SNL is almost an American institution having been on the air for ~35 years and still going strong although IMO the best times were with the Not Ready For Prime Time players (Radner, Belushi, Chase, etc etc) many of whom got their show biz start on that show as well as Lorne Michaels being helpful in establishing many of his comedians as hosts of late night TV shows as well as many going on to make movies.
Lorne Michaels is a genius.I went to high school with him growing up in Toronto. He was always involved in our High School stage productions before he ultimately went to NYC to start SNL