Saturday Night Live, a true icon of comedy culture, just celebrated its 50th anniversary. For those who don’t know, Saturday Night Live is a late night sketch comedy show, in which members of a predetermined cast write sketches specific to that week's host, a public figure or celebrity. The show often surrounds pop culture relevance, and the fast paced nature of it makes it fun and exciting. Every Saturday, the team of writers must have a select amount of sketches prepared to fill an hour of air time, (either funny or currently relevant in some way) and they only have a week to write, edit, block and prepare for them. So no pressure. This fast paced and high stress anxiety requires a very specific and very high caliber of actors, writers, and artists of all kinds. Without a doubt, across five decades, Saturday Night Live has given us women who have changed the world of comedy. 

The 1970’s 

The show famously started in the 1970’s with Lorne Michaels, the current showrunner. He is given all the credit for his starting of the show, but in truth he and Rosie Shuster, his ex-wife, were partners of sorts in the original building of the show. Rosie Shuster grew up with Lorne Michaels in Canada, and had a father who also worked in comedy. She worked in improv groups and L.A writers room throughout her adult life. But by the time Lorne was ready to launch their big idea in 1975, she was immediately on board. A Saturday Night variety show with sketches, musical guests and a celebrity host. Little bits of culture seamlessly blended together. She worked tirelessly, writing some of the most famous sketches of the era and working with Lorne on all of the production. Her contribution to the show is one that often goes overlooked, but is one that made the show what it was. There would be no Saturday Night without the great Rosie Shuster. 

Without a doubt the most impactful female cast member of the original cast was Gilda Radner. Her zany nature, her unashamed and unrestrained goofiness was something that stole the hearts of the country. She met Michaels in a comedy club in Toronto and when the time came to cast, he was the first person he called. Saturday Night was a rarity of its time as it had women being portrayed as serious comedy figures alongside their male counterparts. Though the show was not the peak of feminism (it was still the 70’s) one of the first ever sketches was a role reversal of sorts where female construction workers catcall a male passerby wearing short shorts. Such commentary and daring wasn’t quite common back then. Of the three women on the cast  Gilda left a lasting impression. Her distinct characters, the fact that she never presented herself as conventionally attractive and her clear dedication to her comedy made her a role model for young girls who loved to be funny. 

The 1980’s 

The 80’s were a strange time for the show, as it was a rare era that was not overseen by Lorne Michaels. With this change in management, old TV sexism reared its ugly head and the women of the cast were sadly ignored, hiding in the shadows of the male comedy powerhouses of the time, such as Eddie Murphy. Julia Louis- Dreyfus was sadly a victim of this treatment in her three year career on SNL.  Despite this, she made strong and dedicated performances with beautiful character acting and exquisite comedy timing. What is most admirable about Louis - Dreyfus, is that she took sexist lemons and made them into pitchers and pitchers of comedy lemonade. She had a historical career in her post - SNL days. First in her starring role as Elaine Benes in the famous sitcom Seinfeld, to today in her satirical political comedy Veep. These shows have solidified her as a brilliant performer and a genius writer, who makes unique and hilarious observations. These roles have earned her 11 Emmy wins, as well as three times hosting at her alma mater of SNL. In short Julia Louis - Dreyfus is a pillar of all things hilarious, and should be on the top of your list for studying if you wish to go into comedy yourself. 

The 1990’s 

The 90’s was an era of relative quiet for the people at SNL, with a couple of powerhouse cast members without a super hard hitting full cast. One of those powerhouses, who became a household name and a continued comedy reference, is Molly Shannon. Her intense dedication to physical comedy and facial acting is what made her stand out the most, but her strongest stamp was her famous character Mary Katherine Gallagher. Mary Katherine Gallagher is a hyperbolic take on an unpopular Catholic School middle schooler, with wild mood swings, clumsiness and vocal quirks. This was a rare main character that focused on the experience of women in a way that didn’t surround men. It was relatable to girls, it was validating and yet it was hilarious to all audiences. Mary Katherine Gallagher’s birth on SNL inspired many years of women starting to bring in experiences that may not be relatable to the male audience. She is a true pioneer of comedy, and an absolute legend of SNL. 

The 2000’s

The 200’s was a victorious era for the show. They had an almost perfect cast, and all eyes were on them. This era gave the world many female comedy powerhouses and Rachel Dratch and Maya Rudolph deserve honorable mention as being stunning comedians. However, the true queens of the 2000’s on SNL, who went on to become an infamous comedy duo, are Amy Pohler and Tina Fey. 

Amy Pohler was a wonderful cast member of the 2000’s, who co-hosted their segment titles Weekend Update, a satirical news program taking relevant political and world news and reporting on them comically. Her and Seth Meyers, her co-host who went on to become the host of Late Night, has brilliant chemistry and was the first strong duo to host Update since the 70’s. Amy Pohler was known to immerse herself in her character, and her adorable charm combined with some of the more daring jokes she made created a perfect ironic persona. Amy Pohler was also famously pregnant during her time on SNL, and stayed on the show every night, only missing a show because she was actively in labor. She used her pregnancy to help her comedy, and created an example of a woman who was a mom and was still tirelessly dedicated to her passion. She then went on to star in Parks n Rec and other comedies, and solidifies herself as a show-biz legend to this day.

Tina Fey was a head writer and a cast member simultaneously and can be credited for curating the consistent sketch gold that was being produced in this era. She wrote lots of feminist sketches, including one all about periods, and had a brilliant straight faced dry comedy humor that was the necessary balance to the silliness of her castmates. She went on to make a hit sitcom inspired by her experience in the writers room titled 30 Rock that had a beautiful 7 season run and won 114 Emmy’s total. She is a leader in the world of television comedy, and her name was number one in the running for Lorne Michaels’  replacement as SNL’s leader when the rumors of his retirement were most active. She is an absolute boss. 

The 2010’s 

The 2010’s were an era of consistent goodness for the show with solid watch time and cultural influence for the first time in a while. Kate Mckinnon made history as the first openly queer woman on the cast, and starred in many sketches and made weekend update features about that queer identity. Her ability to go from masculine to feminine in her presence, as well as her impressions made her a powerhouse of the times cast. Her Close Encounters sketch, in which she plays a woman who had an alien encounter that was extremely different to her two counterparts, displayed a type of female character that was both masculine and still openly owning her own female sexuality. These types of strides are just some of the reasons Mckinnon deserves a spot in the SNL hall of fame. 

The 2020’s 

And now we’ve reached the modern era of SNL, all the way up to this year’s 50th anniversary. Though the show certainly faced a rough patch, struggling to find footing in the years post-pandemic. Still, they’ve taken that and made it into the best show they could, and this year has been a brilliant year for them. From Sarah Schauer’s eclectic persona to Chloe Fineman's uncanny impressions, the current batch of cast members is sure to leave a beautiful legacy. Saturday Night Live has made amazing strides in show business for feminism and will continue to do so for years to come. There are so many other hilarious women besides the ones named in this piece who left strong impacts, and SNL would not be nearly the same without them. So any time someone tells you women aren’t funny, show them this piece.