14 'What?' Complaints the FCC Got About 'Saturday Night Live'

"Saturday Night Live" is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC's Saturday Night. The show's comedy sketches, which often parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each week, the show features a host who delivers the opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast as necessary.

Saturday Night Live is one of the longest-running, most popular sketch comedy shows in TV history. It's also been home to some of the best comedic duos in history. Some of these pairings were more than the sum of their parts and created some classic sketches.

Through a Freedom of Information Act Request, the website governmentattic.org got a hold of 361 complaints filed to the Federal Communications Commission between 2017 and 2020, mostly about SNL. While some are legitimate, rational concerns (local affiliates not properly broadcasting the show and the like), many aren't exactly in that category. You can read the document on your own -- but in case you're too busy, we have prepared a summary of the most, um, let's say, interesting content.