Saturday Night Live: The Early Years (1975-80)

About this course:

One of the longest-running franchises in television history, Saturday Night Live got off to a raucous start in the years 1975-80. Lorne Michaels, an upstart young producer, brought up-to-the-moment satire that had not been seen onscreen since The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour got kicked off the air. Michaels found Gilda Radner in Toronto; John Belushi, Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray in Chicago; Jane Curtin and Chevy Chase in Massachusetts; Garrett Morris in Harlem and Lorraine Newman in Los Angeles. In this course, we follow their antics as they light up the screen with a dazzling array of characters, including Belushi's Yassir Arafat, Gilda Radner's Roseanne Roseannadanna and the Coneheads. We also watch clips of some of the best musicians of the day, including Paul Simon, The Grateful Dead, James Taylor, Frank Zappa, Bette Midler and Bob Dylan. This course will be recorded. Students will have access to videos for the duration of the course.