A closer look
Saturday Night Live was originally developed by NBC in 1975 solely because Johnny Carson aggressively demanded the network stop airing weekend reruns of The Tonight Show so he could save those episodes for his vacation days. Desperate to fill the massive late-night weekend programming void, an executive hired Lorne Michaels to create a cheap sketch show in New York, never expecting it to become an enduring cultural institution that would survive for half a century. Fifty years of iconic characters, political satire, and career-launching moments exist entirely because one wealthy talk show host wanted to take more time off without losing his syndication value. Next time you sit through an agonizingly unfunny ten-minute sketch about a quirky game show at midnight, you can direct your frustration toward a long-dead comedian’s vacation schedule. Corporate greed accidentally fostered the greatest comedy incubator of the modern era
