Live from my laptop, it's AWC! In the mid-'70s, NBC's Saturday night lineup consisted of reruns of Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" before Carson asked the network to put something else in the slot. The network approached a 30-year-old writer named Lorne Michaels for a replacement idea, which he helped develop over three weeks. The show premiered as "NBC's Saturday Night" 39 years ago on October 11, 1975. (The network couldn't use the name "Saturday Night Live" because Howard Cosell was already hosting a show by that name at ABC. NBC bought the name and gave it to the weekend sketch show in 1977.)

Whatever it was called, the show had a heavy-hitting comedic lineup from the first night, with Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and GIlda Radner all helping launch the show. Through nearly four decades and over 700 episodes, the show has consistently served as a launchpad for careers. Outside of the original cast, Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy were some of the earliest big names to take off from "SNL" and the list has only grown from there. (This shot from 1992 is an all-star lineup in itself.) Darrell Hammond has had the longest run of any regular, with 14 years on the cast, and recently returned as the show's announcer following the August death of Don Pardo, who had voiced the show for its entire history. Michaels has also been a near-constant presence. He left the show in 1980 before returning five years later, and has stayed ever since.

"SNL" has won a truckload of awards in its run, which is one of the longest in the history of network TV…but cast members and writers describe the show's development as a go-go environment where you're only as good as the bit you're putting together for the next show. For the record, tonight's episode is all new, with your host Bill Hader and featuring musical guest Hozier.

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