George Carlin

George Carlin hosted the first episode of the show we now know as Saturday Night Live. When the first show aired on October 11, 1975 with George Carlin as its host, it was called NBC's Saturday Night because ABC featured a program at the same time titled Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. After ABC cancelled the Cosell program in 1976, the NBC program changed its name to Saturday Night Live on March 26, 1977 (and subsequently picked up Bill Murray from Cosell's show).

During Its First Season, What Popular Pop Culture Characters Appeared in a Recurring Sketch?

Throughout its uneven first season, SNL was still trying to find its unique voice. One example of this is "The Land of Gorch" segment, a segment where Muppets creator Jim Henson tested his darker and more eccentric ideas, something he couldn't do on the much safer and child-friendly TV show he was known for. Although the segment helped influence some of his later work, such as the television series Dinosaurs, the segment was almost universally hated and was removed after the first season.

Who Hosted the First Episode of SNL?

Although celebrities from all over the entertainment industry have hosted Saturday Night Live over the years, the first man to do it was an iconic comedian; a choice that makes sense for a show that wanted to be taken seriously as the premier destination for sketch comedy on broadcast television. That comedian was George Carlin, comedy legend known for his biting cultural commentary. He was, in hindsight, the perfect choice to host a show like SNL, which would later go on to become a comedy and television institution.

How Did Columbus Return to Spain After His Third Trip to the New World

That nosedive in popularity we mentioned earlier was pretty justified. Columbus treated the natives of the land he discovered in truly horrific fashion. Now we look back on that era as a time when mistreatment of indigenous people upon discovering new land was commonplace and accepted, but even back then, people knew there was something wrong about all this. Some of his crew sent word back home about the terrible things Columbus was doing and the explorer was arrested and sent home in chains where he spent six weeks in jail. Though it would be wrong to represent everyone at the time as disapproving of Columbus' actions. The king granted him a full pardon and funded his next voyage.

What Was Christopher Columbus' Name?

There are, we have come to realize, many misconceptions about Christopher Columbus from when we learned about him in school. When he set sail, plenty of people believed the earth was round, and he did nothing to further prove the point. He never set foot in North America. He certainly wasn't a hero. And, it turns out, we don't even know his name. But he did sail the ocean blue in 1492, so there's that. While Columbus is associated with Spain, he was actually Italian, and born with the name Cristoforo Colombo. And his Spanish name was Cristobal Colon. Christopher Columbus is just an anglicized version of the original name. Oh, and as long as we're talking about stuff that wasn't the actual name, let's talk about Columbus' ships. Kids are taught in school that Columbus sailed the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. But the Nina and Pinta were actually nicknames, one of which was not the kind you'd want those aforementioned kids at school to be using. Nina is harmless, but Pinta means "the painted one" or "prostitute." We should really rework those textbooks.

Vice President Spiro Agnew

During his fifth year as Vice President Spiro Agnew was under investigation by the United States Attorney's office in Baltimore, Maryland, on charges of extortion, tax fraud, bribery and conspiracy. Agnew was formally charged with having accepted bribes totaling more than $100,000 while holding office as Baltimore County Executive, Governor of Maryland, and Vice President of the United States. On October 10, 1973, Agnew was allowed to plead no contest to a single charge that he had failed to report $29,500 of income received in 1967, with the condition that he resign the office of Vice President. Agnew is the only Vice President in United States history to resign because of criminal charges.

The First Man to Climb Mt. Everest

On May 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt. Hillary later participated in expeditions to the South Pole and was among the first to reach the top of Mount Herschel. Hillary was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Sir Edmund Hillary, who had been cited as "New Zealand's most trusted individual," died on January 11, 2008, in Auckland.