Glamour magazine has published a great interview with the ladies of SNL as the iconic show celebrates its 40th anniversary with an NBC special next Sunday night, February 15:

When the first episode of Saturday Night Live aired on October 11, 1975, the show’s three female cast members—Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and the late Gilda Radner—played, perhaps expectedly, nurses and housewives. Not expected? How weird, bold, and fearless they were—after all, they were nurses to bees and any bimbo housewife was a foil to bad-boy behavior. They showed women as smart, funny, complicated, and real. It was so addictive that SNL became TV worth staying in for, and the female power players were as big a draw as the guys. Over the decades SNL’s woman power grew, and so did the instant-classic female characters born on Lorne Michaels’ stage. There was Molly Shannon’s self-confidence champion Mary Katherine Gallagher, Rachel Dratch’s Debbie Downer, and, of course, Tina Fey’s epic Sarah Palin. To celebrate 40 years of SNL, Glamour got 17 extraordinary female alumnae together to talk about everything that happens before and after the lights go on at Studio 8H.

Check out the glamour below and read the article for the full interview and video.

In my opinion, the women have always been the backbone of this show. It’s great to celebrate them for all their contributions.