21 times women made history on 'Saturday Night Live'

AP

Dozens of female comedians have blazed a trail across Studio 8H over the 41-year history of "Saturday Night Live."

Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin joined the season one cast in 1975, showing that being a woman and being funny were not mutually exclusive.

Since then, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Molly Shannon, Leslie Jones, and others have kept us roaring with laughter.

To celebrate International Women's Day on March 8, we've rounded up some shining moments from the women of "SNL."

When Lorne Michaels began putting the show together in 1975, he made Gilda Radner his first hire.

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The year before, a pint-sized, squawky-voiced Radner came to New York to do "The National Lampoon Radio Hour" and "The National Lampoon Show."

Michaels had seen some of her work with Toronto's "Second City" comedy troupe, and was hooked. "I felt there was a remarkable quality to her," Michaels said, "a goodness which came through whatever she was doing."

Radner's quirky characterizations brought her an Emmy for outstanding performance as an actress in a variety series in 1978.

NBC

Radner created such characters as Roseanne Roseannadanna, the frizzy-haired, lisping broadcaster; Lisa Loopner, a nerdy teenager with "mosquito-size" breasts; and "Baba Wawa," a parody of Barbara Walters which made Radner the first person to lampoon a news anchor on TV.

Jane Curtin was the first female co-anchor on "Weekend Update."

NBC

Curtin's deadpan delivery made her the perfect foil for three different male co-anchors during her time at the desk.

Cerebral and restrained, she never backed down from a debate with conservative-playing Dan Aykroyd during their "Point/Counter-Point" segments. He regularly chastised her, "Jane, you ignorant slut!" 

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