Late tonight (or early tomorrow morn, if you're the kind of person who sees a glass as half-full instead of half-empty), NBC is running the fifth episode of Saturday Night Live. It was performed on November 15, 1975 and was guest hosted by Robert Klein. It's not one of the stronger early shows. Klein does two solid stand-up spots and performs his "I Can't Stop My Leg" number with the SNL Band. In addition to that, there are two musical guests — Loudon Wainwright III and ABBA. Wainwright's a great performer — and he's still out there, still touring — but I would guess the main interest here would be ABBA. They sing "S.O.S." early in the show and near the end, they return for "Waterloo."
What's interesting is that Robert Klein is largely disconnected from the episode. He's only in one or two sketches in the whole 90 minutes. The week before, guest host Candice Bergen was well integrated into the proceedings, appearing in bits and playing characters. You'd think Klein — who came out of Second City and who had impeccable credentials as an improv and comedy performer — would have fit neatly in with the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. The second time he hosted — two years later — he did. But the first time, for the most part, he does his turns and they do theirs. The following week, the host was Lily Tomlin and she was in almost every sketch.
Early in the show's existence, NBC really wanted to have a regular host. The execs there knew that Lorne Michaels' idea of a different host each week would never sustain in the long run, and they were just waiting for the right host to emerge. My understanding is that a lot of folks upstairs were assuming it would turn out to be Klein, who really seemed ideal: Strong in stand-up, strong in sketches, and he had that "crossover" appeal, meaning that younger viewers liked him but he didn't alienate the oldsters. Like I said though, the episode was weak. Klein, for some reason, didn't seem to meld with the program and they didn't have him back for a while. On the other hand, they booked Candice Bergen to host again a few weeks later, in part because some of the brass still thought she could be the regular host. Somehow, no one ever got the post — John Goodman, notwithstanding — and the show has done just fine.
I wish NBC was running these in sequence because it would be an easier way to study the show's evolution. Next week, they're running one from later in the first season, hosted by Dyan Cannon — also not a great episode, as I recall.