When Saturday Night Live first launched in 1975, Jane Curtin found herself as one of the comedians making up the live-sketch comedy’s first class. Now nearly 50 years after the series first launched, Curtin has had some time to look back on the show’s earliest days. As it turns out, she’s not the biggest fan, revealing it one recent interview that “not one thing was funny.”
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“We were sent the five year compilation video of Saturday Night Live‘s first five years a few years ago, and I gave one to my daughter,” Curtin said in a new story with PEOPLE Magazine. “We were out visiting her daughter one Christmas, and her husband said, ‘Have you ever watched any of these? And I said, ‘God, I haven’t seen them in a long time.’”
Curtin added, “He said, would you mind if we watch one? And I said, ‘No, great! Pick one!’ So we sat around the TV, and I had that sort of anticipatory, open-mouth grin that people have when they’re waiting for something to happen, that they know is going to be really great. And … it never happened. It wasn’t funny. Not one thing was funny. There was not one utterance of a laugh or a giggle.”
Though Curtin’s family, the comedian included, no longer found the age-old jokes funny, she feels it’s a result of the show’s live nature. “I think it was just one of those, you had to be there in the moment things,” Curtin concluded.. “That’s what happens with live TV, and with topical TV. It gets dated after a while. Remember, this was almost 50 years ago. But after we rewatched, I was like, ‘That really wasn’t a very good show. It was terrible!’ “
When is Lorne Michaels leaving SNL?
Many have thought Michaels may leave the show with its upcoming Season 50, which is set to debut in the fall of 2024. The rumors gained enough steam, SNL mainstay Kenan Thompson addressed them last year by agreeing the time could be a good point to stop the show.
“I mean, there could be a lot of validity to that rumor because 50 is a good number to stop at, you know what I’m saying, that’s an incredible package. [Michaels] will be, you know, probably close to 80-years-old at that point and, you know, he’s the one that’s had his touch on the whole thing,” Kenan told Charlamagne tha God in 2022. “So if somebody tries to come into his shoes, you know it’s a good opportunity for NBC as well, you know what I’m saying, so maybe they might slash the budget. And then at that point you can’t really do the same kind of show, so that’s unfair to just watch it really go down kind of in flames or whatever like for real for real because of those restrictions, you know what I’m saying. And it’ll just be a different thing, so capping it at 50 might not be a bad idea, I don’t know.”
Virtually every SNL episode, other than the select few locked away for good because of a variety of reasons, is now available to watch on Peacock. You can sign up for the streaming platform here.
