Radner left SNL in 1980 and died tragically only nine years later, at age 42, of ovarian cancer. Though her post-SNL work didn’t quite reach the highs that her iconic run on the

How featuring the rushed and imperfect work of brilliant, stressed-out comics made SNL a comedy bastion.

NEW YORK (AP) — “Saturday Night Live” was built with a cast of young no-names performing countercultural comedy. Fifty years later, it is firmly part of the culture, dictating mainstream comedy instead of throwing spitballs from the margins.