George Carlin's SNL sets ratings record
According to the Hollywood Reporter:
NBC’s re-broadcast of the 1975 "Saturday Night Live" series premiere hosted by the late George Carlin delivered the show’s highest out-of-season rating in three years.
The repeat (4.5/11) was the top "Saturday Night Live" metered-market overnight rating that aired outside of the show’s broadcast season since a repeat that aired Sept. 24, 2005 (an episode hosted by Will Ferrell that ran at the start of the broadcast season, but before the show launched its original run).
Compared to the same night last year, "SNL" was up 29% in the metered markets.
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Carlin's hosting of the first SNL was, believe it or not, controversial at the time. The network wanted him to wear a suit. He wanted to wear a t-shirt and jeans. They compromised - he wore a suit with a t-shirt, which at the time was a big deal.
Here's his opening monologue from that night.
Here's the famous "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" bit that got Carlin arrested a few years earlier and wound up in front of the Supreme Court.
Here's his mug shot from the arrest. He looks like a guy satisfied to be going to jail for the right reasons.
