S N L and ME – A Lifelong Story By Markus McLaughlin October 11, 1975, I was a three old boy living in a trailer on MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. I recall seeing a television show with weird puppets now known as muppets on a volcano based planet. I didn’t know what it was about; but, it was one of my earliest memories. I was introduced to NBC’s Saturday Night as it was known then, at a very young age. I’m not sure if I just seen a rerun rather than a live show during my formative years. Flash forward to when I lived on Bergstrom Air Force Base, I would watch now known as Saturday Night Live; With the late John Belushi doing his Samurai character; Bill Murray making the laughs grow hard, While Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin brought in the female laughs; and Dan Aykroyd producing crazy material. The Coneheads were born; the disco era was happening;so music of that time came through off and on; So many up and coming actors, actresses,musicians, and comedians bring their a game; and you never know what would come next. During my years in the 80s, I was going to school, and Eddie Murphy, the late Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, Mike Myers, onward brought more laughs and I got to stay up late on so many Saturday Nights. I love Saturday Night Live for bringing me laughs; and entertaining me with different musical acts. The Reagan and Bush years were a contrast to the Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter eras of the nineteen seventies. I went from elementary school to high school within eight years. I began my 20s in the 1990s, and it was the first worst decade of my life due to my father’s sudden death at the age of 54, it was August 1995; Saturday Night Live cheered me up when I needed it during this tough decade for me. My mental health declined, and sadly, I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. I thank god S N L was there for me in my darkest days. I kept watching as much as I was able to enjoy it. A lot of 1990s musicians, comedians, and actors came and went during this last decade of the twentieth century. I started my 30s in the 2000s, the twentieth-first century began with the two towers fell by airplane strikes; and I was in there the year before. I mourned with the rest of the world seeing all of that destruction. Saturday Night Live helped the country with humanity, laughs, and great music. I came to New York City two times since nine eleven, I seen ground zero as a construction site for the freedom tower; and I seen a broadway production, and an off broadway show. I loved visiting New York City, but I never been to a Saturday Night Live live taping ever. In my 40s, my mother was diagnosed with a severe form of dementia; I turned to S N L to cheer me up once more. She passed away six years later, from cancer, and I spent time in mental wards; and the second worst decade would come three years later. After I turned 49, I was diagnosed with colon cancer; my future was uncertain, for I thought I didn’t have much time on this Earth; Thankfully, surgeries saved me, and I was in remission by August 2021. I started my hashtag D R Progress podcast on podcasts dot apple dot com, in November of that year. S N L had cheered me up even more so. I thank Lorne Michaels!
