Richard Pryor agreed to host the show only if his friends poet Gil Scott-Heron, actors Thalmus Rasulala and Annazette Chase, girlfriend Kathy McKee, and ex-wife Shelley R. Bonus could perform on the show. He also demanded that his writer Paul Mooney write all of his sketches. Flying back to New York, a frustrated Lorne Michaels said, "He'd better be funny."
According to Paul Mooney, he wrote the "Exorcist II" sketch specifically for Laraine Newman because the show's writers refused to write for her.
Fearing Richard Pryor would say things that were too offensive for television at the time, the show is placed on seven-second delay for the very first time
John Belushi's Samurai says his only English words of SNL's entire run in this episode: "I can dig where you're coming from."