As a longtime (but relatively young) Saturday Night Live fan, I’ve always wondered what the early days of the show must have been like. It seems I’m not alone, given a film about the first season, called Saturday Night, is on our 2024 movie schedule and set for release in October. However, we don’t need to wait until then to get a taste of what it was like to be in iconic Studio 8H during that historic debut season. That’s because original cast member Laraine Newman gave a glimpse into cast dynamics and some of the teasing comments she endured from John Belushi.
Newman, it seems, has always been in touch with the next big thing. She was one of the youngest original members of SNL, and she was a cast regular for the first 5 seasons from 1975-1980, best known for playing Connie in the Coneheads sketches. But before that, she was one of the first members of the Groundlings, the now widely famous improv school based in L.A. whose alumni list is filled with countless comedians and actors who went on to be famous in their field.
When Newman went to New York to start on SNL, she didn’t know she was starting a trend of cast members coming from Groundlings roots. But at the time, it was just another improv troupe, unheard of all the way across the country, as she told the LA Times:
By the time we moved to Melrose, I had already gone to SNL. Nobody there had heard of the Groundlings, and I got endless teasing from Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd. John Belushi was like, ‘What’s that group you’re from, the Groundhogs.’
I wonder if we will see some of those comments in the upcoming film about Saturday Night Live. Whether or not the jokes were in good spirits is unknown, but I sure hope so. SNL is known to be a taxing job as is, according to past cast members like Andy Samberg. I’m sure there was a lot of joking and teasing done back then, but little did they know this improv group would help foster the talents of many mighty SNL performers.
Groundlings is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and many of its famous graduates are returning for a 50th Anniversary Alumni Show, including Cheryl Hines, Oscar Nunez, Jim Rash, and Maya Rudolph, who was actually introduced to Groundlings by fellow actor Jack Black.
While the history of the sketch comedy show is well documented, it’s always fun to get new insight into what it was like to work there, especially during those first seasons. And as for the future of SNL, there is a clear pipeline of talent to source from with the Groundlings school.
Be sure to catch Saturday Night when it hits theaters in October, and stay tuned to the 2024 TV schedule so you don’t miss SNL’s 50th Season on NBC. You can even watch Groundlings and SNL alum Maya Rudolph return to play VP Kamala Harris in the newest season and go back and watch Laraine Newman in the early seasons of the show with a Peacock subscription.