NEW YORK (AP) — “Saturday Night Live” was built with a cast of young no-names performing countercultural comedy. Fifty years later, it is firmly part of the culture, dictating mainstream comedy instead of throwing spitballs from the margins.

For decades, the ‘Saturday Night Live’ creator Lorne Michaels has been wining and dining celebrity hosts and staff members on Tuesdays at the unassuming Midtown restaurant Lattanzi.

From Theresa Caputo to Amy and Joey and our unmistakable accent, Long Island has been the source of innumerable "SNL" gags over the show's 50-year history.

If you wanted to succeed in comedy, performing at Studio 8H was a rite of passage. As the iconic variety show turns fifty, is that still the case?