Throughout the history of comedy and Saturday Night Live, so many iconic characters have recurred over years of entertainment. Season 50 (continuing in the 2025 TV schedule) has the "Domingo” sketches to lay claim to, and that happenstance is built on the ability of SNL writers to tap into the overlapping spheres of the timely and the timeless.
But there almost wasn’t a foundation to allow Wayne’s World, the Spartan Cheerleaders, or any potential bits an upcoming SNL host will want to claim as their future trademark. That all changed early on in the run of NBC’s landmark comedy series, in a story that saw Lorne Michaels creating a lineage and history of laughter.
Lorne Michaels’ Opinion On Recurring SNL Sketches Changed, Thanks To Buck Henry
Leave it to Susan Morrison, author of the recent book Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, to school me yet again on this show's history. Today's lesson goes pretty far back in time too, further back than Lorne Michaels almost being fired by NBC.
It's practically the beginning, as Ms. Morrison told CinemaBlend this story about how comedy legend Buck Henry's hosting gigs leading to that change of heart:
In the very, very beginning, Lorne didn't wanna do them. He thought it was lazy. But I think, and it was Buck Henry who said, ‘No, you should bring this Samurai Guy back. That's really funny.’ And as they started to realize, ‘Oh my God, it's hard to come up with an hour of fresh comedy every single week.’ You know, I think he started doing it in the beginning just because it was practical, but then he realized that it accomplished something else.
That historical decision can still be considered a net positive, even if it was that recurring character that resulted in one of SNL’s most infamous moments. When John Belushi’s Samurai made an infamous return during Buck Henry’s October 30th, 1976 hosting gig, the guest host saw himself injured by his “Samurai Stockbroker” scene partner thanks to an alleged lack of rehearsal and a katana.
While Buck Henry’s 2012 TV Time Machine interview saw the comedian seeming to debunk the story, it was real enough to Lorne Michaels to take it to heart. And as Susan Morrison continued to explain the further benefits of introducing recurring sketches to CinemaBlend, this is how that approach fell in line with what Saturday Night Live was trying to put out into the world:
It let the viewers feel like they were kind of part of an insider group. You know, it becomes an in-joke, and so many things about the show from the beginning fed that feeling that if you got this, you were in on it. Like, everything from those little captions that would run over the audience members before the bumpers to, ‘Oh, I know this character Roseanna Rosanna Danna,’ or ‘I've seen Domingo.’ Lorne likes a club, and it makes you feel like you're part of the club if you're in the audience.
I was pleased that Ms. Morrison mentioned the defunct gag of random captions being put under audience members. While it was no longer present on SNL by the time I started watching as a teen, I was introduced to them by Tiny Toons Adventures’ “Weekday Afternoon Live” parody episode - which only hammers home that ethereal connection between the Looney Tunes and SNL. Even that long dead gag is still getting laughs years later.
The Five-Timers Club Sketch Further Proves Why Lorne Michaels Changed His Mind On Recurring Bits
Coincidentally Buck Henry has another honor that’s absolutely confirmed in the history books: he's technically Saturday Night Live's first "Five Timers Club" member! If you want the story behind SNL’s Five-Timers Club, that’s a lesson you can learn outside of class.
As far as how that legacy ties to Susan Morrison’s stories to Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, here’s what she had to say about why that particular sketch epitomizes the importance of recurring bits:
[The] Five Timers [Club] is so funny too, because it hits so many checks, so many boxes, right? It's the clubhouse. Everyone in it is a mega star, right? And it gets at that other thing that Lorne loves, which is [a] sort of lineage and tradition, and the idea of the show being this venerable institution, at the same time, making fun of that idea. They're all in there in their smoking jackets, you know, that's sort of like the Lorne is the Pasha kind of thing. It's something that plays, but it's also sort of self-deprecating.
In the entire process of covering Lorne, from the prep to writing this very story, I’ve come to appreciate Saturday Night Live on an even more personal level. The reverence shown to Lorne Michaels isn’t consistent, as his management style varies from person to person. But the one thread that pulls it all together is that his methods are exacting, and he’ll never force an outcome.
To close this story out, I’d like to share a scene from the climax of 2024’s Saturday Night, which I think best embodies the energy and purpose that’s been rooted at 30 Rockefeller Center since October 11, 1975:
Whether you’re a fan of Domingo, or any of the other recurring characters and sketches that paved the way for him to arrive, I think we can all agree this is a decision that helped keep SNL live from New York for five decades. That practice will likely continue, no matter which theory on Lorne Michaels’ retirement plan you subscribe to. And if you want to get a little more personal with the man behind this legendary program, you can currently pick up Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, at all fine booksellers.
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