Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced 1975–1976

The following is a list of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced between October 11, 1975, and July 31, 1976, the first season of SNL.

Weekend Update

A satirical news segment, initially starring Chevy Chase. Debuted October 11, 1975. It is considered the longest running recurring sketch in the show's history. Like the show itself, it has seen many changes over the years and has a revolving door of anchors, such as Bill Murray, Jane Curtin, Dan Aykroyd, Charles Rocket, Gail Matthius, Brian Doyle-Murray, Mary Gross, Christine Ebersole, Brad Hall, Christopher Guest, Dennis Miller, Kevin Nealon, Norm MacDonald, Colin Quinn, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Amy Poehler, and Seth Meyers.

The Killer Bees

The Killer Bees were the first characters to recur on SNL. According to a Lorne Michaels interview for the book Live From New York, "The only note we got from the network on the first show was 'Cut the bees.' And so I made sure I put them in the next show." The bees were played by all the repertory players at the time, who wore yellow and black horizontal stripes, wings, and overly springy antennae. Much of the humor from these scenes came out of puns or metaphors that had to do with well-known activities and body parts of bees.

The bees were a staple of the first season, appearing 11 times. However, the cast and crew quickly tired of them, and the Bees only appeared 3 further times during the original cast's five-year tenure.

Episodes featuring full sketches of The Killer Bees

• October 11, 1975 "Bee Hospital" - host: George Carlin
• October 25, 1975 "Bees Dramatic Scene" - host: Rob Reiner
• December 20, 1975 "Bee Capades" - host: Candice Bergen
• January 10, 1976 "The Killer Bees" - host: Elliott Gould
• October 2, 1976 "Killer Bees" - host: Eric Idle
• November 13, 1976 "Grandparent Bees" - host: Dick Cavett
• December 2, 1978 "Bad News Bees" - host: Walter Matthau

Additional appearances of The Killer Bees

• October 18, 1975 In a brief appearance, the bees come out after a performance by Randy Newman and host Paul Simon tells them that their sketch has been cut (surprising the actual performers).
• November 8, 1975 John Belushi appears as a lone bee in host Candice Bergen's monologue.
• November 15, 1975 Garrett Morris, dressed as a bee, tells a story of another bee who had a brush with George Washington.
• January 17, 1976 "The Blues Bees" - John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, in their first appearance as The Blues Brothers, perform "I'm a King Bee" dressed in bee outfits.
• January 24, 1976 "No Bees In This Show" - Scred, one of Jim Henson's Muppets, wants to be in the show based on the fact that he came dressed as a bee, and can perform the popular quirks of the cast's characters.
• March 13, 1976 "Sherry's Bee" - Laraine Newman's recurring character, Sherry, is unhappy that her professor (host Anthony Perkins) has given her a grade of B on her last assignment, and as a result she is paired with a literal bee (John Belushi). At the end, the professor gives Sherry a B+, the plus represented by giving a young child dressed as a bee to Belushi.
• January 28, 1978 John Belushi, out-of-character but dressed in his bee costume, interrupts a scene between Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman after word gets out that a "giant lobster" is attacking New York (piggybacking onto an earlier "Weekend Update" joke).
• December 17, 2011 In the most recent bee reference to date, Jimmy Fallon wears one of the bee costumes during the show's goodnights.

The Land of Gorch

The Land of Gorch was a puppet sketch starring Jim Henson's Muppets. Lorne Michaels described the characters as the type of Muppets that can stay up late. Debuted October 11, 1975. The sketch stars King Ploobis (performed by Jim Henson), Queen Peuta (performed by Alice Tweedie), Scred (performed by Jerry Nelson), Vazh (performed by Fran Brill), Wisss (performed by Richard Hunt), and their statue deity the Mighty Favog (performed by Frank Oz) who reside on an alien planet.

Land Shark

Chevy Chase plays a shark attempting to lure his way into a victim's home. Debuted November 8, 1975.

Sherry

Laraine Newman plays Sherry, a stereotypical naive valley girl. Debuted November 15, 1975. Newman would reprise the role in the 40th anniversary special as part of The Californians sketch in 2015, in which she played Karina's mother, who like Sherry, also spoke valley girl-esque.

Minute Mystery with Mike Mendoza

Dan Aykroyd is a crime scene photographer who gives the audience a list of clues and 60 seconds to solve a mystery. Debuted November 15, 1975.

Emily Litella

Emily Litella was an elderly woman with a hearing problem, played by Gilda Radner in the late 1970s. She would frequently rant about topics about which she had misread or misheard, such as "Violins on Television," "Canker Research," "Endangered Feces," or "Presidential Erections." (To satisfy the censors at the time, Litella was made to explicitly state that she was referring to erecting statues of presidents.) Her catchphrase was "Never mind!", said after she was informed of her mistake.

Saturday Night Live Samurai (Samurai Futaba)

John Belushi plays a samurai warrior, who speaks only (mock) Japanese, and wields a katana. He is seen in various occupations ranging from a hotel desk clerk to a tailor. Debuted December 13, 1975.

Mel's Char Palace

A steakhouse commercial parody featuring Dan Aykroyd. At Mel's, customers are given a chainsaw and are invited to hunt, stun, cut and cook their own cow. Debuted December 20, 1975.

Mr. Mike

Michael O'Donoghue would tell children's bedtime stories with increasingly horrific, nightmarish twists. Debuted January 17, 1976.

Steve Bushakis

A John Belushi character who hails from Chicago, named after Belushi's childhood friend. Debuted January 24, 1976.

H & L Brock

A John Belushi sketch. As Lowell Brock (not to be confused with his competitor at H&R Block, he gives reasons why he should do your taxes. He'll take the time . . because he has the time . . because he's doing time. Debuted January 31, 1976.^[1]

The Mr. Bill Show

Mr. Bill is the clay figurine star of a parody of children's shows.

Mr. Bill got its start when Walter Williams sent SNL a Super-8 reel featuring the character in response to the show's request for home movies during the first season. Mr. Bill's first appearance occurred on the February 28, 1976 episode. Williams became a full-time writer for the show in 1978, writing more than 20 sketches based on Mr. Bill.

Each Mr. Bill episode would start innocently enough but would quickly turn dangerous for Mr. Bill. Along with his dog, Spot, he would suffer various indignities inflicted by "Mr. Hands," a man seen only as a pair of hands (played by Vance DeGeneres).^[2]

The character's popularity spawned the 1986 live-action movie Mr. Bill's Real Life Adventures.

Baba Wawa

Gilda Radner impersonates journalist Barbara Walters. Debuted April 24, 1976.

Colleen Fernman

A Gilda Radner character, who appeared in seven sketches over five seasons. Colleen is usually non-talkative, and appears to be spaced out or in a veggie state, and it is established in a February 24, 1979 psychiatrist sketch that she is autistic. Debuted April 24, 1976.

Lina Wertmüller

Laraine Newman impersonates film writer and director Lina Wertmüller. Debuted May 22, 1976.

Audrey Peart Dickman

A Jane Curtin character, named after one the show's associate producers. Debuted May 22, 1976 on "Weekend Update" and re-appeared October 13, 1979 on "The David Susskind Show".

Bobbi Farber

A Gilda Radner character, a middle-class Jewish-American with a nasal voice, who appeared in eight sketches in various settings over five seasons. Debuted April 24, 1976.

References