After 50 years, the cast and writers ofSaturday Night Livehave continuously evolved to reflect the times.
Because, remember, when I was hired I was the only Black writer.
Lorne wanted to have somebody Black on TV at night-time.
Garrett Morris attends 6th Annual American Black Film Festival Honors: a Celebration of Black Excellence In Hollywood on March 3, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.Leon Bennett/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images
People didnt want that.
They were clamoring to make it all white.
It really threw me when we were going through the first show, he recalled.
Saturday Night Live‘s Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd in 1975.NBC /Courtesy Everett Collection
I didnt have a skit, but I was watching another one.
I said to Lorne, Theres a doctor in this skit.
Why dont I play the doctor?
And he says, Garrett, people might be thrown by a Black doctor.
In all big cities down south, for that matter.
