Garrett Morris was Saturday Night Live’s first Black cast member, joining the original ensemble when the show premiered on October 11, 1975. His account of having to fight for sketches written for him gives the show’s early history a human dimension; Eddie Murphy’s award-winning run and the later visibility of Tracy Morgan and Kenan Thompson show different chapters in Black performers’ presence on SNL. These are examples, not a complete roster or a statistical measure of representation.
Garrett Morris: the first Black cast member
When Saturday Night Live premiered on October 11, 1975, Garrett Morris was part of its original cast and its first Black cast member. Before joining the show, he had worked as a singer and arranger with Harry Belafonte, a stage actor, a playwright, and a civil-rights activist, according to the Associated Press’s history of the original cast (AP, September 19, 2024). The Television Academy also identifies Morris as an original cast member and records the original cast’s 2017 Hall of Fame honor (Television Academy).
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In a retrospective for TIME’s 50th-anniversary coverage, Morris described the imbalance of being one Black performer in a largely white cast. “I had to fight to get people to write for me,” he said. His recollection is firsthand testimony about his experience, not a complete account of every performer’s experience on the show.
Access to sketches—and the work behind one
Morris said he worried about whether the writers would use him and had to advocate for material suited to him. He recalled that Lorne Michaels supplied the premise for “Death Row Follies,” which Morris and colleagues then developed. Morris connected the sketch to a serious discussion of race and punishment. That example shows a specific creative process and the limits Morris described; it does not, by itself, settle the broader question of representation on SNL (TIME, February 12, 2025).
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Eddie Murphy: a new level of visibility and recognition
Eddie Murphy offers a distinct next-era example. The Television Academy lists his 1983 award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, Variety or Music Series for Saturday Night Live (Television Academy award archive). That award is a concrete marker of his prominence on the program; it should not be mistaken for a measure of the experience or impact of every Black cast member.
Murphy’s place in the show’s history was also visible during the 50th-anniversary celebration. The Associated Press included him among the prominent Black cast members highlighted around the February 2025 special (AP, February 16, 2025).
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Tracy Morgan and Kenan Thompson: later generations in the ensemble
Tracy Morgan and Kenan Thompson illustrate later forms of visibility in SNL’s ensemble. AP’s account of the 50th-anniversary special named Morgan among the Black alumni featured in the celebration and described Thompson as the show’s longest-running current cast member at that time. That description is anchored to the February 2025 report, not a claim about the cast in 2026. Their inclusion connects the anniversary to performers beyond the original cast and Murphy’s era, without implying that their roles or experiences were interchangeable.
What “changed the game” can—and cannot—mean
There is no complete Black-cast roster or publisher-attributed statistic in the cited material that measures representation across SNL’s full history. A precise count, percentage, or trend line would therefore overstate what these sources establish. The better-supported picture is a set of documented milestones: Morris’s place in the original cast and his account of access to writing, Murphy’s 1983 performance award, and the 2025 anniversary spotlight on Morgan and Thompson.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Those milestones show changing visibility and achievement, but not a simple, uninterrupted progress story. Morris’s testimony points to a particular barrier in the show’s early creative environment; later recognition and longevity provide different evidence, not a reason to flatten distinct performers into a single narrative. The examples here are illustrative rather than exhaustive.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.For a closer look at SNL’s early history
Two archival companions can add context to the first years of the program, though neither covers the full 50-year history of Black performers on SNL:
Quick Recap
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- Saturday Night Live: 50th Anniversary Collection — Seasons One–Five is described by Universal Pictures At Home as a collection of the first five seasons and lists Morris among the cast.
- Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, 50th Anniversary Edition is presented by Simon & Schuster as a behind-the-scenes history of SNL’s first ten years, including Morris and Murphy.
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