''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
and
variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...
created by
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...
and developed by
Dick Ebersol
Duncan "Dick" Ebersol (; born July 28, 1947) is an American television executive and a senior adviser for NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. He had previously been the chairman of NBC Sports, producing large-scale television events such as the O ...
that airs on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
and
Peacock
Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...
. Michaels currently serves as the program's
showrunner
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...
. The show premiere was hosted by
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...
on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
on October 11, 1975, under the original title ''NBC's Saturday Night''. The show's
comedy sketches
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term origin ...
, which often parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a
large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers the opening
monologue
In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...
and performs in sketches with the cast, with featured performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a
cold open
A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Ameri ...
sketch that ends with someone
breaking character
In theatre (especially in the illusionistic Western tradition), breaking character occurs when an actor ceases to maintain the illusion that they are identical with the character they are portraying. This is a more acceptable occurrence while in ...
and proclaiming, "
Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!
"Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" is a famous phrase typically featured on the American sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', which runs on the NBC broadcast network. It is generally used as a way to end a cold opening sketch and lea ...
", properly beginning the show.
In 1980, Michaels left the series to explore other opportunities. He was replaced by
Jean Doumanian
Jean Doumanian ( Karabas; born July 28, 1936) is an American stage, television and film producer. She briefly produced ''Saturday Night Live'', between November 1980 and March 1981.
Early life
Doumanian was born Jean (or Jeannine) Karabas, th ...
, who was then replaced by Ebersol after a season of bad reviews. Ebersol ran the show until 1985, when Michaels returned. Since then, Michaels has held the job of showrunner. Many ''SNL'' cast members have found national stardom while appearing on the show, and achieved success in film and television, both in front of and behind the camera. Others associated with the show, such as writers, have gone on to successful careers creating, writing, and starring in television and film.
Broadcast from Studio 8H at NBC's headquarters in the Comcast Building at
30 Rockefeller Plaza
30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1933, the 66 ...
, ''SNL'' has aired episodes since its debut, and began its
48th season on October 1, 2022, making it one of the
longest-running network television programs in the United States. The show format has been developed and recreated in several countries, meeting with different levels of success. Successful sketches have seen life outside the show as feature films including ''
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respective ...
'' (1980) and ''
Wayne's World
"Wayne's World" was originally a recurring sketch from the NBC television series ''Saturday Night Live''. It evolved from a segment titled "Wayne's Power Minute" (1987) on the CBC Television series '' It's Only Rock & Roll'', as the main characte ...
'' (1992). The show has been marketed in other ways, including
home media releases of "best of" and whole seasons, and books and documentaries about behind-the-scenes activities of running and developing the show.
Throughout four decades on air, ''Saturday Night Live'' has received a vast number of awards, including 93
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
s, six
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949.
Eligibility
Th ...
s, and three
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
s. In 2000, it was inducted into the
National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame
The NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame is a yearly honor from the National Association of Broadcasters. One inductee from radio and one from television are named at the yearly NAB conference.
Radio
For a list of award winners, see footnote
* 1977: J ...
. It was ranked tenth in ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
''s "
50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time" list, and in 2007 it was listed as one of ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
''s "100 Best TV Shows of All-''TIME.''" As of 2022, the show had received over 305 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, the most received by any television program. The live aspect of the show has resulted in several controversies and acts of censorship, with mistakes and intentional acts of sabotage by performers as well as guests.
Development
From 1965 until 1975, NBC ran ''
The Best of Carson'' reruns of ''The Tonight Show'', airing them on either Saturday or Sunday night at local affiliates' discretion (originally known as ''The Saturday/Sunday Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''). In 1974,
Johnny Carson
John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six Pr ...
announced that he wanted the weekend shows pulled and saved so they could be aired during weeknights, allowing him to take time off.
In 1974, NBC president
Herbert Schlosser
Herbert Samuel Schlosser (April 21, 1926August 6, 2021) was an American television executive. He was List of presidents of NBC Entertainment, president of NBC from 1974 until 1978. He also briefly served as its CEO from 1977 to 1978.
Early li ...
approached his vice president of late-night programming,
Dick Ebersol
Duncan "Dick" Ebersol (; born July 28, 1947) is an American television executive and a senior adviser for NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. He had previously been the chairman of NBC Sports, producing large-scale television events such as the O ...
, and asked him to create a show to fill the Saturday night time slot. At the suggestion of
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
executive
Barry Diller
Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall of ...
, Schlosser and Ebersol then approached Lorne Michaels. Over the next three weeks, Ebersol and Michaels developed the latter's idea for a variety show featuring
high-concept
High concept is a type of artistic work that can be easily pitched with a succinctly stated premise. It can be contrasted with ''low concept'', which is more concerned with character development and other subtleties that are not as easily summa ...
comedy sketches, political satire, and music performances that would attract 18- to 34-year-old viewers.
By 1975, Michaels had assembled a talented cast, including
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, musician and writer. He was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1979). During his tenure on ''SNL'' ...
,
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known for being one of the seven original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Throughout his ca ...
,
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...
,
Jane Curtin
Jane Therese Curtin (born September 6, 1947) is an American actress and comedian. First coming to prominence as an original cast member on the hit TV comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' in 1975, she went on to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for ...
,
Garrett Morris
Garrett Isaac Morris (born February 1, 1937) is an American actor, comedian and singer. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program ''Saturday Night Live'', appearing from 1975 to 1980, and played Jimmy on ''The Jeffersons'' ...
,
Laraine Newman
Laraine Newman (born March 2, 1952) is an American actress, writer and comedian. She was part of the original cast of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''. She took an interest at improv in high school. After graduating, she studied mime with Marcel M ...
,
Michael O'Donoghue
Michael O'Donoghue (January 5, 1940 – November 8, 1994) was an American writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to ''National Lampoon'' magazine, and was the ...
,
Gilda Radner
Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian, and one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). In he ...
,
and
George Coe
George Coe (born George Julian Cohen; May 10, 1929 – July 18, 2015) was an American actor. He was a cast member for the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' and voiced the character of Woodhouse in ''Archer''.
Early life
Coe was born in ...
.
The show was originally called ''NBC's Saturday Night'', because ''Saturday Night Live'' was in use by ''
Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell
''Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell'' was an American television variety show that aired on ABC from September 20, 1975, to January 17, 1976, hosted by Howard Cosell and executive-produced by Roone Arledge. The series ran for 18 episodes be ...
'' on the rival network
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
.
After the cancellation of the Cosell show, NBC purchased the rights to the name in 1976 and officially adopted the new title as of the
17th episode of the second seasonthe episode hosted by
Jack Burns
John Francis Burns (November 15, 1933 – January 27, 2020) was an American comedian, actor, voice actor, writer, and producer. During the 1960s, he was part of two comedy partnerships, first with George Carlin and later with Avery Schreiber. ...
on March 26, 1977. The show was originally conceived with three rotating permanent hosts:
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the vari ...
,
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...
, and
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...
. According to Ebersol, consideration was given to
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated ...
and singer
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...
also being included as a duo. When Pryor dropped out because his brand of comedy was not censor-friendly, the concept was dropped.
Debuting on October 11, 1975, the show quickly developed a
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
, eventually becoming a mainstream hit and spawning (in 1978) "Best of ''Saturday Night Live''" compilations that reached viewers who could not stay awake for the live broadcasts. But during the first season in 1975 and 1976, some NBC executives were not satisfied with the show's Nielsen ratings and shares. Lorne Michaels pointed out to them that Nielsen's measurement of demographics indicated that baby boomers constituted a large majority of the viewers who did commit to watching the show, and many of them watched little else on television. In 1975 and 1976, they were the most desirable demographic for television advertisers, even though
Generation X
Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...
was the right age for commercials for toys and other children's products. Baby boomers far outnumbered Generation X in reality but not in television viewership with the exception of Michaels's new show and major league sports, and advertisers had long been concerned about baby boomers' distaste for the powerful medium. NBC executives eventually understood Michaels's explanation of the desirable demographics and they decided to keep the show on the air despite many angry letters and phone calls the network received from viewers who were offended by certain sketches.
They included a Weekend Update segment on April 24, 1976, the 18th episode, that ridiculed Aspen, Colorado murder suspect
Claudine Longet
Claudine Georgette Longet (born 29 January 1942) is a Franco-American singer, actress, dancer, and recording artist popular during the 1960s and 1970s.
Born in Paris, France, Longet was married to American singer and television entertainer Andy ...
and warranted an on-air apology by announcer
Don Pardo
Dominick George "Don" Pardo (February 22, 1918 – August 18, 2014) was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades.
A member of the Television Hall of Fame, Pardo was noted for his 70-year tenure with ...
during the following episode. Herminio Traviesas, a censor who was vice president of the network's Standards and Practices department, objected to cast member Laraine Newman's use of the term "pissed off" in the March 13, 1976, episode with host
Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor, director, and singer. Perkins is best remembered for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller '' Psycho'', which made him an influential ...
; he was in the process of placing the show on a permanent delay of several seconds, instead of live, but he changed his mind after Newman personally apologized to him.
Chevy Chase left the show in November of the second season and was replaced a few months later by the then-unknown comic actor
Bill Murray
William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on ''Saturday Nigh ...
. Aykroyd and Belushi left the show in 1979 after the end of season four. In May 1980 (after season five), Michaels—emotionally and physically exhausted—requested to put the show on hiatus for a year to give him time and energy to pursue other projects. Concerned the show would be canceled without him, Michaels suggested writers
Al Franken
Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He gained fame as a writer and performer on the television comed ...
,
Tom Davis, and
Jim Downey as his replacements. NBC president
Fred Silverman
Fred Silverman (September 13, 1937 – January 30, 2020) was an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at all of the Big Three television networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as '' ...
disliked Franken and was infuriated by Franken's Weekend Update routine on May 10, 1980 called "
A Limo for a Lame-O", a scathing critique of Silverman's job performance at the network and his insistence on traveling by limousine at the network's expense. Silverman blamed Michaels for approving this Weekend Update segment. Unable to get the deal he wanted, Michaels chose to leave NBC for Paramount Pictures, intending to take his associate producer,
Jean Doumanian
Jean Doumanian ( Karabas; born July 28, 1936) is an American stage, television and film producer. She briefly produced ''Saturday Night Live'', between November 1980 and March 1981.
Early life
Doumanian was born Jean (or Jeannine) Karabas, th ...
, with him. Michaels later learned that Doumanian had been given his position at ''SNL'' after being recommended by her friend, NBC vice president Barbara Gallagher. Michaels's departure led to most of the cast and writing staff leaving the show.
The reputation of the show as a springboard to fame meant that many aspiring stars were eager to join the new series. Jean Doumanian was tasked with hiring a full cast and writing staff in less than three months, and NBC immediately cut the show's budget from the previous $1 million per episode down to just $350,000. Doumanian faced resentment and sabotage from the remaining Michaels staff, particularly sexist men who did not appreciate a woman believing she could take Michaels's place. The 1980 season was a disaster; ratings plummeted, and audiences failed to connect to the original cast's replacements, such as
Charles Rocket
Charles Adams Claverie (August 28, 1949 – October 7, 2005), known by stage names Charlie Hamburger, Charlie Kennedy and Charles Rocket, was an American actor, comedian, musician, and television news reporter. He was a cast member on ''Saturda ...
and
Ann Risley
Anna F. "Ann" Risley (born September 30, 1949, Madison, Wisconsin) is a retired American actress and comedian. She was a cast member of the TV series ''Saturday Night Live'' for the 12 episodes of the 1980–1981 season. These 12 broadcasts were t ...
. Doumanian's fate was sealed when, during a sketch, Rocket said "fuck" on live television. After only ten months, Doumanian was dismissed.
Although executives suggested ''SNL'' be left to die,
Brandon Tartikoff
Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was an American television executive who was the president of NBC from 1981 to 1991. He was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as ''Hill Stre ...
, who succeeded Silverman as network chief in mid-1981, wanted to keep the show on the air, believing the concept was more important to the network than money. Tartikoff turned to Ebersol as his choice for the new producer. Ebersol previously had been fired by Silverman. Ebersol gained Michaels's approval in an attempt to avoid the same staff sabotage that had blighted Doumanian's tenure.
Ebersol's tenure saw commercial success, but was considered lackluster compared to the Michaels era, except for the breakout of new cast member
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
during the 1980–81 sixth season. Murphy, the main draw of the cast, left in 1984 to pursue his already successful film career, and Ebersol decided to again rebuild the cast. He broke with history by hiring established comedians such as
Billy Crystal
William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...
and
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2019 Short became an Officer of the Order of Canada.
He ...
who could bring their already successful material to the show. Ebersol's final year with this new cast is considered one of the series' funniest, but had strayed far from the precedent-shattering show Michaels had created. After that season, Ebersol wanted a more significant revamp, including departing from the show's established "live" format. Following unsuccessful forays into film and television, in need of money, and eager not to see Tartikoff cancel the show, Michaels finally returned in 1985 after Ebersol opted out. The show was again recast, with Michaels borrowing Ebersol's idea to seek out established actors such as
Joan Cusack
Joan Mary Cusack (; born October 11, 1962) is an American actress. She received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in the comedy-drama ''Working Girl'' (1988) and the romantic comedy '' In & Out'' (1997) ...
and
Robert Downey Jr.
Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor and producer. His career has been characterized by critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, before a resurgence of ...
The cast and writers struggled creatively and, in April 1986, Tartikoff made the decision to cancel the show, until he was convinced by producer
Bernie Brillstein
Bernard Jules Brillstein (April 26, 1931 – August 7, 2008) was an American film and television producer, executive producer, and talent agent.
He began his career in the 1950s at the William Morris Agency before founding his own company in 196 ...
to give it one more year. The show was renewed, but, for the first time in its history, for only thirteen episodes instead of the usual twenty-two. Michaels again fired most of the cast and, learning his lesson from the previous seasons, sought out unknown talent such as
Dana Carvey
Dana Thomas Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his seven seasons as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1986 to 1993, which earned him fiv ...
and
Phil Hartman
Philip Edward Hartman (; September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic designer. Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, and his family moved to the United States w ...
instead of known names.
The show ran successfully again until it lost Carvey and Hartman, two of its biggest stars, between 1992 and 1994. Wanting to increase ''SNL''s ratings and profitability, then-NBC West Coast president
Don Ohlmeyer
Donald Winfred Ohlmeyer Jr. (February 3, 1945September 10, 2017) was an American television producer and president of the NBC network's west coast division. He received notoriety for firing Norm Macdonald from ''Saturday Night Live'' in early 19 ...
and other executives began to actively interfere in the show, recommending that new stars such as
Chris Farley
Christopher Crosby Farley (February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997) was an American actor and comedian. Farley was known for his loud, energetic comedic style, and was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and later a cast member of the ...
and
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1995, before going on to star in numerous Hollywood films, those of wh ...
be fired (because Ohlmeyer did not "get" them) and critiquing the costly nature of performing the show live. The show faced increasing criticism from the press and cast, in part encouraged by the NBC executives hoping to weaken Michaels's position. Michaels received a lucrative offer to develop a Saturday night project for
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
during this time, but remained loyal to ''SNL''. 1995 saw the biggest upheaval in the cast in nearly a decade. Popular cast member
Mike Myers
Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollyw ...
left after five years, and Farley and Sandler, among others, were fired. A mostly new cast featuring
Will Ferrell
John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 200 ...
,
Cheri Oteri
Cheryl Ann Oteri () is an American actress and comedian. A nominee of a Primetime Emmy Award, Oteri is best known for her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2000.
Early life
The daughter ...
and
Darrell Hammond
Darrell Clayton Hammond (born October 8, 1955) is an American actor, stand-up comedian and impressionist. He was a regular cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2009, and has been its announcer since 2014.
Upon his departure, Hammo ...
was hired for the new season. The show focused on performers, and writers were forced to supply material for the cast's existing characters before they could write original sketches. By 1997, Ohlmeyer renewed his focus on limiting Michaels's independence, forcing the removal of writer Jim Downey and cast member
Norm Macdonald
Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...
.
In December 2021, Lorne Michaels speculated that season 50 of SNL may be his last, while Kenan Thompson speculated in August 2022 that ''Saturday Night Live'' may come to an end altogether after its 50th season in 2025. Michaels said in an interview on ''
CBS Mornings
''CBS Mornings'' is an American morning television program which is broadcast on CBS. The program debuted on September 7, 2021, and airs live every weekday from 7:00a.m. to 9:00a.m. It is hosted by Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil, and Nate Burleson, ...
'' that he is “Committed to doing the show until its 50th anniversary ... I’d like to see that through, and I have a feeling that would be a really good time to leave.” Thompson has stated that it would "make sense financially" for NBC to end the show after Michaels' retirement. In an interview with
Charlamagne tha God
Lenard Larry McKelvey (born June 29, 1978), known professionally as Charlamagne tha God or simply Charlamagne, is an American radio host and television personality. He is a co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show ''The Breakfast Club' ...
, Thompson said "
BCmight slash the budget and then at that point, you can’t really do the same kind of show. So that’s unfair to watch it just really go down kind of in flames for real because of those restrictions…. Capping it at 50 might not be a bad idea.” Despite these speculations, no official announcement has been made regarding the future of SNL.
Cast and crew
Cast
The original 1975 cast of ''SNL'', titled "The Not Ready For Prime-Time Players",
a term coined by writer
Herb Sargent
Herbert Sargent (born Supowitz; July 15, 1923 – May 6, 2005) was an American television writer, a producer for such comedy shows as ''The Tonight Show'' and ''Saturday Night Live'', and a screenwriter ('' Bye Bye Braverman''). During his tenu ...
, included Laraine Newman, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris, and Chevy Chase. Radner was the first person hired after Michaels himself. Although Chase became a performer, he was hired on a one-year writer contract and refused to sign the performer contract that was repeatedly given to him, allowing him to leave the show after the first season in 1976. Newman was brought aboard after having a prior working relationship with Michaels. Morris was initially brought in as a writer, but attempts to have him fired by another writer led Michaels to have Morris audition for the cast, where he turned in a successful performance. Curtin and Belushi were the last two cast members hired. Belushi had a disdain for television and had repeatedly turned down offers to appear on other shows, but decided to work with the show because of the involvement of Radner and writers
Anne Beatts
Anne Beatts (February 25, 1947 – April 7, 2021) was an American comedy writer.
Early life
Beatts was born in Buffalo, New York, to Sheila Elizabeth Jean (Sherriff-Scott) and Patrick Murray Threipland Beatts. She has described her parents as "b ...
and
Michael O'Donoghue
Michael O'Donoghue (January 5, 1940 – November 8, 1994) was an American writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to ''National Lampoon'' magazine, and was the ...
. Michaels was still reluctant to hire Belushi, believing he would be a source of trouble for the show, but Beatts, O'Donoghue, and Ebersol successfully argued for his inclusion.
After Chase left the show, he was replaced by Bill Murray, whom Michaels had intended to hire for the first-season cast but was unable to because of budget restrictions. When Chase returned to host in 1978, he found the remaining cast resentful at his departure and his success, particularly Belushi. Murray, goaded by the rest of the cast, and Chase came to blows shortly before the show. Chase's departure for film made Michaels possessive of his talent; he threatened to fire Aykroyd if he took the role of D-Day in the 1978 comedy ''
Animal House
''National Lampoon's Animal House'' is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Peter Riegert, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hu ...
'' and later refused to allow ''SNL'' musician
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, composer, actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both '' Late ...
to participate in ''
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respective ...
'' (1980) with Aykroyd and Belushi after they left in 1979 to pursue film careers.
Michaels began to struggle to hold the remaining cast together in the wake of Chase, Aykroyd, and Belushi's independent successes. Radner had a one-woman
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
show and Murray starred in the 1979 comedy ''
Meatballs
A meatball is ground meat rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. There are many types ...
''. In 1980, Michaels chose to leave the series to pursue other interests and was replaced by Doumanian, who wanted to give the show a fresh start with a new cast and writing staff. Michaels was followed out the door by the remaining original cast, Curtin, Newman, Radner, Morris, Murray, and additional cast members.
The Doumanian-era cast faced immediate comparison to the beloved former cast and was not received favorably. Ebersol fired the majority of her hires, except for two unknown comedians:
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
and
Joe Piscopo
Joseph Charles John Piscopo ( ; born June 17, 1951) is an American actor, comedian and conservative radio talk show host. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1980 to 1984, where he played a variety of recurring characters. His f ...
. Talent coordinator Neil Levy claimed Murphy contacted and pleaded with him for a role on the show and, after seeing him audition, Levy fought with Doumanian to cast him instead of
Robert Townsend. Doumanian wanted only one black cast member and favored Townsend, but Levy convinced her to choose Murphy. Doumanian also claimed credit for discovering Murphy and fighting with NBC executives to bring him onto the show. Even so, Murphy would languish as a background character until Ebersol took charge, after which Murphy was credited with much of that era's success.
Murphy's star exploded, and he quickly appeared in films such as ''
48 Hrs.'' and ''
Trading Places
''Trading Places'' is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis, with a screenplay by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod. Starring Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis, the fi ...
'', before leaving for his film career in early 1984. Much of the Ebersol cast departed after the 1983–84 season and were replaced with established comedians who could supply their own material, but at an inflated cost;
Billy Crystal
William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...
and
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2019 Short became an Officer of the Order of Canada.
He ...
were paid $25,000 and $20,000 per episode, respectively, far more than earlier salaries. Michaels's return in 1985 saw a cast reset that featured talent such as Robert Downey Jr.,
Jon Lovitz
Jonathan Michael Lovitz (; born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990. Lovitz starred as Jay Sherman in ''The Critic'' and played a baseball scout in ''A League of The ...
, and
Dennis Miller
Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian.
He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a stri ...
. The season was poorly received, and another reset followed in 1986. Michaels kept Lovitz, Miller, and
Nora Dunn
Nora Dunn (born April 29, 1952) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch variety TV series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990, Dr. Reynolds in ''The Nanny'' (1998-1999), and Muriel in ''Home Economics' ...
, and brought in new, untested talent such as
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (19 ...
,
Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, producer, and puppeteer, known for his ''Saturday Night Live'' " TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behind Triumph the Insult Comic D ...
,
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin Daniels (born June 13, 1963) is an American screenwriter, television producer, and director. He has worked on several television series, including writing for ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''The Simpsons'', adapting ''The Office'' f ...
,
Bob Odenkirk
Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker best known for his role as Saul Goodman on ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–2022). For the latter, he has re ...
,
Kevin Nealon
Kevin Nealon (; born November 18, 1953) is an American comedian and actor. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1986 to 1995, acted in several of the Happy Madison films, played Doug Wilson on the Showtime series '' Weeds'', and pr ...
,
Dana Carvey
Dana Thomas Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his seven seasons as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1986 to 1993, which earned him fiv ...
,
Phil Hartman
Philip Edward Hartman (; September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic designer. Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, and his family moved to the United States w ...
, and
Jan Hooks
Janet Vivian Hooks[Jan Hooks obituary](_blank)
liteseyfh.com; accesse ...
, who together would define a new era on the show into the early 1990s.
In 1989–90, new talent such as
Mike Myers
Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollyw ...
,
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1995, before going on to star in numerous Hollywood films, those of wh ...
, and
Chris Farley
Christopher Crosby Farley (February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997) was an American actor and comedian. Farley was known for his loud, energetic comedic style, and was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and later a cast member of the ...
was added. Afraid of cast members leaving for film careers, Michaels had overcrowded the cast, causing a divide between the veteran members and the new, younger talent, increasing competition for limited screen time. By 1995, Carvey and Hartman had left, taking with them a virtual army of characters; Myers quit for his movie career, and increasing network pressure forced Michaels to fire Sandler and Farley. The show saw its next major overhaul, bringing in a largely new cast including Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, Cheri Oteri and Darrell Hammond. Within a few years,
Jimmy Fallon
James Thomas Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an American comedian, television host, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' and as the host of the late-night talk show ''The Ton ...
and
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the ...
also joined the cast. While cast members would leave over the following two decades, the show saw its next biggest transition in 2013, with the addition of six cast members to compensate for the departure of several longtime cast members like
Bill Hader
William Thomas Hader Jr.''Finding Your Roots'', January 26, 2016, PBS. (born June 7, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the creator, producer, writer, director, and star of the HBO dark comedy series ''Barry'' (2018 ...
,
Jason Sudeikis
Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 200 ...
, and
Fred Armisen
Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series ''Portlandia''. He ...
.
As of Season 48, ''SNL'' has featured 163 cast members including, besides the above-mentioned players,
Rachel Dratch
Rachel Susan Dratch (born February 22, 1966) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. After she graduated from Dartmouth College she moved to Chicago to study improvisational theatre at The Second City and ImprovOlympic.
Her breakthrough ro ...
,
Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy trou ...
,
Chris Rock
Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and filmmaker. Known for his work in comic film, television and stage, he has received multiple accolades, including three Grammy Awards for best come ...
,
David Spade
David Wayne Spade (born July 22, 1964) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, television host, and writer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the 1990s, and he later began an acting career in both film and television. He also s ...
,
Will Forte
Orville Willis Forte IV ( ; born June 17, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Forte is known for being a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (2002–2010), a recurring character on the show leading to a feature film ada ...
,
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus ( ; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and producer who worked on the comedy television series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1982–1985), ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), ''The New Adventures ...
,
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor best known for his television work as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1996–2003) and for his role as Tracy Jordan in the sitcom ''30 Rock'' (2006 ...
,
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher Parnell (; born February 5, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1998 to 2006 and played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on ''30 Rock''. In animation, he voices Cyril Figgis ...
,
Maya Rudolph
Maya Rudolph (born July 27, 1972) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. In 2000, she became a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''), and later played supporting roles in the films '' 50 First Dates'' ...
,
Andy Samberg
Andy Samberg (born David A. J. Samberg; August 18, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer and screenwriter. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island and was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2005 ...
,
Molly Shannon
Molly Helen Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress and comedian who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2001. In 2017, she won the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ...
,
Kristen Wiig
Kristen Carroll Wiig (; born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Canandaigua, New York, she was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Rochester, New York. She moved to Los Angeles, where she joi ...
, and many others.
Kenan Thompson
Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. He was also th ...
is the show's longest-serving cast member. Thompson first joined the series in
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
and has been on the show for 20 seasons. Those selected to join the cast of ''SNL'' are normally already accomplished performers, recruited from improvisational comedy groups such as
The Groundlings
The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques ...
(Newman, Ferrell, Hartman, Lovitz, Wiig
) and
The Second City
The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre op ...
(Aykroyd, Farley, Fey,
Tim Meadows
Timothy Meadows (born February 5, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the longest-running cast members on ''Saturday Night Live'', where he appeared for ten seasons and for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy ...
), or established stand-up comedians (Carvey, Sandler, Rock,
Norm Macdonald
Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...
), who already possess the training or experience necessary for ''SNL''.
Of the many roles available in the show, one of the longest-running and most coveted is being the host of
Weekend Update
''Weekend Update'' is a ''Saturday Night Live'' sketch and satirical news program that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest-running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typic ...
, a segment that has alternated between having one or two hosts and which allows the cast members involved to perform as themselves and be on camera for an extended period of time. Many of the Weekend Update hosts have gone on to find greater success outside the show, including Chase, Curtin, Murray, Miller, Macdonald, Fey, Fallon, and Poehler. From 2008,
Seth Meyers
Seth Adam Meyers (born December 28, 1973) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, and television host. He hosts ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'', a late-night talk show on NBC. Prior to that, he was a cast member and head writer for NBC ...
was the solo host of Weekend Update, before being partnered with
Cecily Strong
Cecily Legler Strong (born February 8, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. Strong is most notable for being a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2012 to 2022. She is also the longest-tenured female cast member in the s ...
in 2013. After Meyers left for ''
Late Night with Seth Meyers
''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing weeknights a ...
'' in February 2014, Strong was paired with head writer
Colin Jost
Colin Kelly Jost (; born June 29, 1982) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He has been a writer for ''Saturday Night Live'' (SNL) since 2005 and ''Weekend Update'' co-anchor since 2014. He also served as one of the show's co-head write ...
. However, later that
year
A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...
, she was replaced by writer
Michael Che
Michael Che Campbell (; born May 19, 1983) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He is best known for his work on ''Saturday Night Live'', where he has served as co-anchor on ''Weekend Update'' alongside Colin Jost, and the two wer ...
.
The cast is divided into two tiers: the more established group of repertory players; and newer, unproven cast members known as featured players, who may eventually be promoted to the repertory stable.
The cast were often contracted from anywhere between five and six years to the show,
but starting with the 1999–2000 season, new hires were tied to a rewritten contract that allowed NBC to take a cast member in at least their second year and put them in an NBC sitcom. Cast members are given the option of rejecting the first two sitcom offers but must accept the third offer, with the sitcom contract length dictated by NBC and potentially lasting up to six years.
The move drew criticism from talent agents and managers who believed a cast member could be locked into a contract with NBC for twelve years; six on ''SNL'' and then six on a sitcom. The contract also optioned the cast member for three feature films produced by SNL Films, a company owned by NBC,
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
, and Michaels. The new contracts were reportedly developed after many previously unknown cast, such as
Mike Myers
Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollyw ...
and
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1995, before going on to star in numerous Hollywood films, those of wh ...
, gained fame on ''SNL'' only to leave and make money for other studios.
In a 2010 interview, Wiig was reported to be contracted to ''SNL'' for a total of seven years.
The contracts also contain a network option that allows NBC to remove a cast member at any time. In the first season of the show, the cast was paid $750 per episode, rising to $2,000 by season two, and $4,000 by season four. By the late 1990s, new cast members received a salary between $5,000
and $5,500 per episode, increasing to $6,000 in the second year and up to $12,500 for a cast member in their fifth year. Performers could earn an additional $1,500 per episode for writing a sketch that made it to air. In 2001, Ferrell became the highest-paid cast member, being paid $350,000 per season (approximately $17,500 per episode).
In
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
,
Sasheer Zamata
Sasheer Zamata Moore (; born May 6, 1986) is an American actress and comedian known for her work as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2014 to 2017 as well as her leading roles in the TV series ''Woke'' (2020–2022) and ''Home Econom ...
was added as a cast member in mid-season after criticism of the show's lack of an African-American woman.
Writers
![Lorne Michaels David Shankbone 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Lorne_Michaels_David_Shankbone_2010.jpg)
As of the 2022–23 season, Kent Sublette,
Alison Gates
Alison Gates (born 1988 or 1989) is an American comedy writer and actress who is currently a head writer for ''Saturday Night Live''. She previously lived in Chicago and worked with the Second City's touring company and an all-female iO Theater t ...
, and
Streeter Seidell
Streeter John Seidell (born December 2, 1982) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and TV host. Seidell was part of the cast of ''CollegeHumors online sketches. His video series ''Prank Wars'' garnered tens of millions of views and a larg ...
are the show's co-head writers.
Seth Meyers
Seth Adam Meyers (born December 28, 1973) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, and television host. He hosts ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'', a late-night talk show on NBC. Prior to that, he was a cast member and head writer for NBC ...
became a co-head writer in 2005, became the single head writer from 2008 to 2012, and then left in 2014. The Weekend Update segment has its own dedicated team of writers led by head writer and producer Alex Baze as of the 2011–12 season.
Scenes on Weekend Update that involve members of the cast acting in-character alongside the host are often written by staff writers outside the dedicated Weekend Update team, who know those characters better.
Colin Jost
Colin Kelly Jost (; born June 29, 1982) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He has been a writer for ''Saturday Night Live'' (SNL) since 2005 and ''Weekend Update'' co-anchor since 2014. He also served as one of the show's co-head write ...
has been a writer since 2005 and was one of the head writers from 2012 to 2015 before being renamed head writer, from 2017 until 2022.
Michael Che
Michael Che Campbell (; born May 19, 1983) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He is best known for his work on ''Saturday Night Live'', where he has served as co-anchor on ''Weekend Update'' alongside Colin Jost, and the two wer ...
has been a writer since 2013. He temporarily left the show in the summer of 2014, but came back that fall to anchor Update and reclaimed his status as a writer, then serving as co-head writer alongside Jost for five years.
''SNL'' writers are often also performers or experienced in writing and improvisational comedy. Many are hired from similar backgrounds such as The Groundlings, Second City,
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh.
Prior to ...
, and
ImprovOlympic
iO, or iO Chicago, (formerly known as "ImprovOlympic") is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago, with a former branch in Los Angeles, called iO West and in Raleigh, North Carolina called iO South. The theater taught and hosted ...
.
Comedian
Jim Downey was head writer for nine years beginning in 1985. Experienced writers with backgrounds in television shows are also sometimes brought into the ''SNL'' writing room. Like the ''SNL'' cast who appear on camera, many of the writers have been able to find their own success outside the show, such as
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (19 ...
, who was brought into ''SNL'' from The Groundlings in 1988, went on to write for ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'', and eventually began hosting his own
show.
Former head writer
Adam McKay, along with performer Ferrell, founded the successful comedy website
Funny or Die
Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a reg ...
.
In 2000, Tina Fey became the first woman ''SNL'' head writer
and successfully made the transition to starring on the show,
as well as writing and starring in feature films,
ultimately creating and starring in her own show ''
30 Rock
''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', takes ...
'', which was partly based on her ''SNL'' experiences.
In 2005, Fey was paid $1.5 million per season for her dual role as head writer and performer.
Writer
John Mulaney
John Edmund Mulaney (born August 26, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He first rose to prominence for his work as a writer on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2008 to 2013, where he contributed to numerous ...
has also found success outside of SNL through well-received stand-up specials, his
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
act
The Oh, Hello Show
''The Oh, Hello Show'' is a comedy act created by Americans Nick Kroll and John Mulaney that was popularized on Comedy Central's ''Kroll Show''. The show centers on Gil Faizon (Kroll) and George St. Geegland (Mulaney), elderly men from the Upper W ...
, and the special ''
John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch
''John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch'' is a children's musical comedy special created by John Mulaney that debuted on Netflix on December 24, 2019. The show, directed by Rhys Thomas, was written by Mulaney and Marika Sawyer and inspired by cla ...
''.
Announcers
Don Pardo
Dominick George "Don" Pardo (February 22, 1918 – August 18, 2014) was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades.
A member of the Television Hall of Fame, Pardo was noted for his 70-year tenure with ...
served as the announcer for the series when it began and continued in the role for all but season seven, between 1981 and 1982, when Michaels had left and
Mel Brandt
Melville Brandt (June 18, 1919 – March 14, 2008) was an actor and NBC staff announcer.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Brandt joined NBC around 1948. His radio announcing credits included '' The Adventures of Frank Merriwell'', ''Author Meet ...
and
Bill Hanrahan William A. Hanrahan (September 14, 1918 – August 7, 1996) was an American radio and television announcer, perhaps best known as the "Voice of NBC News."
Hanrahan's broadcasting career dated back to the 1940s, when he worked at WELI radio in New H ...
filled the announcing role. In 2004, Pardo announced that he would step down from his position, but then continued in the role until 2009 where he again announced his retirement, but then continued into the 2009–10 season.
In 2010, then 92-year-old Pardo was reported to be again considering his retirement, but continued to serve as announcer until his death at age 96 on August 18, 2014, following the 39th season. Apart from a brief period in 2006 in which Pardo pre-recorded his announcements at his home in Arizona, he flew to New York City to perform his announcing duties live, until 2010 when he began recording permanently from Arizona.
Cast members Joe Piscopo and Darrell Hammond also periodically impersonated Pardo and fulfilled his announcing duties when Pardo was unavailable. Hammond took over as full-time announcer starting with
season 40.
Hosts and musical guests
A typical episode of ''SNL'' will feature a single host chosen for their popularity or novelty, or because they have a film, album, or other work being released near the time of their appearance on the show. The host delivers the opening monologue and goodnights, introduces the musical guest, and performs in sketches with the cast. Traditionally, the host of the show ends the opening monologue by introducing the musical guest for the night, "We got a great show for you tonight, (musical guest) is/are here. So stick around, we'll be right back." Comedian
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...
was the first to host ''SNL'' in the debut October 1975 episode;
three episodes later,
Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for her portrayal of the title character on the CBS sitcom ''Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also know ...
became the first woman to host and subsequently the first host to return. Guests who have hosted five or more times are sometimes referred to as belonging to the
Five-Timers Club
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is a late-night sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. It premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the title ''NBC's Saturday Night''. The show usually satirizes contemporary American popu ...
, a term that originated on a sketch performed on
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
's fifth episode.
As of February 11, 2017, actor
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nichol ...
holds the record for most times hosting, having performed the duty on seventeen different occasions since 1990; Baldwin took the record from actor
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated ...
who has hosted fifteen times since 1976.
Occasionally, former SNL cast members also host.
Each episode also features a musical guest, a solo act or a band, who perform two or three musical numbers. Occasionally, the musical guest simultaneously serves as the host, and may also appear in comedy sketches. As of October 11, 2020,
Dave Grohl
David Eric Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, in which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of gru ...
is the most frequent musical guest, performing on fourteen shows since 1992. Michaels strongly opposes the use of pre-recorded vocals during musical performances.
Michaels does not allow musical guests to perform using
lip-synching
Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals.
Audio for lip syncing is generated thr ...
tracks, believing it diminishes the live aspect of the show. Exceptions are made only when the musical act is focused on intense dance routines instead of vocals, where it is difficult to be both heavily physically active and sing.
A 1975 performance by pop group
ABBA
ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...
was the first and only act to feature lip-synching, until
the controversial 2004 performance of Ashlee Simpson.
The December 18, 2021 episode, hosted by
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, before making his acting debut in 1991. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in ...
, became the first episode not to feature any musical performances since the first episode of
season 12, as well as the third episode in the show's duration to not have a musical guest, due to the rise of the
Omicron variant
Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the ...
in New York City during the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Charli XCX
Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery ...
was planned as the musical guest, but her performance was cancelled due to the new restrictions as the show had a "limited cast and crew" and no audience. She was due to perform "
Good Ones
"Good Ones" is a song by English singer and songwriter Charli XCX, released as the lead single from her fifth studio album, ''Crash'' (2022). The song was released on 2 September 2021. It is a synthwave, electropop, dance, and synth-pop song th ...
" and "
New Shapes
"New Shapes" is a song by English singer and songwriter Charli XCX, featuring French singer Christine and the Queens and American singer Caroline Polachek. It was released on 4 November 2021 as the second single from XCX's fifth studio album, '' ...
" on this episode, with
Christine and the Queens
Héloïse Adélaïde Letissier (; born 1 June 1988), known professionally as Christine and the Queens and Redcar, or occasionally simply Chris, is a French singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Nantes, he started learning piano at the age o ...
and
Caroline Polachek
Caroline Elizabeth Polachek (born June 20, 1985) is an American singer, producer and songwriter. Raised in Connecticut, Polachek co-founded the indie pop band Chairlift while studying at the University of Colorado. The duo emerged from the late- ...
scheduled to guest on the latter performance. XCX's only appearance in the episode, however, was in the pre-recorded music video spoof called "The Christmas Socks", where she played a parrot named T.J. Rocks. To make up for time and the lack of cast members, classic Christmas sketches are shown, with some sketches introduced by
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the ...
,
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
, and
Kenan Thompson
Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. He was also th ...
.
The SNL Band
The Saturday Night Live Band (also known as "The Live Band") is the
house band
A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment.
It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...
for ''SNL''. Academy Award-winning composer
Howard Shore
Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer and conductor noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'' film trilogies. ...
served as the first musical director, from 1975 to 1980, appearing in many musical sketches, including Howard Shore and His All-Nurse Band and (backing a
U.S. Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...
chorus) Howard Shore and the Shore Patrol. Over the years, the band has featured several New York studio musicians including
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, composer, actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both '' Late ...
(1975–1980),
Lou Marini
Louis William Marini Jr. (born May 13, 1945), known as "Blue Lou" Marini, is an American saxophonist, arranger, and composer. He is best known for his work in jazz, rock, blues, and soul music, as well as his association with The Blues Brothers ...
(1975–1983),
David Sanborn
David William Sanborn (born July 30, 1945) is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album ''Taking Off'' in 1 ...
(1975),
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...
(early 1980s),
Ray Chew
Ray Chew is an American musician who specializes in keyboards and contemporary and orchestral arranging. He is the music director of ABC's Dancing with the Stars (2014–present). Chew was music director for Fox's American Idol from 2010 to 20 ...
(1980–1983),
Alan Rubin
Alan Rubin (February 11, 1943 – June 8, 2011), also known as Mr. Fabulous, was an American musician. He played trumpet, flugelhorn, and piccolo trumpet.
Early life and education
Rubin was born in Brooklyn. He began attending Juilliard Sc ...
(1975–1983),
Georg Wadenius
Georg "Jojje" Wadenius (born 4 May 1945) is a Swedish multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was particularly active during the 1970s and 1980s as a studio and session guitarist and bassist, as well as for a series of albums of childre ...
(1979–1985),
Steve Ferrone
Steve Ferrone (born 25 April 1950) is an English drummer. He is known as a member of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from 1994 to 2017, replacing original drummer Stan Lynch, and as part of the "classic lineup" of the Average Whi ...
(1985),
David Johansen
David Roger Johansen (sometimes spelled ''David Jo Hansen''; born January 9, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal proto-punk band the New York Dolls. He is also known for his work under ...
(performing as Buster Poindexter),
Tom Malone (who took over as musical director from 1981 to 1985), and
G. E. Smith
George Edward Smith (''né'' Haddad; born January 27, 1952) is an American guitarist. Smith was the lead guitarist for the duo Hall & Oates during the band's heyday from 1979 to 1985, playing on five number one singles. After Hall & Oates went i ...
(musical director from 1985 to 1995). As of 2017, the band is under the leadership of
Tower of Power
Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the b ...
alumnus
Lenny Pickett
Lenny Pickett (born April 10, 1954) is an American saxophonist and musical director of the ''Saturday Night Live'' band. From 1973 to 1981 he was a member of Tower of Power.
He is known for his skill in the altissimo register (executed by using ...
, keyboardist
Leon Pendarvis
Leroy Leon Pendarvis (born 1945) is an American session musician. He plays keyboards and is a background vocalist. He is also an occasional guitarist. The artists he has worked with over the years include Bonnie Raitt on her ''Streetlights'' albu ...
, and Eli Brueggemann, who does not play in the band on the live show. The band plays instrumentals leading in and out of station breaks; affiliates who run no advertising during these interludes hear the band play complete songs behind a ''Saturday Night Live'' bumper graphic until the program resumes. The band plays "Closing Theme (Waltz in A)", written by Shore, at the end of the show.
Production
The studio
Since the show's inception, ''SNL'' has aired from Studio 8H, located on floors 8 and 9 of the Comcast Building (formerly the
RCA Building
30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1933, the 66-s ...
and
GE Building
30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1933, the 66-s ...
, now
30 Rockefeller Plaza
30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1933, the 66 ...
or "30 Rock"). The studio had originally been used as a radio
soundstage
A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a soundproof, large structure, building, or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or ...
for
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...
and the
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Tosca ...
. Michaels was dumbfounded when he originally inspected Studio 8H in 1975, and found it technically limited, outdated, in need of repair, and lacking the capacity to host a live show. Michaels demanded that NBC executives rebuild the studio and improve the acoustics to accommodate the intended musical acts, at a cost of approximately $300,000. Three of the shows of the 1976–77 season were shot at the former
NBC Studios in Brooklyn, due to
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
using Studio 8H for
presidential election
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The pre ...
coverage.
During the summer 2005 shooting hiatus, crews began renovations on Studio 8H. With its thirty-first season premiere in October 2005, the show began broadcasting in
high-definition television
High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...
, appearing
letterboxed
Letterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting videographic image has mattes (black bars) above and below ...
on conventional television screens. The offices of ''SNL'' writers, producers, and other staff can be found on the 17th floor of "30 Rock".
Creating an episode
Production on an ''SNL'' episode will normally start on a Monday with a free-form pitch meeting
between the cast, writers, producers, including Michaels and the guest host in Michaels's office over two hours. The host is invited to pitch ideas during this meeting. Although some sketch writing may occur on the day, the bulk of the work revolves around pitching ideas. Tuesday is the only day dedicated purely to writing the scripts, a process that usually extends through the night into the following morning. Writing may not begin until 8 p.m. on Tuesday. At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the sketches are read by the cast during a round-table meeting in the writers room,
attended by the writers and producers present during the pitch meeting, technical experts such as make-up artists, who may be required to realize certain sketch ideas such as those using prosthetics, and other producers, resulting in an attendance of approximately fifty people. At this point, there may be at least forty sketch ideas that are read-through in turn, lasting upwards of three hours.
After completion of the read-through, Michaels, the head writer, the guest host, and some of the show producers will move to Michaels' office to decide the layout of the show and decide which of the sketches will be developed for air. Once complete, the writers and cast are allowed into Michaels's office to view the show breakdown and learn whether or not their sketch has survived. Sketches may be rewritten starting the same day, but will certainly commence on Thursday. Work focuses on developing and rewriting the remaining sketches and possibly rehearsals.
If a sketch is still scheduled beyond Thursday, it is rehearsed on Friday or Saturday before moving to a rehearsal before a live audience at 8 p.m., again on Saturday, before the live show.
After the rehearsal, Michaels will review the show lineup to ensure it meets a 90-minute length, and sketches that have made it as far as the live rehearsal may be removed. This often results in less than two days of rehearsal for the eight to twelve sketches that have made it to the stage that then may appear on the live broadcast. The opening monologue, spoken by the guest host, is given low priority and can be written as late as Saturday afternoon.
According to an interview with
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the ...
in 2004, the three- to four-member dedicated Weekend Update writing team will write jokes throughout the week. The host(s) of Weekend Update will normally not work with or read the scripts from the team until Thursday evening, after the main show sketches have been finalized. The host(s) will then work on contributing to the script where necessary. As of late 2017, Weekend Update now has its own separate writing staff dedicated to writing news jokes.
Post-production
With onsite facilities housed on floors eight and seventeen of Rockefeller Plaza, post-production duties on live broadcasts of ''Saturday Night Live'' include the mixing of audio and video elements by the Senior Audio Mixer, coupled with additional audio feeds consisting of music, sound effects, music scoring, and pre-recorded voiceovers. All sources are stored digitally, with shows captured and segregated into individual elements to reorganize for future repeats and syndication. The production tracking system was migrated from primarily
analog
Analog or analogue may refer to:
Computing and electronics
* Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable
** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals
*** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...
to
digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
**Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
in 1998, with live shows typically requiring 1.5 terabytes of storage, consisting of audio elements and five cameras' worth of visual elements.
Elements of ''Saturday Night Live'' that are pre-recorded, such as certain commercial parodies,
SNL Digital Shorts
An ''SNL'' Digital Short is one in a series of comedic and often musical video shorts created for NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''. The origin of the Digital Short brand is credited to staff writer Adam McKay, who created content for the show in c ...
, and show graphics are processed off-site in the post-production facilities of
Broadway Video
Broadway Video is an American multimedia entertainment studio founded by Lorne Michaels, creator of the sketch comedy TV series ''Saturday Night Live'' and producer of other television programs and movies. Broadway Video also held the rights to ...
.
Filming and photography
Studio 8H production facilities are maintained by NBC Production Services. As of 2018, the show uses five Sony HDC-1500 cameras, primarily mounted on
Vinten
Vinten is a brand of lightweight manual and robotic camera supports such as tripods, pedestals, pan and tilt heads, robotic heads, and robotic tracks, many of which are aimed at the television studio and outside broadcast markets. The brand was es ...
pedestals
A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...
, although one is mounted on a Chapman-Leonard Electra crane.
As of 2014, a
Grass Valley
A grass valley (also vega and valle) is a meadow located within a forested and relatively small drainage basin such as a headwater. Grass valleys are common in North America, where they are created and maintained principally by the work of b ...
GVG 4000-3 digital component production switcher and GVG 7000 digital component routing switcher are used to route visual feeds to the control room, with multiple digital and analog video recorders used to store footage. Graphics are provided by a
Chyron Lyric Pro character generator and an
Avid Deko character generator. Audio facilities consist of a Calrec T Series digitally controlled analog mixing console, and a
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to:
* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below).
** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
digital mixing console
In professional audio, a digital mixing console (DMC) is a type of mixing console used to combine, route, and change the dynamics, equalization and other properties of multiple audio input signals, using digital signal processing rather than an ...
used for tape playback support and utility audio work.
While exact budgets for other seasons are not known, the 39th season (2013–14) had a budget of over $70 million, for which it received a subsidy from New York State in the amount of $12.3 million.
As of 2009, the opening title sequence and opening montage is shot using the
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western can ...
and
Canon EOS 7D
The Canon EOS 7D is an APS-C digital single-lens reflex camera made by Canon. It was announced on 1 September 2009 with a suggested retail price of US$1,699. Among its features are an 18.0 effective megapixel CMOS sensor, HD video recording, its ...
digital SLR cameras. Typical elements are recorded at 30
fps
FPS may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* "F.P.S." (''Law & Order: Criminal Intent''), an episode of the TV show ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent''
* '' fps magazine'', a defunct magazine about animation
* ''The Fabulous Picture Show'', a televi ...
, with slow-motion sequences shot at 60 fps, both in full 1080p high definition.
Edie Baskin was the original ''SNL'' photographer. She was hired after Michaels saw her photographs of
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
and other work. Baskin helped create the opening title sequence for the show by taking photos of New York City at night. The first episode used publicity photos of host George Carlin as transitional
bumpers between the show and commercial breaks, the second episode used photos Baskin had already taken of host
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...
. It was then that Michaels suggested that Baskin photograph the hosts for the bumpers instead of using publicity photos, beginning a tradition that continues today.
Since 1999,
Mary Ellen Matthews
Mary Ellen Matthews is a photographer based in New York City and East Hampton, New York. She is best known for her photographs featured on the television sketch comedy and variety show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''); her portraits of the celeb ...
has been the official photographer of ''SNL'', responsible for devising distinctive photo layouts and aesthetics for still imagery used on the show. Matthews creates photo portraits of the hosts and musical guests of each episode which are used as commercial bumpers. The limited time frame between the host's involvement in the production process and the Live show requires Matthews to create makeshift photo studios on-site at 30 Rock, with Matthews attempting to shoot the host on Tuesday and the musical guest on Thursday, although the availability of either can mean the photoshoot for both occurs as late as Thursday.
Matthews employs flattering portrait lighting with
hard lights to achieve a Hollywood style. On the lighting, Matthews commented: "I think it just helps the image pop off the screen ... If you use soft or flat lighting, it becomes not as dimensional ... The
lassic Hollywood lighting
Lassic (died 1863) also called, Las-sic, Las-Sic, Lasseck and Lassux in various military reports and newspaper articles at the time, was a Wailaki leader during the Bald Hills War.
Wailaki Leader in the Bald Hills War
During the 1859-1862 peri ...
gives a little more contrast, and if I use edge lights and then light the background, it goes farther and farther back. I try to achieve that depth as much as I can."
Matthews is also responsible for taking cast photos, behind-the-scenes images, documenting rehearsals, and promotional photos. As of 2010, she has also been involved in directing videos, including the show title sequence.
Broadcast
![SNL stage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/SNL_stage.jpg)
The show begins at 11:29:30 p.m.
Eastern Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...
, and is scheduled for a 93-minute timeslot ending at 1:02 a.m.
For most of ''SNLs history, it aired live only to NBC stations in the Eastern and
Central Time Zones, with all others receiving a recorded broadcast at the normal start time of late-night network programming (11:30 p.m.
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
and 10:30 p.m. in other time zones). Since 2017, the show is broadcast live across the contiguous United States. Because the show airs outside of the
safe harbor outside of Eastern and Central Time, a brief
broadcast delay
In radio and television, broadcast delay is an intentional delay when broadcasting live material, technically referred to as a deferred live. Such a delay may be to prevent mistakes or unacceptable content from being broadcast. Longer delays las ...
is installed to meet
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
regulations of primetime programming.
Outside of the contiguous United States, the show also airs live on the three NBC stations in
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
at 7:30 p.m. local. Two NBC stations still broadcast ''SNL'' on tape-delay:
KHNL
KHNL (channel 13) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate KGMB (channel 5) and Kailua-Kona–licensed Telemundo affi ...
in
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
delays it one hour to 7:30 p.m.; and
KUAM-TV
KUAM-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Hagåtña (Agana), Guam, serving the U.S. territory as an affiliate of NBC and CBS. Owned by Pacific Telestations, LLC, it is sister to the local public access cable channel Local 2. KUAM-TV's stud ...
in
Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
, where the live broadcast occurs at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, delays it to 11 p.m.
Since the first opening in 1975 with Michael O'Donoghue, Chevy Chase, and John Belushi, the show has normally begun with a
cold open
A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Ameri ...
sketch which ends with one or more cast members
breaking character
In theatre (especially in the illusionistic Western tradition), breaking character occurs when an actor ceases to maintain the illusion that they are identical with the character they are portraying. This is a more acceptable occurrence while in ...
and proclaiming "
Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!
"Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" is a famous phrase typically featured on the American sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', which runs on the NBC broadcast network. It is generally used as a way to end a cold opening sketch and lea ...
", followed by the opening credits.
From May 1985 to April 1991, ''SNL'' was occasionally preempted for ''
Saturday Night's Main Event
''Saturday Night's Main Event'' is an American professional wrestling television program that is produced by WWE (known at the time of launch as the World Wrestling Federation). Premiering in 1985, it originally aired on NBC in the United Stat ...
''.
In February 2013, NBC began airing shortened hour-long repeats on select Saturday evenings at 10 p.m. Eastern Time during the regular season (these may be preempted due to the live airing happening in primetime on the west coast); the episodes scheduled were sometimes rebroadcasts of the previous week's episode if it was a first-run broadcast. Since the 2014–15 season, the show's 40th anniversary, the prime time rebroadcasts have been a selection of episodes from throughout the show's run under the title ''SNL Vintage''.
NBC and Broadway Video both hold the underlying rights to the show, while the copyright to every episode lies either with NBC or
Universal Television
Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predeces ...
. From 1990 until 2004, and again since 2015,
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
and its predecessor
Ha! aired reruns of the series, after which
E! signed a deal to carry reruns. Abbreviated thirty- and sixty-minute versions of the first five seasons aired as ''The Best of Saturday Night Live'' in syndication (from
Orion Television
Orion () may refer to:
Common meanings
* Orion (constellation), named after the mythical hunter
* Orion (mythology), a hunter in Greek mythology
* Orion (spacecraft), NASA crew vehicle first launched in 2022
Arts and media
Fictional en ...
; at the time, the FCC's
fin-syn
The Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, widely known as the fin-syn rules, were a set of rules imposed by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States in 1970. The FCC sought to prevent the Big Three television networks from mon ...
rules prevented NBC from directly distributing reruns of the show) beginning in the 1980s, and later on
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...
in 1988. In September 2010, reruns of most episodes made from 1998 onward began airing on
VH1
VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...
. Starting in February 2016, VH1 and Comedy Central's sister channel
Logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...
began airing reruns of 2006-onward episodes on Sunday nights, launching its broadcast as counterprogramming for
Super Bowl 50
Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) cha ...
and branding it the "Live From New York, It's Satur-Gay Night!" marathon.
On March 16, 2017, NBC announced it would air the final four episodes of the
42nd season live in all mainland U.S. time zones for the first time, creating a communal experience across the states. NBC executive
Robert Greenblatt
Robert Greenblatt (born 1959/1960) is an American television executive, former Chairman of NBC Entertainment and former Chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment. He has since launched his production company, The Green Room
Early life and educatio ...
explained the show's significant viewership had made it part of the "national conversation", and thus they felt it would be appropriate for the entire country to be "in on the joke at the same time".
NBC announced on September 19, 2017, that all the
43rd season's episodes would air live coast-to-coast in the U.S. Seasons 44, 45, 46 and 47 have followed suit.
NBC announced that the May 8, 2021, episode hosted by
Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...
would be livestreamed on YouTube worldwide for the first time.
Delays
The episode scheduled for October 25, 1986, hosted by Rosanna Arquette, was not aired until November 8 due to Major League Baseball on NBC, NBC broadcasting Game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox; the four-hour game entered extra innings (with the Mets overcoming a two-run deficit to win), causing that night's broadcast of ''SNL'' to be canceled. The show was recorded for the studio audience starting at 1:30 AM Eastern Time and broadcast two weeks later with a jocular "apology" by Mets pitcher Ron Darling.
The episode scheduled for February 10, 2001, hosted by Jennifer Lopez, aired 45 minutes late due to an XFL (2001), XFL game. Lopez and the cast were not told they were airing on a delay. Michaels was so upset by the delay the episode was rerun a mere three weeks later. The fledgling football league ended up changing their rules in order to speed up play, and a deal was reached where the feed to future games would be cut off (if the episode is airing Live)—whether the game had been decided or not—when ''SNL'' started, so that no such incident would happen again.
The November 7, 2020, episode, hosted by Dave Chappelle (the first episode after 2020 presidential elections), began at 12:10 a.m. Eastern after a 2020 Clemson Tigers football team, Clemson-2020 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, Notre Dame college football game went into double overtime.
International versions
Because ''SNL'' has been a huge success in the United States, channels in other countries have created their own versions of the show, including Germany, Egypt, Spain, South Korea, Japan, Russia, Canada, Finland, France, Italy, and Poland.
In the mid-late 1980s, Channel 4, Channel Four, in association with London Weekend Television, created a show for British audiences called ''Saturday Live (British TV programme), Saturday Live'' and ''Friday Night Live'', the repeat version was entitled "Saturday Almost Live". It was based on the ''SNL'' format but had no direct connection to the US program.
A German version of ''SNL'' named ''RTL Samstag Nacht'' aired between 1993 and 1998 on RTL Television. Most episodes were hosted by German celebrities, however, some shows were hosted by American personalities who never hosted the American version, including Mel Brooks and Michael Winslow. Due to language barriers, they appeared only in opening monologues and in a limited number of sketches.
''SNL'' in its original American version has aired in Israel since the early 2000s and is broadcast by satellite provider Yes (Israel), yes. There was a local SNL-based show named ''Am Israel Hai'' (People of Israel Live) back in 2002 but it was canceled after one season. Another SNL-esque Israeli show, ''Eretz Nehederet'' (A Wonderful Country), debuted in 2003 and continues to garner high ratings.
''SNL'' also airs in the Middle East and North Africa, OSN First HD every Saturday night, one week after it airs in the U.S.
In India and Sri Lanka, ''Saturday Night Live!'' airs on Comedy Central India, Comedy Central, in an hour-long version, one week after the U.S. broadcast.
Spain's version of the show was short-lived, lasting a few episodes which aired on Thursdays and not Saturdays as the title suggested. This version copied heavily from the American version, as they did their own versions of sketches already done on the original series.
Italy's ''Saturday Night Live From Milan'' aired for four seasons and used original material.
On December 3, 2011, South Korea's ''Saturday Night Live Korea, SNL Korea'' premiered on cable channel TVN (South Korea), tvN. As of 11 November 2017, has completed nine seasons with 205 episodes.
The Japanese version ''Saturday Night Live JPN'', which ran for six months in 2011, was created in part with sponsor The Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola and Lorne Michaels's production company, Broadway Video, and broadcast on Fuji TV networks. The show followed the same format with a few minor differences, being only 45 minutes long and hosted by a permanent host. The cast was made up of seasoned comedians who take center stage and newcomers who play the background roles. It was broadcast once a month, and ended after six episodes, as planned from the start.
In 2013, the Russian channel NTV (Russia), NTV aired the ''SNL'' adaptation entitled ''Суббота. Вечер. Шоу'' (''Saturday. Evening. Show'') and produced by Endemol's Weit Media. Unlike other international versions, it was not broadcast live. Due to low ratings and negative reviews, the third episode was pulled from the schedule. The remaining six episodes eventually aired in January 2014, but without any announcements and under a different title: ''Сегодня. Вечер. Шоу'' (''Today. Evening. Show''). Reruns of the adaptation were aired at night on NTV throughout the first half of 2015.
In 2014, two ninety-minute specials were broadcast in French on Télé-Québec in the Canadian province of Quebec under the title ''SNL Québec''; the specials were broadcast on February 8 and March 22, 2014. Hosted by Louis-José Houde and Stéphane Rousseau, it is the same format and length as the original ''SNL'' series. Certain sketches from the original program, such as Debbie Downer and Schweddy Balls, were adapted into French, while other sketches were original material written directly for the Quebec series. On May 13, 2014, ''SNL Quebec'' was renewed for another eight episodes to be broadcast monthly over the 2014–15 season ending with a "Best of" compilation. Télé-Québec announced in May 2015 the series would not be renewed due to funding cutbacks,
["SNL Québec victime des compressions à Télé-Québec"]
CBC News, Radio-Canada, March 3, 2015. and Ici Radio-Canada Télé subsequently signed the show's production team and cast to produce a new series, ''Le nouveau show'', for that network.
The French channel M6 (TV channel), M6 launched the pilot episode of its ''SNL'' adaptation, ''Le Saturday Night Live'', in January 2017.
The Polish division of Showmax video-on-demand streaming service launched the first season of its ''SNL'' adaptation, ''SNL Polska'' on December 2, 2017. The show received mixed-to-negative reviews.
On December 10, 2021, Deadline reported that Sky One is currently working on the UK version of Saturday Night Live.
U.S. television ratings
The show's ratings increased steadily for several years after its debut, reaching their highest point in the fifth season. Ratings entered into a period of decline after that, never again reaching those heights, but had rebounded enough by the early 1990s to make the 1992–93 season the fifth-highest rated in the show's history. Since then, ratings have trended steadily lower. As of 2018, thirteen of the show's lowest-rated seasons occurred in the 2000s. The show's ratings have often experienced temporary spikes during U.S. presidential election years.
Reception
In 2002, ''SNL'' was ranked tenth on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, ''TV Guide''s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time,
while in 2007 it was honored with inclusion on ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine's list of "100 Best TV Shows of All-''TIME''".
In June 2013, the show was placed at number 25 on the list of the 101 best written shows of all time by the Writers Guild of America, assessing series from the previous seventy years.
In December 2013, ''TV Guide'' ranked it #18 on their list of the 60 Greatest Shows of All Time. A 2015 ''The Hollywood Reporter'' survey of 2,800 actors, producers, directors, and other industry people named ''SNL'' as their #7 favorite show.
It is currently the 40th longest running television show in the U.S.
In 2016, a ''New York Times'' study of the fifty television shows with the most Facebook likes found that ''SNL'' "is very much an urban show. It is most popular in cities throughout the country, and college towns. Amherst, Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass.; Madison, Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.; and Ithaca, New York, Ithaca, N.Y. are all among the top 10."
Some critics have cautioning that the show is too dependent upon visiting guest actors and former ''SNL'' cast members—particularly for its impersonations of prominent politicians in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election races—and is beginning to have difficulty producing relevant, truly funny content.
Accolades
![Lorne Michaels and the cast of Saturday Night Live at the 68th Annual Peabody Awards for Political Satire 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Lorne_Michaels_and_the_cast_of_Saturday_Night_Live_at_the_68th_Annual_Peabody_Awards_for_Political_Satire_2008.jpg)
''Saturday Night Live'' has won numerous awards since its debut, including 93
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
s, six
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949.
Eligibility
Th ...
s, and three
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
s. In 2009, it received a total of 13 Emmy nominations for a lifetime total of 126, breaking the record for the most award-nominated show in Primetime Emmy Award history, previously set with 124 by hospital drama ''ER (TV series), ER''.
As of September 2022, it has received a record total of 305 Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Twenty-five cast members have received individual Primetime Emmy Award nominations in the show's history. These nominations were mostly in the category of Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program before that award was discontinued; since then, nominations have been in the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, Supporting Actor and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, Supporting Actress categories for comedy series. Of the 54 total nominations for these twenty-five performers, four have won:
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...
(1976),
Gilda Radner
Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian, and one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). In he ...
(1978),
Dana Carvey
Dana Thomas Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his seven seasons as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1986 to 1993, which earned him fiv ...
(1993), and Kate McKinnon (2016, 2017). In addition,
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nichol ...
received two Emmy nominations, winning once in 2017, for his recurring guest role as Donald Trump.
Electoral effect
''SNL'' has also affected American elections—most commonly presidential elections. Voters have reported that political sketches shown on the program influenced them in the voting booth. The so-called ''SNL'' Effect was observed during the 2008 United States presidential election, 2008 presidential campaign, according to Mike Dabadie. Two-thirds of voters who responded to a poll said they had seen a broadcast of politically charged content on ''SNL'', with ten percent saying it had made a difference in their decision. Barack Obama was the beneficiary of the political content, with 59 percent saying they did in fact cast a vote for the Democratic then-nominee.
Chevy Chase's bumbling impression of then-president Gerald Ford during the 1976 presidential election was cited as an influence on the election, and a quote commonly attributed to 2008 vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin stating "I can see Russia from my house" was actually spoken by ''SNL'' cast member Tina Fey while portraying Palin.
The political content was abandoned briefly following the September 11 attacks, September 11, 2001, terrorist attack in New York, with Amy Poehler saying the writers did not want to produce politicized material.
Several politicians have appeared on ''SNL'', including President Gerald Ford (in 1976, during the show's first season), then-Senator Barack Obama (2007), Senator John McCain (2002 and 2008), Senator Hillary Clinton (2008 and 2015), and Governor Sarah Palin (2008), who appeared alongside Fey's Palin impression, resulting in the show's largest audience in fourteen years with fourteen million viewers.
Senator Obama's appearance occurred in part because Hillary Clinton abandoned her scheduled appearance.
Donald Trump hosted the show in 2015, which was met with controversy from a Latino PAC.
Controversies
Due to the show's live television, live broadcast, a vast number of technical problems, performer mishaps, intentional acts of sabotage by performers, protests, and cuts to dead air have occurred throughout the show's run. One incident that garnered widespread media coverage was the October 3, 1992, appearance by singer Sinéad O'Connor, in which she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II during her performance.
On April 13, 1996, the alternative metal band Rage Against the Machine made a statement about the host, billionaire and presidential candidate Steve Forbes, by hanging two Flag desecration#Flying a U.S. flag upside down, upside-down American flags from their amplifiers. On October 23, 2004, Ashlee Simpson appeared as a musical guest, during which a mishap occurred as a result of her lip synching her second song to a backup vocal track. Her first performance, "Pieces of Me (song), Pieces of Me", was performed without incident, but when she began her second song, "Autobiography (Ashlee Simpson album), Autobiography", the vocals for "Pieces of Me" were heard again through the speakers, even before she had raised the microphone to her mouth. Simpson began to do an impromptu jig and then became the only musical act in the show's history to leave the stage. At the goodnights at the close of the show, Simpson explained that her band played the wrong song.
Representations of minorities
Over the years, ''SNL'' has been criticized for its perceived stereotypical and sparse representation of racial and gender groups. A 2016 study of ''SNL'' episodes from 1975 to 2016 (826 total) revealed over 90% of episodes had white hosts, while 6.8% were black, 1.2% were Hispanic, and 1.1% were of another racial minority.
Chris Rock
Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and filmmaker. Known for his work in comic film, television and stage, he has received multiple accolades, including three Grammy Awards for best come ...
indicated he grew frustrated with being limited to sketches where he played stereotypical roles such as a rapper or Black political activist, and left the show to perform on ''In Living Color'', which featured a mostly Black cast and would offer Rock more creative freedom. When longtime cast member
Kenan Thompson
Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. He was also th ...
suggested in 2013 that female African-American representation was low because producers were not finding such comediennes who were "ready", media outlets countered it was ''SNL'' that was not ready, and the racial disparity "is symptomatic of problems deeply rooted in comedy and the entertainment industry at large".
The same year, Thompson refused to play any more black women on the show and demanded ''SNL'' hire black women instead.
''SNL'' has had "little representation from Asian actors, as cast members or hosts", in its run.
Until Bowen Yang's promotion from writer to on-air performer, there had only been three people of Asian descent in the cast:
Fred Armisen
Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series ''Portlandia''. He ...
(2002–2013) had a Korean grandfather; Rob Schneider (1988–1994) had a Filipino people, Filipina grandmother; and Nasim Pedrad (2009–2014) was born in Tehran, Iran.
In the first forty-seven seasons, the show had seven hosts who were of Asian descent: Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu in 2000; Aziz Ansari and Kumail Nanjiani in 2017; Awkwafina in 2018; Sandra Oh in 2019; and Simu Liu in 2021.
Denny Dillon was the first gay cast member in the 1980–81 season, but was in the closet at the time. Terry Sweeney was ''SNL''s first Coming out, openly gay male cast member, appearing in the 1985–1986 season, although he was not hired by
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...
. Sweeney was also the first openly gay series regular on network television. John Milhiser was second, in the 2013–2014 cast.
Danitra Vance was also in the 1985–1986 cast but was Closeted, in the closet throughout her life. All four cast members left after one season. Before she was cast in 2012, Kate McKinnon had been openly gay, and was a cast member for the full run of
Logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...
's ''The Big Gay Sketch Show''.
and remained an ''SNL'' cast member until 2022. Molly Kearney became the first openly non-binary cast member in 2022.
Melissa Villaseñor joined as a featured player on the October 1, 2016, episode of ''SNL'', alongside Mikey Day and Alex Moffat (comedian), Alex Moffat. Villaseñor is the second Latina cast member after Noël Wells, who is a quarter Mexican, and the first Latina to be promoted to repertory status.
Bowen Yang is the sixth LGBTQ cast member in ''SNL'' history. Numerous news outlets noted the disconnect of Michaels hiring Yang, an out gay Chinese-American cast member, at the same time as Shane Gillis, who was found to have aired what was perceived as homophobic and Anti-Asian racism in the United States, anti-Asian jokes and slurs on his podcast.
Gillis issued what Vox (website), ''Vox'' and ''HuffPost'' characterized as a non-apology apology. Within days, a spokesperson for Michaels announced Gillis was fired due to the controversy.
Jake Weisman, co-star of
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
's ''Corporate'', says the absence of gay men in the cast is rooted in homophobia and bigotry. In March 2018, ''NewNowNext'' noted, "Even if the audience and writers have changed with the times—and even that's debatable—Lorne Michaels hasn't."
In other media
Home media
Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Lions Gate Entertainment hold video rights to the series. Universal has issued complete season DVD sets of the first few seasons, while Lionsgate's share of the rights is a result of prior contracts with NBC struck before the NBC Universal merger. A majority of Lionsgate's SNL DVDs are "Best Of..." compilations.
Books
''Saturday Night Live'', the first authorized book about the series, was published by Avon (publishers), Avon Books in 1977 and edited by
Anne Beatts
Anne Beatts (February 25, 1947 – April 7, 2021) was an American comedy writer.
Early life
Beatts was born in Buffalo, New York, to Sheila Elizabeth Jean (Sherriff-Scott) and Patrick Murray Threipland Beatts. She has described her parents as "b ...
and John Head, with photography by Edie Baskin; all three worked for ''SNL'' at the time the book was published. The oversized illustrated paperback included the scripts for several sketches by the 1975–80 cast. In 1986, Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad authored ''Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live'', a behind-the-scenes look at the first ten seasons. ''Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years'', by Michael Cader, was released in 1994 and presented information about the cast, characters, and other memorable moments seen on the show from 1975 to 1994.
''Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests'' was released in 2002. The book, written by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, consists of interviews with people who have worked on the show. The interviews reveal personal experiences from what happened backstage and the difficulty of getting the show on air each week. In 2004, former cast member Jay Mohr released his memoir ''Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live'' about his struggles during his two seasons on the show between 1993 and 1995, dealing with getting sketches on-air and the intense work schedule. Former cast member Bobby Moynihan described the book as "a handbook on what NOT to do at ''SNL''".
Films
''SNL'' has made several efforts to develop some of the more popular sketches into feature-length films, with varying degrees of commercial and critical success. The first foray into film came with the successful Aykroyd and Belushi vehicle, ''
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respective ...
'' (1980), which earned over $115 million on a $27 million budget.
In 1990, Michaels oversaw the writing of a sketch anthology feature film titled ''The Saturday Night Live Movie'' with many of the show's then-current writing staff, including
Al Franken
Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He gained fame as a writer and performer on the television comed ...
,
Tom Davis,
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin Daniels (born June 13, 1963) is an American screenwriter, television producer, and director. He has worked on several television series, including writing for ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''The Simpsons'', adapting ''The Office'' f ...
,
Jim Downey,
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (19 ...
,
Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, producer, and puppeteer, known for his ''Saturday Night Live'' " TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behind Triumph the Insult Comic D ...
, and George Meyer, contributing. The screenplay only got as far as a Revised First Draft dated July 26, 1990, before being abandoned.
The success of ''Wayne's World'' (1992) encouraged Michaels to produce more film spin-offs, based on several popular sketch characters. Michaels revived 1970s characters for ''Coneheads (film), Coneheads'' (1993), followed by ''It's Pat'' (1994); ''Stuart Saves His Family'' (1995); ''A Night at the Roxbury'' (1998), ''Superstar (1999 film), Superstar'' (1999), and ''The Ladies Man (2000 film), The Ladies Man'' (2000). Some did moderately well, though others did not—notably, ''It's Pat'', which did so badly at the box office the studio that made the film, Touchstone Pictures (owned by The Walt Disney Company, which also owns NBC's rival
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
), pulled it only one week after releasing it, and ''Stuart Saves His Family'', which lost $14 million. Many of these films were produced by
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
. The films based on ''The Blues Brothers'' were produced by Universal Studios, which merged with NBC in 2004 to form NBCUniversal, NBC Universal (Universal also has a United International Pictures, joint venture with Paramount for international distribution of the two studios' films).
The character Bob Roberts from the Tim Robbins Bob Roberts, film of the same name (1992) first appeared on ''SNL'' in a short film about the conservative folk singer.
In addition, the 1999 comedy film ''Office Space'' originated from a series of animated short films by Mike Judge that aired on ''SNL'' in 1993.
The fictitious American folk music trio The Folksmen first appeared on ''SNL'', performing the song "Old Joe's Place" before later appearing in the film ''A Mighty Wind'' (2002). The three members of the Folksmen were the same three comedians: Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest, who also appeared on the same episode as the rock group Spinal Tap (band), Spinal Tap. At the time of the appearance (the 1984–85 season), Shearer and Guest were cast members.
''Mr. Bill's Real Life Adventures'' is based on the Mr. Bill sketches from early seasons of ''SNL''.
Commercials
Over the years popular characters from the show have appeared in ad campaigns for an assortment of products.
Music
In 2005, the comedy troupe The Lonely Island, consisting of ''SNL'' members
Andy Samberg
Andy Samberg (born David A. J. Samberg; August 18, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer and screenwriter. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island and was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2005 ...
, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, gained national exposure after joining the show and debuting their comedic music video "Lazy Sunday (The Lonely Island song), Lazy Sunday", written with fellow cast member
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher Parnell (; born February 5, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1998 to 2006 and played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on ''30 Rock''. In animation, he voices Cyril Figgis ...
. The song became a surprise hit,
and convinced Michaels to encourage the troupe to develop more comedy songs. Further successes with songs including "Like a Boss", "Jizz in My Pants", "I'm on a Boat", "Incredibad, We Like Sportz", "Incredibad, Boombox", and "Dick in a Box"—which won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in 2007
—saw The Lonely Island go on to release two albums, ''Incredibad'' (2009)
and ''Turtleneck & Chain'' (2011), containing ''SNL''-developed songs and original works. The albums were released by Universal Republic Records who were provided with a license to the ''SNL'' songs by NBC and Broadway Video.
A cast album was released in 1976 on the Arista label including the song "Chevy's Girls" and comedy bits from the show (Weekend Update, "Emily Litella", "Gun Control"); it was later re-issued on CD and MP3 download.
Other
Several programs have documented the behind-the-scenes events of the show. A ''60 Minutes'' report taped in October 2004 depicted the intense writing frenzy that goes on during the week leading up to a show, with crowded meetings and long hours. The report particularly noted the involvement of the guest host(s) in developing and selecting the sketches in which they will appear. Similarly, there has been an A&E Network, A&E episode of ''Biography (TV series), Biography'' which covered the production process, as well as an episode of ''TV Tales'' in 2002 on
E!. In 2010, Saturday Night (2010 film), ''Saturday Night'', a 94-minute documentary by actor James Franco in his directorial debut, was released; it follows the production process of the December 6, 2008, episode hosted by John Malkovich, from the concept stage to the episode actually airing live. Although it originated as a five-minute short film for Franco's New York University film class, Michaels granted Franco access to the process, allowing the project to be expanded.
On February 15, 2015, NBC aired a -hour special on ''Saturday Night Live''s 40th anniversary. The program included a mix of clips, new performances of classic characters from previous cast members, and special guest appearances from previous hosts.
In September 2011, ice cream company Ben & Jerry's released a limited-edition ice cream called "Schweddy Balls", inspired by a 1998 sketch of the same name starring Alec Baldwin, Ana Gasteyer, and
Molly Shannon
Molly Helen Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress and comedian who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2001. In 2017, she won the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ...
.
According to the company, the ice cream became their fastest-selling limited-edition flavor. The ice cream was also subject to criticism and boycotts by One Million Moms, a project of the American Family Association, over the "vulgar" name.
Some retail chains chose not to sell the flavor, but declined to say if the decision was at their own discretion or based on the One Million Moms boycotts.
In June 2014, two new flavors inspired by SNL sketches were introduced—''Lazy Sunday (The Lonely Island song), Lazy Sunday'', based on a sketch of the same name featuring Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell, and ''Gilly's Catastrophic Crunch'' based on the recurring ''Gilly (Saturday Night Live)#Gilly, Gilly'' sketches featuring Kristen Wiig. ''Two Wild and Crazy Pies'', based on the catchphrase of the recurring Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches introduced 1977–1978#The Festrunk Brothers ("Two Wild and Crazy Guys!"), Festrunk Brothers, was introduced in September 2014, followed by ''Wayne'Swirled'', which was inspired by the eponymous Wayne's World in February 2015.
See also
* ''Saturday Live (British TV programme), Saturday Live/Friday Night Live'' (a British television comedy show with a similar format)
References
Notes
Bibliography
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Further reading
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External links
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Official Broadway Video webpage''Saturday Night Live'' video archiveat Yahoo! Screen
*
{{Portal bar, Comedy, Television, United States
Saturday Night Live,
1970s American late-night television series
1970s American political comedy television series
1970s American satirical television series
1970s American sketch comedy television series
1970s American variety television series
1975 American television series debuts
1980s American late-night television series
1980s American political comedy television series
1980s American satirical television series
1980s American sketch comedy television series
1980s American variety television series
1990s American late-night television series
1990s American political comedy television series
1990s American satirical television series
1990s American sketch comedy television series
1990s American variety television series
2000s American late-night television series
2000s American political comedy television series
2000s American satirical television series
2000s American sketch comedy television series
2000s American variety television series
2010s American late-night television series
2010s American political comedy television series
2010s American satirical television series
2010s American sketch comedy television series
2010s American variety television series
2020s American late-night television series
2020s American political comedy television series
2020s American satirical television series
2020s American sketch comedy television series
2020s American variety television series
American live television series
American news parodies
American television series with live action and animation
American television shows featuring puppetry
English-language television shows
NBC original programming
Peabody Award-winning television programs
Television franchises
Political satirical television series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Series winners
Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series
Saturday mass media
Television series by Broadway Video
Television series by Universal Television
Television shows filmed in New York City