Saturday Night Live Quotes
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Source: Saturday Night Live
Speaker: Various Saturday Night Live Cast Members
Live from New York; it's Saturday Night!
Context
This quote introduces every episode of Saturday Night Live (1975-) at the end of the opening sketch.
Saturday Night Live, or SNL for those who are too busy for two extra syllables, has been on the air for over 40 years, and while the cast has changed many times the years—from Chevy Chase to Will Ferrell to Kristin Wiig (with Robert Downey Jr. and Sarah Silverman in between)—one thing has remained consistent: the opening of the show.
After the initial sketch, it's guaranteed you'll see someone look directly into the camera and say, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!"
Hundreds of people have said it, including the Pope, Johnny Carson, Michael Jackson, Martha Stewart, Fidel Castro (through a translator), George Bush, Kim Jong-un…
You can guess which were impersonations.
Where you've heard it
Every Saturday night for the past several decades.
Additional Notable References
- The book that serves as a history of SNL is of course titled Live From New York. So is a documentary.
- A California pizza joint serving New York-style pizza takes its name from the line.
- The SNL subreddit is going strong.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
While some of SNL's cast members have been a wee bit pretentious (*cough*Chevy Chase*cough*), the intro is not.