show returned from a commercial break and sat on a still of Stevie Nicks for a full minute without explanation. Stare at this for 60 seconds to get the full effect.

On social media, some real-time viewers found the frozen image to be spooky — was something nefarious happening at 30 Rock? — while others guessed at the technical issues causing the interruption.

What the heck was going on?...

Cory Michael Smith had some big shoes to fill with his latest role.

The Saturday Night actor recently opened up about the “terror” of mastering his portrayal of Chevy Chase and his “very compulsive” process to prepare for the film, which premiered Friday on the 49th anniversary of Saturday Night Live‘s debut.

“I have loved Chevy Chase since I was a kid. He’s one of my favorite comedic actors,” he told People. “It was such an honor that I did not want to mess this up, and I didn’t want to mess my career up. So I really dove in, and for about two months I would only let myself watch Chevy Chase.

“I just was like, I have to know how this man would say every line, what his body and face would be doing instinctually and sort of deprogram myself and my instincts from this,...

As Saturday Night Live marks a landmark season, the NBC sketch comedy show threw it back to 1975.

Celebrating the 49th anniversary of SNL‘s first broadcast, with Season 50 continuing this weekend, the show shared its original opening credit sequence Friday on social media.

“SNL premiered on October 11, 1975!” they wrote on X with the intro clip for what was then titled Saturday Night.

The lineup included George Carlin, Janis Ian, Billy Preston, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, George Coe, Michael O’Donoghue, Valri Bromfield and Andy Kaufman, with a film by Albert Brooks and Jim Henson’s Muppets.

In honor of the anniversary, Jason Reitman‘s Saturday Night premieres Friday in theaters. The film is set on Oct. 11, 1975, as a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers change television forever. Formerly titled SNL 1975, the film tells the true story of what happened...

It was no small feat to get “Saturday Night Live” off the ground at NBC, and as a result, the cast of “Saturday Night” is pretty huge. In many cases, the actors also look eerily similar to the people they’re playing.

Hitting theaters everywhere on Oct. 11 after a limited theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles, Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” tells the story of the 90 minutes right before the first-ever episode of “SNL.” It’s chaotic and at the time, even Lorne Michaels couldn’t explain what the show was going to be.

Below, you’ll find the cast of “Saturday Night” alongside what their real-life counterparts looked like back then.

Sony/Getty Images Lorne Michaels (Gabriel Labelle)

Lorne Michaels is the creator and, to this day, producer of “Saturday Night Live.” He’s played in “Saturday Night” by Gabriel Labelle, who had his breakout role in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans.

This article contains spoilers for "Saturday Night."

By the time the credits roll on the fantastic "Saturday Night" (read our review here), you've experienced a complete story that unfolds across the chaotic 90 minutes before the first episode of "Saturday Night Live" aired on NBC back in October 1975. 

After Lorne Michaels (Gabriel Labelle) has proven to the network brass that his chaotic sketch comedy show deserves to go live on NBC, the final sequence recreates the first sketch that debuted in the series premiere, featuring cast member John Belushi (Matt Wood) and writer Michael O'Donoghue (Tommy Dewey) engaging in an English lesson with the famous line, "I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines." When it ends with O'Donoghue's character having a heart attack and Belushi's character feigning the cardiac arrest in response, with the cast and crew looking on with pride and laughter, Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith...

(L to R) Garret Morris (Lamorne Morris), Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn), Jim Belushi (Matt Wood), Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), Jane Curtain (Kim Matula) and Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien) in Saturday Night. Photo Credit: Hopper Stone. Copyright © 2024 Ctmg, Inc. All Rights Reserved. **All Images Are Property Of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Saturday Night takes audiences deep into the whirlwind that was the birth of Saturday Night Live, capturing the electrifying 90 minutes before that iconic first airing in 1975. Under the direction of Jason Reitman, the film crafts a thrilling and sometimes frantic portrayal that echoes the unpredictable essence of live TV. The relentless pace of last-minute tweaks, creative disputes, and looming disasters keeps viewers on the edge, sharing the tension experienced by the characters. The film is alive with the vibrant chaos of a live broadcast. Its cast shines, particularly Gabriel Labelle, who plays the young and ambitious Lorne Michaels,...

In 2008, director Jason Reitman lived his “SNL” dream.

He was fresh off the success of “Juno,” which earned Reitman a Best Director Oscar nomination and the film a Best Picture nomination. His agent reached out to Lorne Michaels and relayed Reitman’s wish — to do a guest writing stint on “Saturday Night Live.” And, incredibly, it happened.

“It was like getting to suit up for the Los Angeles Lakers for one night,” Reitman told TheWrap. He and “SNL” writer Simon Rich stayed up until four in the morning on a Tuesday night working on ideas. On Wednesday, they took their three sketch ideas to the table read. “And then later that afternoon I got to be there for the moment when they come out of Lorne’s office and pinned a piece of paper to the wall,” Reitman said. That’s when he found out that one of his sketches...

Plot: In the ninety minutes before the live airing of the first episode of Saturday Night Live, a young Lorne Michaels (Gabriel Labelle) desperately tries to keep NBC from pulling the plug while dealing with a cast, writers and crew in open rebellion.

Review: Comedy would be very different nowadays if not for Saturday Night Live‘s impact. Most noteworthy comedy film stars of the last four decades emerged from their ranks, and nearly fifty years since its premiere, it remains as vital as ever. Yet, the making of the show itself had become an almost mythological tale, with it a known fact that the young Lorne Michaels had to overcome overwhelming odds to make the show in the first place.

What Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night does is that it distills most of the big challenges Michaels had to overcome into one ninety-minute period. It’s a conceit that...

Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), Jane Curtain (Kim Matula), Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman), Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), Alan Zweibel (Josh Brener) and Lorne Michaels (Gabriel Labelle) in Saturday Night.

Ah, the weekend, a time to kick back and relax after the drudgery of the nine-to-fives grind. Well, that’s the case for most of us. For the folks working at “30 Rock” in the “Big Apple” it’s truly “crunch time” Most weeks, that is. And it all started exactly 49 years ago. That’s when one of the “big three” networks (in those “prehistoric’ times before cable and streaming), the National Broadcasting Company decided to gamble on a risky concept, one that was once the “norm” nearly twenty years prior. Back in the 1950s almost everything on the tube (other than creaky old movies) was aired live. But with the advent of video tape, most of the...

Rachel Sennott didn’t get into the premier sketch comedy group during her tenure at NYU. Now she’s playing one of the architects of the world’s most famous sketch comedy show in Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night. Co-written by the latter and Gil Kenan, the biographical comedy-drama chronicles the messy 90-minute period before the first episode of Saturday Night Live on Oct. 11, 1975. Sennott portrays writer Rosie Shuster, who’s also the first wife of SNL creator Lorne Michaels (Gabriel Labelle). And much like their ambitious attempt to shake up NBC’s Saturday night programming, their marriage, as depicted in the film, is in a similarly fragile, yet oddly collaborative, state.

In contrast with a lot of her castmates, Sennott didn’t have a great deal of existing material to reference during prep, but she did have the ultimate resource one phone call away.

“I spoke to Rosie, which was amazing.

Larry David could have had a bright future as an action-comedy hero if a certain Saturday Night Live clone had survived long enough to make its own sketch-to-movie adaptations — after all, Enter The Matzoi: The Movie couldn’t have done that much worse at the box office than MacGruber.

The legendary Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator’s brief career in sketch comedy is best remembered for his Saturday Night Live era, during which David quit the show in a fit of rage halfway through his first and only season before returning to work the next day as if nothing had happened. David’s SNL antics formed the basis of one of the most iconic Seinfeld episodes ever with “The Revenge,” but it wasn’t David’s first memorable and slightly disastrous brush with televised sketch comedy. In his first-ever TV comedy job, David served as a staff writer and...

What can we say about Chevy Chase on his 81st birthday that we haven’t already said before?

Here’s the good news: We don’t have to say it. After decades of burning down every bridge in sight, it was no problem to find 81 burns to light the candles on his cake. Below is a birthday portrait of the man of the hour, courtesy of the co-workers, directors and other unfortunates who’ve worked with Chase over the years.

1 Will Ferrell

“The worst (SNL) host was Chevy Chase.”

(Live From New York: The Complete Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live)

2 Buck Henry

“I thought Chevy shouldn’t have left (SNL). I thought it was really stupid.”

(Live From New York: The Complete Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live)

3 John Carpenter 4 Director Kevin Smith

“Chevy went on to claim he invented every funny thing that ever happened in the history of not just comedy,...

With Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night now out in theaters, many viewers may find themselves on the edge of their seats and wanting to see what happened in the very first episode of Saturday Night Live.

Saturday Night follows the 90 minutes leading up to SNL’s first-ever broadcast on the evening of Oct. 11, 1975, ending just before all the cast were set to go on air. Starring Gabriel Labelle, Rachel Sennott, Ella Hunt, Dylan O’Brien, Lamorne Morris, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Braun, Cooper Hoffman and others, the film arrived in theaters a week before the actual 50thanniversary, on which the film will be released wide.

For details about how to watch the first episode of Saturday Night Live, read on.

Where can I stream the very first episode of SNL?

Only one streaming service has all 50 seasons of Saturday Night Live available for streaming, and that is Peacock.

The inaugural sketch comedy...

Chicago – Kinetic. Frenetic. Chaotic. Live! Those are just some words to describe the Saturday Night Live origin story “Saturday Night.” Director Jason Reitman has infused this nearly real time tale of the struggle to get the first episode of SNL with an energy that grabs your attention and never lets go. That takes some doing when we all know the ending. SNL would not only make it onto American airwaves, but it would become an improbable television institution and comedy touchstone, now celebrating its 50th season.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

We begin in the 90 minutes between the end of dress rehearsal and showtime, and creator Lorne Michaels (Gabriel Labelle) is besieged on all sides as he attempts to bring it to life. He’s got three hours of show and just 90 minutes of air time. The network suits, represented by Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman) and Dave Tebbetts (an oily Willem Dafoe) are either...

For his latest nonfiction role, Gabriel Labelle had a rare peek inside his character’s world.

The Saturday Night star recently recalled his visit to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where he saw a Saturday Night Live taping and met creator Lorne Michaels while portraying him in the film, which premieres nationwide on Oct. 11 following a limited release.

“Our first two days of shooting were in New York, just to shoot outside of 30 Rock, and Lorne was super cool and invited us to watch the Josh Brolin episode live,” he told IndieWire. “And so a handful of us, those who live in New York and then those who were just in New York to shoot regardless, we were able to go and check it out. It was really great.

“Lorne was there, and I actually got to speak with him briefly after the show. We didn’t say too much to each other.

At 11:30pm on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television – and culture – forever. Directed by Jason Reitman and written by Gil Kenan & Reitman, Saturday Night is based on the true story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. Full of humor, chaos, and the magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, we count down the minutes in real time until we hear those famous words…

The film features Gabriel Labelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O’Brien, Emily Fairn, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, Kim Matula, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Braun, Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman, Kaia Gerber, Tommy Dewey, Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys, J.K. Simmons. Also rounding out the ensemble cast are Jon Batiste and Naomi McPherson.

Saturday Night Opens Exclusively in Movie Theaters October 11, 2024.

https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/saturdaynight

The St.

With one month to go before showtime at the 47th Denver Film Festival, festival organizers have peeled back the curtain to reveal this year’s official selections, honorees and jurors.

Presented by Denver Film, the festival will kick off with the opening night presentation of Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut The Piano Lesson from Netflix on Nov. 1. Hitting the screen at the McA Denver at the Holiday Theater, The Piano Lesson is an August Wilson adaptation starring Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Deadwyler, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Corey Hawkins, Stephan James, Erykah Badu and more.

The festival runs Nov. 1-10, and during that time 185 features, documentaries and shorts will screen in the Colorado capital. Justin Kurzel’s The Order starring Jude Law as an FBI agent on the trail of a white supremacist group in the Pacific Northwest will serve as a centerpiece presentation on Nov. 8. The film, which also...

Saturday Night, the highly-anticipated new film from director Jason Reitman, chronicles the frenzied production of the very first episode of Saturday Night Live. Studio 8H was complete and utter chaos on the night of October 11, 1975; there were fistfights, near fatal accidents, contract disputes, at least one incident of indecent exposure, and on top of everything else, producer Lorne Michaels seemed to have no idea what his show was supposed to be.

At one point, Michaels violently tore his scene cards off of the wall out of frustration, and the network threatened to bump the ill-prepared comic upstarts from their time slot, and replace them with a rerun of Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show, mere moments before the show was scheduled to air.

At least that’s how it happened in the movie. Which wasn’t exactly 100 percent true to life, it seems.

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The New York Times recently spoke...

Even if the first season had been its only season, “Saturday Night Live” still would have earned a place in TV history. The series’ original cast, know as “The Not Ready for Prime-Time Players,” launched the careers of John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman. In the almost 50 years since, “SNL” has jumpstarted the careers of many of the greatest comedians of each generation, including Bill Murray (who joined in Season 2), Dana Carvey, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Kristen Wiig, and Tina Fey – just to name a few – and led to films based on sketches from the series, such as “The Blues Brothers” (1980) and “Wayne’s World” (1992).

SEEEddie Murphy movies: 13 greatest films ranked worst to best

In 1975, Lorne Michaels (with Dick Ebersol and Herb Schlosser) created a variety sketch series that focused on satirical and high-concept comedy sketches performed live by young unknown comedians,...

Dylan O’Brien is keeping a pretty cool head after undertaking his latest role.

The Saturday Night actor said he “can’t wait” to meet Dan Aykroyd following his portrayal of the Saturday Night Live alum in the upcoming Jason Reitman-helmed film, which premieres nationwide on Oct. 11, the 49th anniversary of the NBC sketch comedy show’s first episode.

“I’m okay if my guy hates it. It’s acceptance. That was my method,” he joked to People about Aykroyd’s potential reaction to his performance.

“I hear we’re very similar, in a way that I never knew,” added O’Brien. “I feel like we’re going to get along.”

Saturday Night takes place on October 11, 1975, as a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers change television forever. Formerly titled SNL 1975, the film tells the true story of what happened behind the scenes that night in the 90 minutes...

Even if the first season had been its only season, “Saturday Night Live” still would have earned a place in TV history. The series’ original cast, know as “The Not Ready for Prime-Time Players,” launched the careers of John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman. In the almost 50 years since, “SNL” has jumpstarted the careers of many of the greatest comedians of each generation, including Bill Murray (who joined in Season 2), Dana Carvey, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Kristen Wiig, and Tina Fey – just to name a few – and led to films based on sketches from the series, such as “The Blues Brothers” (1980) and “Wayne’s World” (1992).

In 1975, Lorne Michaels (with Dick Ebersol and Herb Schlosser) created a variety sketch series that focused on satirical and high-concept comedy sketches performed live by young unknown comedians, as well as live musical performances,...

One of the original concepts for Saturday Night Live was to have a series of rotating hosts that included iconic stand-up comedians George Carlin, Lily Tomlin and Richard Pryor. What happened to that plan? “Perhaps I poisoned the well a little,” Carlin wrote in his book Last Words. “I certainly was full of cocaine. (Though I was far from the only one.)”

What else did Carlin do to sour NBC on having the comic as a semi-regular?

Honestly, Carlin doesn’t recall all of the details. Journalist Bob Woodward said someone had to break down Carlin’s hotel room door because he was so coked up. Did it actually happen? “I don’t remember,” he confessed. “It may be true. Maybe I went missing the day before or after the show, crashed after being up all week.”

One thing Carlin does remember is refusing to participate in any comedy sketches...

Saturday Night Live just announced the first batch of hosts for its 50th season, which includes some pretty huge names like Jean Smart, Nate Bargatze, John Mulaney and Ariana Grande. Although the news probably came as a huge disappointment to those SNL fans who were pulling for Glen Powell and/or the ghost of Robert Blake.

Also hosting one of the first five shows of the season is the great Michael Keaton, who will appear at the end of October, just in case you needed reminding to dress up as Beetlejuice this Halloween — or, depending on your budget, “Juice Demon.”

This show will mark the fourth time that the Multiplicity star has hosted SNL. Which is amazing considering how absolutely terribly the first outing went – not because of Keaton’s performance, but because of how he was treated by the show’s producer at the time.

Back in 1982, Keaton, fresh...

In 2021, "Up in the Air" and "Juno" director Jason Reitman dug into the legacy of his filmmaking father Ivan Reitman with "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," a revival of the sci-fi comedy franchise with a refreshing yet overly nostalgic lens. Now, he's reaching back to the rise of a pillar of American comedy by way of one of the "Ghostbusters" creators and the troupe of comedians and innovators who made showbiz history back in 1975.

"Saturday Night" moves like a bullet train as it chronicles the incredibly intense, mystifyingly disorganized, and utterly chaotic 90 minutes that led up to the premiere of the first episode of the NBC sketch comedy series that was eventually given the moniker of "Saturday Night Live" (you can find out why it didn't have that title from the get-go over here). Spearheaded by showrunner Lorne Michaels (played by "The Fabelmans" star Gabriel Labelle), the project was a counterculture sketch comedy...

Jason Reitman’s upcoming real-time film Saturday Night is set to dramatise the events leading up to SNL's first ever show. Trailer here.

Last month, we got the news that Saturday Night, the making-of story behind one of the most successful variety shows in US history, is heading for an 11th October release date in the US, and we also got an introductory trailer to go along with it.

While we still don’t yet now when Saturday Night will be hitting the UK, we do have a full trailer to check out ahead of the film’s arrival.

Starring The Fabelmans breakout Gabriel Labelle as the show’s famed producer, Lorne Michaels, the film reportedly revolves around the 90 minutes before the first broadcast of Michaels’ comedy darling, Saturday Night Live.

The cast for this one is something to behold. As well as the aformentioned Gabriel Labelle, we get Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd,...

With Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” set to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, Sony released a new trailer for the real-time comedy thriller on Monday, touting the strong early reviews for the project after its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival earlier this month.

Based on original interviews Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan conducted with several original “Saturday Night Live” cast members and crew personnel, “Saturday Night” unfolds 90 minutes before the first broadcast of the now-legendary sketch comedy series. “The Fabelmans” breakout Gabriel Labelle stars as “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels, with an all-star cast of up-and-coming talent playing several other real-life contributors, including Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster, and Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol.

The film will debut in limited release on September 27 before a wider rollout through October 11 – the 49th anniversary of the first-ever “SNL” broadcast.

Jason Reitman has described Saturday Night as a “comedy thriller” and said that the villain of the movie is time itself. It’s easy to see what he means in the new trailer for the film that depicts the chaotic premiere night of the comedy institution Saturday Night Live. The trailer, newly released by Sony, showcases more of the incredible recreations at Studio 8H, housed at the famous 30 Rockefeller Plaza, along with the cast of the film emulating that ragtag group of soon-to-be over-the-night comedy sensations.

In the new Saturday Night trailer, Labelle’s Lorne Michaels scrambles to get his show on the road in the face of impending failure. Between battling Rockafella Center security, being at odds with Mbc programming higher-up David Tebet (Willem Dafoe), and trying to keep his cast from killing each other, Michaels faces an uphill battle of wills to launch what eventually becomes an institution among television programming.

Saturday Night director Jason Reitman, who in his latest movie chronicles the lead-up to the first Saturday Night Live show in 1975, had a unique training ground.

In 2008, Reitman served as a guest writer on an SNL show and delivered one sketch to air, and all on a tense yet freestyling TV set led by the series creator Lorne Michaels. “Right after Juno, my agent reached out to Lorne and said, look, he has two dreams – to make movies and write for SNL,” Reitman recalled on Sunday during a press breakfast at the Toronto Film Festival.

Reitman and Gil Kenan penned the screenplay for Saturday Night based on their interviews with living cast, writers and crew about the debut of the show that is heading into its 50th season. But there’s nothing like having worked on SNL itself to gain big insights.

Michaels brought Reitman on for a week long gig,...

Sony is ramping up its award campaign plans for filmmaker Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night Live movie, a dramatic recreation of the 90 minutes leading up to the iconic NBC show’s first episode in the mid-1970s.

The studio announced late Thursday that it will release Saturday Night in select theaters on Sept. 27 in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto, followed by another expansion on Oct. 4. It will then open nationwide on Oct. 22 as originally planned.

The move gives Sony and the filmmakers a chance to use word of mouth to build anticipation for the movie, which was one of the most buzzed-about titles at the Telluride Film Festival, which is considered ground zero for assessing the awards landscape.

It’s stuff of legend how showrunner Lorne Michael and an insanely talented troupe of young comedians and writers changed television — and culture — forever. Reitman directed from a script he co-wrote with Gil Kenan.

Update: Following the critical acclaim for Jason Reitman’s SNL origins pic, Saturday Night, coming out of its Telluride release, Sony is changing up the release pattern of the ensemble pic to a platform roll-out. The movie will go exclusive on Sept 27 in LA, NYC and Toronto, then limited on Oct. 4 before breaking wide on Oct. 11.

Saturday Night will have its international premiere up here at TIFF on Tuesday, Sept. 10. The pic is already 85% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes

Deadline’s Awards Editor and Chief Film Critic Pete Hammond declared that Reitman “nailed it” in casting the 80-speaking role movie with the likes of Gabriel Labelle as SNL producer as Lorne Michaels, Dyan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Willem Dafoe as NBC exec David Tebet, Cory Michael Smith’s “spot-on Chevy Chase”; Lamorne Morris’s Garrett Morris, Matt Wood’s John Belushi and Succession‘s Nicholas Braun doing double duty as Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman.

Before each Saturday Night Live performance, Kristen Wiig would light a candle, she once told Kelly Clarkson. Amy Poehler shared her own pre-show ritual with Clarkson this week. “When Don Pardo would say my name,” Poehler explained, “I used to just take a moment and close my eyes for about a split second. Because that's about all the time you have at SNL. Molly Shannon used to do that — she told me about it so then I did it.”

Aww, sweet. But not as fun as another SNL tradition that Poehler revealed. It turns out the Parks and Rec star got Shannon’s office after she left the show, a fact evidenced by the scribbles Shannon left on the room’s walls. “Everyone would just kind of leave their name like summer camp,” Poehler said. “You'd write your name on the wall.”

Defacing SNL property is a long-standing tradition that...

This past weekend, Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night premiered at the Telluride film festival, and has been mostly earning praise from critics, including some rumblings of possible Oscar contention. Although at least one review wasn’t so kind, calling it “109 minutes of tedious SNL cosplay.”

While much of the movie is being heralded for its apparent authenticity, as Vulture’s review revealed, there are a few moments that seem out of step with the historical record, including a scene in which Lorne Michaels receives a threatening phone call from Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, who calls the SNL producer a “benchwarmer” and “a stalking horse.”

Rolling Stone also noted in their review that the movie version of Michaels only landed the 11:30 p.m. Saturday night time slot “because NBC was beefing with Johnny Carson, and this was supposed to be the network’s way of gaining leverage in their negotiations with him.

Live from Telluride, Sony Pictures’ biographical dramedy “Saturday Night” has officially entered the Oscar race thanks to its superb ensemble, sizzling script and expert craftsmanship. The film drew significant attention at the festival, where nearly 300 people were turned away, and the first attendees arrived as early as 2:30 p.m. for the 7:15 p.m. screening. Jason Reitman’s crowd-pleasing romp is now positioned as a strong contender across several Oscar categories, including best picture.

Directed by Reitman, who introduced the film along with former “SNL” cast member Bill Murray, it’s set in 1975 and chronicles the 90 minutes leading up to the premiere of NBC’s long-running sketch show, “Saturday Night Live.”

With a cast of more than 20 actors who deliver outstanding performances in their respective roles, “Saturday Night” is in the running for one of the five slots for the best-cast ensemble at the SAG Awards. If nominated, it...

Jason Reitman’s tedious and exasperatingly self-absorbed “Saturday Night” isn’t very big on “ideas” or “being about things other than itself,” but the one concept that it returns to throughout its glorified showbiz cosplay is that “Saturday Night Live” — known as “Saturday Night” when it first premiered — was unlike anything that people had ever seen on TV before. Re-imagining the frantic 90 minutes before the show debuted in October of 1975, Reitman’s 16mm love letter to Lorne Michaels reminds us over and over again of the risk that NBC incurred by offering its network to a young producer and an edgy bunch of no-name comics in a slot when most viewers were hoping to see Milton Berle.

Of course, we know that “SNL” would go on to become one of the longest-running and most famous institutions in the history of television (though it’s funny to think how unintelligible this...

It was never going to work. They couldn’t give enough tickets away to fill the seats. There were sound issues, lighting issues, drug issues, ego issues. Some of the crew walked out. A key cast member wouldn’t sign his contract, then went missing right before the show was supposed to air live. The host oozed contempt. The Teamsters didn’t like the long-haired freaks. The two alpha males in the ensemble didn’t like each other. Writer Michael O’Donoghue didn’t like anybody. They had three hours of...

There was a noticeable energy inside the Palm Theater on Saturday night at the Telluride Film Festival before the world premiere of Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night.” In a lineup of several heavy dramas and art house titles – some of which, at least anecdotally, have left attendees disappointed despite pre-festival buzz – the Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s new film about the launch of “Saturday Night Live” felt like something of a unicorn: a mainstream studio movie about one of the most important comedy institutions ever created. So when Reitman – who has been coming to Telluride for years – took the stage to introduce the film, the crowd was already primed to erupt. And when Reitman brought “SNL” legend Bill Murray, in town to support “The Friend,” up to the stage to surprise the audience, they did to the tune of a standing ovation.

But that all happened before the movie started. So in some ways,...

Over nearly 1,000 episodes, “Saturday Night Live” has given America some of its most successful comedians, iconic characters and quotable catchphrases. Now, just one year shy of the pop phenom’s 50th anniversary, director Jason Reitman gives back, turning an oral history of the very first episode into a rowdy, delectably profane backstage homage. “Saturday Night” kicks off at 10 p.m. on Oct. 11, 1975, and ticks its way in practically real time to Chevy Chase’s delivery of the infamous opening line. Fine, but who plays Chevy Chase? Or Gilda Radner? Or John Belushi, for that matter?

The research is one thing, but Reitman — whose father, Ivan, directed his fair share of “SNL” legends, and who always dreamed of writing for the show — sets a foolhardy challenge for himself in finding sufficiently funny people to play some of TV’s most beloved cut-ups. Miraculously, Reitman and casting director John Papsidera pull it off,...

Next year, ‘Saturday Night Live' will be celebrating its 50th anniversary, after making its premiere on October 11, 1975. The famed late-night comedy’s beginnings are also in the process of being captured in a new film, aptly titled ‘SNL 1975’. While little details have been released about the plot or script, casting information, behind-the-scenes pictures, as well as history can give us information on this anticipated origin story.

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Live From New York, It’S 1975 Though it may seem that the plot of ‘SNL 1975...

A clearer picture of the next generation of movie stars is starting to take shape. It's not much of a surprise that Phillip Seymour Hoffman's kid is one of the ones emerging at the forefront, but it bodes well for his career that Cooper Hoffman has signed on to the latest Gregg Araki movie.

Bob Tischler, the writer and producer known for his work on Saturday Night Live, has died. He was 78.

The former SNL head writer, who is largely credited with helping revive the NBC sketch comedy show after its infamously panned 1980-81 season, died on July 13 at his home in Bodega Bay, California.

His son Zeke told The New York Times that the cause of death was pancreatic cancer.

Born June 12, 1946 in Englewood, New Jersey, Tischler attended Ithaca and Franconia Colleges in the 1960s before working as a sound engineer in radio and television.

After working together on a radio ad, Christopher Guest recommended him to National Lampoon, for which he produced the albums Radio Dinner (1972), Gold Turkey (1975) and That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick (1977), as well as The National Lampoon Radio Hour in 1973.

Saturday Night Live Producer Dick Ebersol, writers Bob Tischler and Michael O’Donoghue and improvisation expert Del Close.

The chaotic first night of Saturday Night Live — and how the show was almost dead-on-arrival — is the focus of the upcoming “thriller-comedy” Saturday Night, which depicts the hours leading up to the premiere broadcast.

“At 11:30pm on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television – and culture – forever,” Sony Pictures Entertainment said in the film’s synopsis.

“Saturday Night is based on the true story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. Full of humor,...

Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night! Well, actually, it’s Thursday afternoon here in the UK. But the trailer for Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night just dropped – and it looks to be a star-studded, comedy-laden, chaotic affair, as creator Lorne Michaels (The Fabelmans’ Gabriel Labelle) counts down the minutes before his pioneering show SNL goes on air for the very first time. Watch it here:

These days, SNL is a late-night juggernaut, attracting A-list hosts and musical guests, regularly going viral with inspired skits, and acting as fertile ground for the biggest names in American comedy to cut their teeth. But back in October 1975, it was a free show that NBC were struggling to get an audience in for – an untested gamble, filled with big names having big arguments, thrown onto TVs across the nation before it was ready. Labelle leads a mega cast, which also includes Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd,...

It’s Whiplash meets Being The Ricardos in the first trailer for Jason Reitman’s SNL comedy-thriller. Check out the Saturday Night trailer below:

If you’ve ever looked at the behind-the-scenes of an episode of SNL and thought: “that doesn’t look anxiety-inducing enough”, then Jason Reitman has the trailer for you.

Last week, we got the news that Saturday Night, the making-of story behind one of the most successful variety shows in US history, is heading for an 11th October release date in the US, and now we’ve got a trailer to go along with it. Starring The Fabelmans breakout Gabriel Labelle as the show’s famed producer, Lorne Michaels, the footage revolves around a cosy corridor chat between him and Cooper Hoffman’s NBC executive, Dick Ebersol.

Take a look at the Saturday Night trailer below:

The film reportedly revolves around the 90 minutes before the first broadcast of Michaels’ comedy darling,...

Jason Reitman is ready to go live from New York.

On Thursday, Sony Pictures released the first trailer for Reitman’s upcoming drama “Saturday Night,” Reitman’s new film about the chaos and creativity that went into getting the venerable sketch comedy series “Saturday Night Live” on the air for the first time. “Saturday Night” debuts in theaters on October 11, 49 years to the day “SNL” debuted on NBC.

Here’s the synopsis of the film, provided by Sony:

At 11:30 pm on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television – and culture – forever. Directed by Jason Reitman and written by Gil Kenan & Reitman, Saturday Night is based on the true story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. Full of humor, chaos, and the magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, we count...