“Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” is the trademark line for one of the longest running show in American history. The live sketch comedy, “Saturday Night Live,” made its debut on NBC in 1975.  Since NBC’s network rival ABC was using the name “Saturday Night Live,” the show originally aired as “NBC’s Saturday Night,” until the NBC purchased the rights to the name in 1976. And since the first episode aired more than three decades ago, fans have been tuning in every week to watch the hilarious comedic acts featured on the show.

“Saturday Night Live” was the brilliant creation of Lorne Michaels, who with the exception of seasons 6-10, has been a part of the show since day one. Michaels started off as a producer and writer, and then sometime later, he became the executive producer. Michaels left “Saturday Night Live,” and Jean Doumanian took over the show in 1980. After his first year on the job, Doumanian was replaced by Dick Ebersol. After Ebersol was ousted in 1984, Lorne Michaels returned to the show.

The popularity of the “Saturday Night Live” spin-off sketch, “Wayne’s World,” Lorne Michaels was encouraged to produce several movies based on the popular sketch characters. Some of the movies were flops such as “It’s Pat,” and “Stuart Saves His Family.” while others movies, such as “Coneheads” did relatively well.

“Saturday Night Live” airs live from the GE Building in New York's Rockefeller Center in the Central and Eastern Time Zones. And the show airs with a time delay in the Eastern and Pacific Time Zones. Although “Saturday Night Live” is filmed in New York City, the show has a world wide appeal, as it has crossed boarders and aired on stations such as MTV Europe, NBC Europe, ITV4 UK, Cuatro in Portugal, and Fox Portugal.

Over the course of “Saturday Night Live’s” time on the air, there have been more than a hundred cast members, who are sometimes referred to as the “Not Ready for Primetime Players.” And the show has catapulted the careers of some well known comedic greats such as Eddie Murphy, Mike Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’ Brian, Ben Stiller, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Damon Wayans, Chevy Chase, Sarah Silverman, and Adam Sandler.

“Saturday Night Live” has also featured a star-studded cast of musical acts and guest hosts that include Lily Tomlin (1975), Olivia Newton-John (1982), Stevie Wonder (1983), Dolly Parton (1989), MC Hammer (1991), Sting, (1991), Jennifer Lopez (2001), Brittney Spears (2000, 2002) Justin Timberlake (2003, 2006, 2009), Janet Jackson (2004), Queen Latifah (2004), and a slew of others.

There have been more than 80 writers contributing to “Saturday Night Live’s” success over the years, including some well know names in the entertainment industry including Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Tina Fey, Jon Lovitz, Conan O'Brien, Adam Sandler, and Martin Short.

The first episode of the 35th season of “Saturday Night Live” is set to air September 26, 2009. Past seasons of this long running variety show are currently available on DVD and VHS.