Editing Gilda Radner (section)

==Career==
In her senior year at the University of Michigan, Radner dropped out<ref name="something">{{cite book|author=Radner, Gilda|title=It's Always Something|url=https://archive.org/details/itsalwayssomethiradn00radn|url-access=registration|location= New York|publisher= Simon & Schuster|date= 1989|isbn=9780671638689}}</ref> to follow her boyfriend, Canadian sculptor [[Jeffrey Rubinoff]], to [[Toronto]]. Radner was quoted in 1973 as saying that Toronto was "the answer to my dreams. It's a young city, open to new ideas and there are incredible opportunities for creative people."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Michelmore |first=Bill |date=December 31, 1973 |title=Americans Dash to Canada to Escape Fear |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/detroit-free-press-americans-dash-to-can/162868227/ |access-date=January 12, 2025 |work=Detroit Free Press |pages=4}}</ref> There, she made her professional acting debut in the 1972 production of ''[[Godspell]]'', with future stars [[Eugene Levy]], [[Andrea Martin]], [[Victor Garber]], [[Martin Short]], and [[Paul Shaffer]]. Afterward, Radner joined [[The Second City]] comedy troupe in Toronto. She had one line of dialogue as a Buddhist group member in the 1973 film ''[[The Last Detail]]'', starring [[Jack Nicholson]] and future film luminaries [[Randy Quaid]], [[Carol Kane]], and [[Michael Moriarty]]. She also appeared on various children's shows on [[CBC Television|CBC]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Saltman |first=David |title=Gilda : An Intimate Portrait |publisher=Contemporary Books |year=1992 |isbn=0809241021 |location=Chicago, Ill. |pages=106 |language=en}}</ref>

From 1974 to 1975, Radner was a featured player on the ''[[The National Lampoon Radio Hour|National Lampoon Radio Hour]]'', a comedy program syndicated to some 600 U.S. radio stations. Fellow cast members included [[John Belushi]], [[Chevy Chase]],<ref name="NPR">{{cite news|title=The National Lampoon Radio Hour| url= https://www.npr.org/2003/11/17/1505048/the-national-lampoon-radio-hour |website= [[NPR]].org|access-date=March 13, 2017}}</ref> [[Richard Belzer]], [[Bill Murray]], [[Brian Doyle-Murray]], and [[Rhonda Coullet]].<ref name=":1" />

===''Saturday Night Live''===
[[File:Saturday night live welch radner 1976.JPG|alt=Radner, as Emily Litella, with Raquel Welch|thumb|Radner, as [[Emily Litella]], with [[Raquel Welch]] in 1976]]
Radner gained wide recognition in 1975 as one of the original "[[Not Ready for Prime Time Players]]," the freshman cast of the first season of ''Saturday Night Live''. She was the first performer to be cast in the show,<ref name="obit"/> choosing the show over doing ''[[The David Steinberg Show]]'' in Canada.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Shales |first1=Tom |title=Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests |last2=Miller |first2=James Andrew |publisher=Back Bay Books |year=2015 |isbn=9780316295062 |edition=Revised |location=New York, NY |pages=33 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hill |first1=Doug |title=Saturday night. A backstage history of Saturday Night Live |last2=Weingrad |first2=Jeff |publisher=Beech Tree Books |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-688-05099-3 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=54 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=July 31, 2018 |title=The Lost Roles of Gilda Radner -- Vulture |url=https://www.vulture.com/2012/03/the-lost-roles-of-gilda-radner.html |access-date=January 26, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731174928/https://www.vulture.com/2012/03/the-lost-roles-of-gilda-radner.html |archive-date=July 31, 2018 }}</ref> Radner co-wrote much of the material that she performed and collaborated with [[Alan Zweibel]] (of the show's writing staff) on the development of sketches that featured her recurring characters.<ref name="zweibel">{{cite book|author=Zweibel, Alan|title=Bunny Bunny: Gilda Radner| url= https://archive.org/details/bunnybunnygildar00zwei|url-access=registration| location= New York|publisher= Villard|date= 1994|isbn= 9780679430858}}</ref> Between 1975 and 1980, she created many characters, such as the obnoxious personal advice expert [[Roseanne Roseannadanna]] (modeled after a New York reporter, [[Rose Ann Scamardella]]) and "Baba Wawa", a parody of [[Barbara Walters]]. After Radner's death, Walters noted in an interview that Radner had been the "first person to make fun of news anchors, now it's done all the time."<ref>{{YouTube|LQvRFrpKi-0|Barbara Walters being interviewed about Gilda Radner }}</ref>

{{Quote box |quote = "Of the three female [''SNL''] cast members, Gilda Radner made the deepest impact. There is hardly a female sketch comic today who does not claim Radner as an inspiration for her comedy career."|source = Yael Kohen,<br />author, ''We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy''<ref>{{cite book|author=Kohen, Yael|title=We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy|publisher= Macmillan |date=2012|pages= 107–108}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/books/review/we-killed-by-yael-kohen.html |title=Funny Women|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 30, 2012}}</ref>|fontsize = 95% |width = 25% |align = left|bgcolor = Cornsilk|}}

Another of Radner's invented characters was [[Emily Litella]], an elderly, hard of hearing editorialist who made irate, misinformed comments in interview sketches on ''SNL'''s recurring ''[[Weekend Update]]'' segment.<ref name="obit"/> Radner also parodied celebrities such as [[Lucille Ball]], [[Patti Smith]], and [[Olga Korbut]] in ''SNL'' sketches.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Littleton |first=Darryl J. |title=Comediennes: Laugh Be a Lady |publisher=Applause |others=Tuezdae Littleton |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-55783-842-1 |location=Milwaukee |pages=158 |language=en}}</ref> In 1978, she won an [[Emmy Award]] for her work on ''SNL''.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Gilda Radner |url=https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/gilda-radner |access-date=January 13, 2025 |website=Television Academy |language=en}}</ref>

Radner battled [[Bulimia nervosa|bulimia]] while on the show. She had a relationship with fellow ''SNL'' and ''National Lampoon'' castmate [[Bill Murray]], which reportedly ended badly, though few details of their relationship or its end were made public. In her autobiography, Radner mentioned Murray only once, and in passing: "All the guys [in the ''National Lampoon'' group of writers and performers] liked to have me around because I would laugh at them till I peed in my pants and tears rolled out of my eyes. We worked together for a couple of years creating ''[[The National Lampoon Show]],'' writing ''[[The National Lampoon Radio Hour]],'' and even working on stuff for the magazine. Bill Murray joined the show and Richard Belzer..."<ref>{{cite book|author=Radner, Gilda|title=It's Always Something |url= https://archive.org/details/itsalwayssomethiradn00radn|url-access=registration|location= New York|publisher=Simon and Schuster|date= 1989 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/itsalwayssomethiradn00radn/page/100 100–101]|isbn=9780671638689}}</ref>

In 1979, the new president and CEO of NBC, [[Fred Silverman]], offered Radner a primetime variety show, but she turned down the offer, not wanting to add another five years to her contract and not wanting to leave ''SNL''.<ref name="something" /><ref name=":2" /> That same year, she was a host of the [[Music for UNICEF Concert]] at the [[United Nations General Assembly]].<ref>{{Cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/10/archives/pop-stars-join-to-tape-benefit-for-unicef.html|title=Pop: Stars Join to Tape Benefit for UNICEF|last=Rockwell|first=John|date=January 10, 1979|work=The New York Times|access-date= February 23, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Radner also gave the commencement address, in character as Roseanne Roseannadanna, to the 1979 graduating class at the [[Columbia School of Journalism]].<ref>{{cite web| url= http://journalistfightclub.blogspot.com/2008/04/roseanne-roseannadanna-vs-columbia.html|title=Roseanne Roseannadanna vs. Columbia School of Journalism| website=Journalist Fight Club |date=April 3, 2008}}</ref>

Radner reportedly expressed mixed emotions about being recognized and approached in public by fans and other strangers. ''SNL'' historians Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad said she became "angry when she was approached, and upset when she wasn't".<ref name="history">Hill, Doug and Jeff Weingrad. ''Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live''. New York: Beech Tree Books. 1986.</ref>

===Broadway show===
In 1979, Radner appeared on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in a successful one-woman show, ''Gilda Radner – Live from New York''.<ref name="ibdb">{{IBDB name|5910}}</ref> The show featured material that was racier than NBC censors would allow on ''Saturday Night Live'', such as the song "Let's Talk Dirty to the Animals." The same year, shortly before Radner's final season on ''Saturday Night Live'', her Broadway show was filmed by [[Mike Nichols]] and released with the title ''[[Gilda Live]]''. It co-starred [[Paul Shaffer]] and [[Don Novello]], and screened in theaters nationwide in 1980, but was a box-office flop. A soundtrack album was also commercially unsuccessful.