'SNL' set says much about past and present

You must speak of the early years of "Saturday Night Live" in awed, "back-in-the-day" tones. In the 1970s, Lorne Michaels' s late-night series was a perfect string of all-time classic sketches, the comedy equivalent of a Beatles album on which every track was instantly immortal. And the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players, including John Belushi, Gilda Rad-ner, and Chevy Chase, were brilliant, fierce, and legendary from day one, even when they were stoned out of their gourds.

Yup, irony alert.

Rumors of the amazingness of early "SNL" have been exaggerated since the 1970s. And now, with the recent release of the DVD set "SNL: The Complete First Season," we can all see for ourselves behind the boomer-generated myths of "SNL." From Oct. 11, 1975, to July 31, 1976, the show clearly delivered both diamonds and dust, as the sketches veered from inspired topicality and originality to "Laugh-In"-like frivolousness to self-indulgence. Released in their entirety on disc for the first time, instead of broken up onto best-of collections, the 24 episodes unfold with an erratic, exciting, tedious, grainy glory.

During those storied days, the same ones Aaron Sorkin romanticizes and contemporizes in "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," there was dead air aplenty. Today, "SNL" is at a low, with little that has a pulse except Amy Poehler, who can't not be funny. Once a stepping stone to stardom, from Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy to Mike Myers and Will Ferrell, the series has lost that influential role to Comedy Central and HBO, which have given us Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Dave Chappelle, "South Park," and Sacha Baron Cohen. But the early shows, called simply "NBC's Saturday Night," did have filler to spare, not least of all the weekly visits of the trash-talking muppets. What sketch comedy show isn't uneven?

Still, there are countless flashes of material here that broke new TV ground -- a racial word-association job interview with Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor, a simulated breakdown by Louise Lasser that will make you writhe in discomfort, the stunt comedy of Andy Kaufman, and meta-references to the show itself, as Chase half-jokingly competed with Belushi for the limelight. The pre-shot segments that we now herald as "viral videos" were a significant part of the show's weekly lineup then, if too long and lacking in wit, and bits that would become definitive -- the Land Shark, Radner's Emily Litella -- made their lively debuts. And you can see clearly how Chase and his twisted "Weekend Update" were pioneers of the fake-news revolution. The jokes are out-of-date, of course; the attitude isn't.

What's completely consistent about the first episodes is a bristling tone of urgency that disappeared quickly in the 1980s. No matter how flawed they are, and no matter how much the format of the show evolved and improved during the next few years, season one has raw, youthful energy. You can hear the echo of the theater, you can see the comedians sweat, you can feel the audience eager to co conspire with those on the stage. It's all new and auspicious, the first late-night show on which rock 'n' roll was the dominant mode, where the material was meant to have particular resonance for those viewers watching in a Saturday-night altered state. George Carlin's hash joke in his opening-show monologue had a shock value it wouldn't have only 10 years later.

In the context of the times, "SNL" was counter-cultural. This wasn't Johnny Carson selling Hollywood with his charm. It was comedians mocking Hollywood -- Radner's Barbara Walters is still funny -- and Michael O'Donoghue imitating how certain celebrities would act if needles were stuck in their eyes. The contrast to today's "SNL" is striking, as the show has become an institution and taken on an intensely corporate atmosphere. The hosts are promoting something, and, of course, the musical guests are promoting something. In the first season, the music was loose; Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reunited for a few songs, and Carly Simon (who pre recorded due to nerves) sang "You're So Vain" with Chase harmonizing in the background.

Now, the musical segments, sponsored by Budweiser, are just another stop on a tour. Alas, "SNL" has lost all vestiges of the unpredictability and creative innocence it once had, qualities that were so evident 30 years ago. The new box set isn't a string of classics; it's a n essential time capsule of a lost moment.

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. For more on TV, visit boston.com/ae/tv/blog/.