Accuracy of the ‘SNL’ Movie: Unraveling the True Story of ‘Saturday Night’

Pre-recorded in Atlanta, the Saturday Night Live movie—aka Saturday Night—is now streaming on Netflix.

Jason Reitman directs this new biographical drama, written by Gil Kenan, which depicts the 1975 debut of the famous live comedy sketch show. The film revolves around the ensemble cast, including actors like Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, and many more portraying iconic figures such as Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi.

For comedy enthusiasts, Saturday Night offers an entertaining viewing experience. However, viewers may find themselves questioning the accuracy of the portrayed events, wondering if they unfolded exactly as depicted in the movie.

Not exactly. Read on for a breakdown of the Saturday Night true story, including how accurate the Saturday Night movie is to the real SNL premiere.

Saturday Night presents a dramatized version of the true story behind the premiere of Saturday Night Live on October 11, 1975. Lorne Michaels, portrayed by Gabriel LaBelle, takes center stage in this narrative that showcases the creation and launch of the iconic live comedy show.

Let’s start with the parts that are true. All the performers and musical acts featured in the movie are based on real people who really were featured in the premiere episode of Saturday Night Live. That premiere episode was hosted by George Carlin (played in the movie by Matthew Rhys), and had two musical guests, Billy Preston (Jon Batiste) and Janis Ian (Naomi McPherson).

It featured cast members Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien), John Belushi (Matt Wood), Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Jane Curtin (Kim Matula), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn), Michael O’Donoghue (Tommy Dewey), and Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt). It also featured an appearance from Andy Kaufman (Nicholas Braun) and Jim Henson (also Braun). Sketches included Henson’s The Land of Gorch bit with his muppets, and the first instance of “The Bees.”

Other true tidbits include that the notoriously prickly Belushi had yet to sign his contract until minutes before the show, that Billy Crystal had been expected to perform stand-up but got cut, that the dress rehearsal was way too long, and that set designers Eugene Lee and Leo Yoshimu were laying brick half an hour before dress (though not the live show, as is shown in the movie). Other details—such as Garrett Morris singing about “killing whities”; Chevy Chase sneaking his fiancé Jacqueline Carlin into sketches; and the marriage between Lorne Michaels and Rosie Shuster, who later dated Dan Aykroyd —are true, but not things that happened on the premiere night.

All that said, the chaotic lead-up to airtime, as well as the various on-set interpersonal drama, was greatly exaggerated and at times invented for the sake of the movie. Perhaps one of the biggest fabrications played up for dramatic effect in the film was the plot line of NBC executive David Tebet (played by Willem Dafoe) threatening not to air the show. In reality, according to an excerpt of the 2002 book Live From New York, Michaels recalls that Tebet was “very supportive” of the show. Tebet’s one quibble on premiere night, said Michaels, was that the executive wanted host George Carlin to wear a suit.  “The compromise was a suit with a T-shirt instead of a tie,” Michaels said. “That was a much greater distraction than can possibly be understood right now.”

Another story that was based on a true story, but changed for the movie, was the presence of Golden Age TV star Milton Berle (played by J.K. Simmons) on the set of the show’s premiere. The real Berle was not, in fact, present for the premiere and did not get into a fight with Chevy Chase. But Merle did, according to another excerpt from Live From New York, expose himself to SNL writer Alan Zweibel.

Speaking of Zweibel, his character in the movie said it best when he said, “That’s a slightly romantic read of the story, but yeah, I guess so.”

For a full breakdown of the real behind-the-scenes of the Saturday Night Live premiere episode, you can check out the 2015 piece in Salon Magazine, excerpted from Jeff Weingrad and Doug Hill’s book, Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live.