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.

The episode built him a monumental pedestal. He reprised several famous characters, including the inner-city children’s host Mr. Robinson and an adult version of the “Our Gang” urchin Buckwheat, opposite Mary Gross as the squeaky-haired and deranged Alfalfa.