Saturday Night Live

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Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late-night ninety-minute live comedy-variety show which has been broadcasted every Saturday night on the American NBC network since 1975. It is one of the longest-running network entertainment programs in American television history, second only to the 50-season (and counting) run of The Tonight Show.

Each week, the show's cast is joined by a guest host and a musical act, forming a repertory company for the week. SNL's ever-changing cast list is a veritable 'Who's Who' of comedy and the show has been the launching place for some of the biggest American comedy stars of the last thirty years.

The list of major stars who had career-making stints on SNL includes John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd (The Blues Brothers), Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer (This Is Spinal Tap), Eddie Murphy, Martin Short, Dana Carvey and Mike Myers (Wayne's World), Chris Farley, David Spade, Chris Rock and Adam Sandler. Although all these actors went on to successful film or TV careers, some died tragically young, notably Belushi and Farley (from drug abuse), Radner (cancer) and Phil Hartman, who was the victim of a murder/suicide orchestrated by his wife.

Contents

The show's structure

The show usually follows a standard format. It opens with a sketch --known as the 'cold intro' -- which begins without any announcement or titles, often features a political parody and always ends with someone saying "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" (however some season premiere episodes have the spiel "Live from New York, for the (number of season)-st or -th year, it's Saturday Night!"), followed by the segue into the opening credits, which usually opens with a shot of the Statue of Liberty. Next is the opening monologue performed by the guest host(s), often followed by a TV commercial parody. The show continues with more comedy skits (sketches might feature recurring characters, running gags, celebrity impersonations, movie and TV spoofs, and skits parodying the news issues of the day), followed by a performance by the guest musical act. More recent shows have the second act divided by an animated short by Robert Smigel. The news parody segment Weekend Update marks the show's midway point. The second half of the program continues with more sketches, and in some cases a second performance by the musical guest. Some shows also feature filmed segments, often featuring cast members, or it may feature independent film shorts.

History

The Seventies

In 1974, NBC Tonight Show host Johnny Carson wanted the weekend broadcasts of “Best of Carson” to end. To fill the gap, the network drew up some ideas for new shows, and decided to bring in young Canadian producer, Lorne Michaels. He was given studio 8H, which was built in the 1930s for performances by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra.

The original concept was for a comedy-variety show featuring young comedians, live musical performances, short films by Albert Brooks, and more esoteric material like segments by Jim Henson featuring his Muppets. Rather than have one permanent host Michaels elected to have a different guest host each week.

When the first show aired on October 11, 1975, with George Carlin as its host, it was called NBC's Saturday Night, because ABC featured a program at the same time titled Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. When the ABC program went off the air, the NBC program changed its name to Saturday Night Live.

The original (1975-1980) repertory company was called the “Not Ready for Prime-Time Players”; this was a reference to Cosell's show, which featured “The Primetime Players,” a group which ironically included future SNL cast member Bill Murray.

From Lorne Michaels down, SNL has always had strong links to Canada, and often draws new cast members from the Canadian comedy scene — particularly the famous Second City troupe, and more recently, the cult TV comedy groups Kids in the Hall and Upright Citizens Brigade — as well as the Los Angeles comedy group The Groundlings.

The first cast included Second City alumni Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase (whose trademark became his usual falls and opening spiel that ushered in the show's opening), John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and Garrett Morris. Bill Murray replaced Chase in 1977, after Chase left to pursue a movie career. Paul Shaffer was the musical director for the show from 1975 to 1980 and also appeared in many sketches. The original theme music was written by Howard Shore, who years later became an Academy Award-winning composer.

Two notable “featured players” on the show included writer Al Franken, who later became famous as a political author and satirist, and (for the 1979-80 season) Harry Shearer, who later acted in several films and television series, including The Simpsons. The show also featured frequent guest appearances by comedians Steve Martin and Andy Kaufman.

Michaels fought and cajoled network executives to accept his vision for the show, which was far removed from standard variety-show conventions (one executive, visiting a dress rehearsal, noticed that the band was in blue jeans and asked when their tuxedos would arrive). Before the show began Michaels had remarked that he knew what the “ingredients [of SNL] would be, but not the proportions,” and that the show would have to “find itself” on-air. Indeed, the Not Ready for Primetime Players were hardly featured in the premiere, but quickly became the focus of the show, with the guest host and musical act playing a secondary role. Albert Brooks and the Muppets were also dropped after the first season, but short films by writer Tom Schiller continued to be shown under the title “Schiller's Reel,” as well as the popular claymation segment Mr. Bill.

By its second season SNL developed into something of a television phenomenon. It was, in many ways, the first show of its kind to appeal to a younger audience, making it very attractive to advertisers. Recurring characters and catch-phrases (see below) soon entered the popular vernacular, and the cast was often described as “The Beatles of comedy.” It was also one of America's only mainstream national TV shows that consistently featured topical political satire.

Aykroyd and Belushi departed after the 1978-1979 season and subsequently found worldwide fame in the movie version of the Blues Brothers sketch. Belushi famously died of drug-related causes in 1982. Lorne Michaels quit the show at the end of the fifth season and the rest of the original cast and the entire writing staff followed.

The Eighties

For much of the decade SNL was in turmoil and many critics wrote the show off as a pale imitation of its former glory. Jean Doumanian took over the show for the 1980 season, hiring a completely new cast and new writers, but it was plagued by problems from the start, and was deemed disastrously unfunny by both critics and much of the viewing audience.

The first episode, renamed "Saturday Night Live 80" in the opening credits, appeared on November 15th, 1980. It featured an all-new cast. Charles Rocket, described as a cross between Chevy Chase and Bill Murray, was groomed to be the new break-out star. Denny Dillon, Gilbert Gottfried, Gail Matthius, Joe Piscopo, Ann Risley rounded out the new "Not Ready For Prime Time Players." Elliott Gould had agreed to host the first episode, assuming he would be working with the old cast. He was astonished when he reported to the studio and discovered that it was a different group of performers. Though he ended the show by standing on stage with the new cast and declaring "We're gonna be around forever," Elliott Gould would never host the show again.

The next episode, hosted by Malcolm McDowell, was notable only because Eddie Murphy made his network televison debut as an extra in a skit called "In Search Of The Negro Repubican" Murphy had his first speaking role two weeks later as Raheem Abdul Muhummad on "Weekend Update," and made such a positive impression that he would be called on for more in later episodes. Meanwhile, Jean Doumanian nearly lost her job before this episode went on. NBC executives were battling Doumanian's insistence to include a sketch portraying a nun who was not a virgin. Before Doumanian backed down, Network head Fred Silverman told the Standards department to repeat one of Lorne Michaels' shows, if necessary. The high point of the 1980-1981 season probably came with the Karen Black episode of January 17: it displayed the most consistant writing and performing. Murphy was soon raised to the status of full cast member, and Piscopo had established himself as a reliable commodity with such bits as his Frank Sinatra impression.

On February 21, hosted by Charlene Tilton (who filled in after her Dallas castmate Larry Hagman backed out), cast member Charles Rocket realized the network's greatest fear when he used the word “fuck” at the close of an episode. Rocket was fired, but despite this, appeared in the March 7 episode anyway. His performance was obviously affected by his termination. This was the last episode for Gilbert Gottfried, Mitchell Kriegman, Ann Risley, and Charles Rocket, and the first appearance of comedian Michael Davis. NBC, which had had enough, fired Doumanian. This period is now widely regarded as being the worst in the show's history.

It looked as if NBC might cancel the show (indeed, many nights the NBC aired sketch comedy show SCTV in its place), but SNL was given one more chance when Dick Ebersol was hired to replace Doumanian. Ebersol had been involved with the creation of the show, and fired all of the Doumanian cast except Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo. His first show aired April 11, and he planned to fill out Doumanian's season, but the rest of the season's episodes were called off due to a writer's strike. On the April 11 show Robin Duke, Tim Kazurinsky and Tony Rosato joined the cast. Ebersol originally wanted to bring in John Candy and Catherine O'Hara from "SCTV"; Candy turned down the offer and Tony Rosato joined SNL instead. O'Hara initially accepted, but she changed her mind after Michael O'Donoghue, brought in to rejuvenate the show, screamed at the cast about the season's poor writing. She suggested that fellow SCTV alumnus Robin Duke replace her. Emily Prager and Laurie Metcalf joined as featured players, but would not be retained after this single episode. Gail Matthius and Denny Dillon were also fired before the next seaon began - Eberson had wanted to fire Dillon all along, but could not afford a replacement for her.

Murphy had rarely been featured during Doumanian's tenure, but became a break-out star under Ebersol, and his soaring popularity helped restore the show's ratings. He created some of of the period's best characters, including the empty-headed former child movie star “Buckwheat”, and his irascible, life-size version of the Gumby toy character, complete with life-size star ego; he could also pull off an uncanny impression of Stevie Wonder (who, sportingly, appeared in a fake ad for Polaroid cameras). Piscopo also became popular and was a good Frank Sinatra impersonator. But unlike Murphy, who became a film superstar after leaving the series, Piscopo is one of the few lead players (along with Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Charles Rocket, Tim Kazurinsky, Jon Lovitz, Nora Dunn, Jan Hooks, Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, Tim Meadows, Jim Breuer, Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon) who has not enjoyed major post-SNL film or TV success.

The show was in constant flux during the early Eighties, and the cast changed significantly each year between 1981-82 and 1985-86. Some very notable names passed through, often staying for only one season, and while they may not have been able to especially distinguish themselves on SNL, many moved on to bigger and better things. The list of famous “transients” from this period includes future Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jim Belushi, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Rich Hall, Harry Shearer, Martin Short, Pamela Stephenson, Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr, Jon Lovitz, Randy Quaid and Damon Wayans.

For the 1984-1985 season, Ebersol brought in famous talents, rather than fresh faces, to add appeal to the show. These included two-time host Billy Crystal ("Soap"), Christopher Guest ("This Is Spinal Tap"), Rich Hall ("Not Necessarily The News"), Harry Shearer (from SNL's 1979 season), Martin Short ("SCTV") and Pamela Stephenson ("Superman III"). The 10th season is also best remembered for relying heavily on pre-taped content, including pre-recorded clips of Murphy performing without the rest of the cast.

Although his stay on SNL was short and reportedly unhappy, Shearer has since become something of a comedy legend — after linking with Christopher Guest and former Laverne & Shirley alumnus Michael McKean, they scored a huge comedy hit with the classic Rob Reiner rock “mock-umentary” This Is Spinal Tap; since its inception Shearer has been one of the mainstays of the globe-conquering animated classic The Simpsons, providing many key character voices including Mr Burns, Smithers and Kent Brockman.

Ebersol left the show after the 1984-1985 season, as did Murphy and Piscopo, but at this point the series was saved again when the erstwhile Lorne Michaels returned, after many pleas from NBC to bring the show back to its original charm. It took two more decidedly patchy years for the show to begin to return to more consistent form, but in the late Eighties SNL began to revive and gain renewed popularity, mainly thanks to Michaels' inspired casting decisions, vastly improved writing and increasingly on-target political satire and TV parodies.

With Michaels back at the helm, a strong new cast was assembled, led by Dana Carvey, Nora Dunn, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller and Kevin Nealon. Although the new lineup contained some of the best female actors since the show's early seasons, there were reportedly some dramatic behind-the-scenes ego battles, and tensions eventually forced some members out — notably Victoria Jackson, who has since been highly critical of Hooks and especially Dunn, who was romantically involved with Michaels at the time.

The urbane, smooth-voiced Hartman became one of the show's longest-serving cast members, born in Canada, he originally trained and worked as a graphic designer; among his credits is the band logo for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Turning to theatre, he became a member of The Groundlings, where he met Paul Reubens, which led to a featured role in Reubens' cult 80s kids TV show Pee-Wee's Playhouse. When he left SNL in 1994, he was (with Kevin Nealon) the equal longest-serving cast member in the show's history (8 seasons). He went on to TV success in the popular media sitcom News Radio, as well as appearing in many movies and providing character voices for numerous film and TV animations; his best remembered voice roles are in The Simpsons, in which he played inept lawyer Lionel Hutz and vain B-grade film “star” Troy McClure. Hartman's life was tragically cut short on May 28, 1998 when he was gunned down in his home by his cocaine-addicted wife Brynn, who then committed suicide. The incident is in the books as an “unsolved” case.

A major turning point came with the 1988-89 season and the recruitment of a young Canadian comic Mike Myers. A versatile and inventive comedian with a gift for accents and a lifelong love of Monty Python and British comedy, he introduced several classic characters including Streisand-loving cable chat show hostess “Linda Richman”, and ultra-pretentious German arts show host “Dieter”. He also formed a strong partnership with Carvey, which revisited the magic of the classic Aykroyd-Belushi pairing. Carvey and Myers created and performed one of SNL's most popular and successful recurring sketches, Wayne's World, which inspired two spin-off movies; it is also widely believed that Wayne and Garth were in effect “ripped off” for the characters of Bill and Ted in the strikingly similar Bill & Ted movies.

The shows in this period featured some of SNL's best loved recurring sketches and characters, including “Wayne's World”, the Schwarzenegger-like Austrian body-builders Hans and Franz (Carvey and Nealon). Carvey also gained renown for his his scowling, ultra-conservative “Church Lady” character and his impersonations of then US President George Bush Sr and presidential candidate Ross Perot. Another notable character from this period was Al Franken's “Stuart Smalley”, an insipid, neurotic, cardigan-wearing “self-help” adviser.

Bolstered by strong scripts penned by the writing team, Carvey's Bush and Perot impressions were a notable advance on earlier ventures in this vein, and they set a new benchmark for this aspect of the show's political satire. The best-remembered political impersonation from the '70s period was Chevy Chase's slapstick parody of President Gerald Ford, but Chase made no attempt to create an accurate impression of Ford's character or essay any in-depth political satire — his sketches simply lampooned Ford's renowned clumsiness and consisted of Chase falling down a lot.

Carvey's Bush and Perot parodies were far more sophisticated and his Bush send-up was so well received that the former President himself made a cameo appearance in one show, lightheartedly taking Carvey to task.

The Nineties

The early Nineties are sometimes referred to as SNL's “Bad Boys” period, with a number of strong new young male actors coming to the fore. The later Nineties witnessed a major revival and in many respects this period surpassed even the classic Seventies shows, thanks to a strong ensemble cast and superb writing, with an increasingly sharp focus on political satire.

Although many die-hard fans still hold the original cast to be the best, many others consider that the 1990s era was not only a vast improvement on the doldrums of the 80s but provided some of the strongest and most consistently funny programs to date. It was a fruitful period that led to many spin-offs, although late in the decade fans and cast alike were dismayed by the sudden firing of popular Weekend Update host Norm MacDonald and especially by the tragic deaths of former cast members Chris Farley and Phil Hartman.

The 1990-91 series showed further improvement and introduced a number of new regular and featured players who quickly became stars of the show — Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, David Spade and Julia Sweeney. Noted standup comedian Chris Rock also featured for two years. Another very significant debut during this time was SNL's first regular black female cast member, Ellen Cleghorne. Memorable characters and sketches from this period included Sweeney's “Pat”, Sandler's “Opera Man” and “Canteen Boy”, Schneider's annoying office geek “The Richmeister”, Hartman's brilliant take-offs of Bill Clinton and Charlton Heston and Spade's caustic commentary pieces “Spade In America” and “Hollywood Minute”.

Sandler and Farley soon became the most popular stars of the period. Farley possessed a surprising grace and his high-energy performances belied his heavy footballer build, but he was also not afraid to trade on his size for laughs — in one hilarious sketch he played, shirtless, opposite the trim and muscular Dirty Dancing star Patrick Swayze, as they portrayed unlikely rival auditionees for a position with the Chippendales male dance troupe. Another favourite Farley character was manic, thrice-divorced motivational speaker “Matt Foley”, whose technique mainly of yelling at his clients, whining about having to live “in a van… down by the river” and hurling himself around the room, demolishing everything in sight.

Farley idolised John Belushi, and they shared similar comedic strengths, but sadly it soon became tragically obvious that Farley was also plagued by similar personal demons. He left the show in 1995 and starred in successful movies like Tommy Boy (with David Spade) and Beverly Hills Ninja. But after leaving SNL he began abusing drugs heavily. By the time of his last SNL appearance, as a guest host in 1997, he was evidently in trouble — looking bloated, sweating profusely, he was grossly overweight and clearly unwell. He died from a cocaine-opium overdose a few months later, on December 17 1997, aged only 33.

Sandler was a talented self-taught musician and a former stage comic whose stand-up career had started after he accepted a dare from his brother to do an open mike spot at a local comedy club. He won many fans with the humourous self-penned ditties he performed on Weekend Update (e.g. “Red-Hooded Sweatshirt” and “Sex-Phone Lady”), as well as his famous and popular “Opera Man” and “Canteen Boy” characters.

Happily, and in stark contrast to the sad fate of his friend Chris Farley, Sandler became one of the world's most successful and popular comedy movie stars after leaving SNL, with a string of international hits to his credit including The Wedding Singer.

The 1991-92 season added another strong new element to the mix, re-introducing former staff writer and satirical animator Robert Smigel, whose earlier credits include the famous sketch starring William Shatner in which the actor attends a Star Trek convention and ends up berating the Trekkies and telling them to “get a life”. Smigel's semi-regular “TV Funhouse” segments (which interrupt the show's second act) have become both extremely popular and well-hated. They include a number of recurring cartoon sketches like “Fun With Real Audio” (which puts real sound recordings together with improbable animated action) and his hilarious super-hero parodies “The Ambiguously Gay Duo” and “The X-Presidents”.

The period between 1992 and 1996 provided the series its greatest controversies. For instance, in a 1992 show hosted by Tim Robbins, musical guest Sinead O'Connor, in anger, sang an a capella version of Bob Marley's song "War". At the end of that number, O'Connor tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II and shouted, "fight the real enemy". The telecast prompted over 3,000 telephone calls both to NBC and its affiliates.

The 1992-96 period was also in some respects transitional, but it was also strong growth phase, and saw some important cast changes that took it to new heights in the late 90s. The series of 1992-93 was the final season for both Dana Carvey and the long-serving Phil Hartman, while 1993-94 saw the arrival of (This Is Spinal Tap star) Michael McKean, Norm MacDonald and Jay Mohr, who will be remembered for his side-splitting impersonations of talk host Rikki Lake and actor Christopher Walken.

The “generational change” continued in 1994-95 with the arrival of Chris Elliott, Janeane Garofalo, Kids In The Hall alumnus Mark McKinney, and Molly Shannon; this series was also the last for Chris Farley, Adam Sandler and Kevin Nealon. Norm MacDonald replaced Nealon as anchor of Weekend Update, and he took that segment into what many fans consider a classic period.

1995-96 was a milestone year, marking the last season for David Spade, but also the debuts of a strong batch of new recruits — Jim Breuer, Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, David Koechner, Cheri Oteri, Nancy Walls, Chris Kattan and Colin Quinn. Ferrell, Hammond, Oteri, Shannon and Kattan became mainstays of the show for the rest of the decade and beyond. The last half of the Nineties arguably also produced some of SNL's best material in years, performed by one of the strongest and most versatile ensemble casts yet assembled.

Ex-Groundling Ana Gasteyer joined in 1996-97, bringing an excellent singing voice and considerable musical skills, as well as creating some memorable characters — Margeret Jo McCullen, co-host of tedious public radio cooking show “The Delicious Dish”, ultra-square high school music teacher “Bobbi Mohan-Culp” her hatchet-faced impersonation of home improvement guru Martha Stewart; and, in one of the most popular segments of the late 1990s, her often-scathing impression of Céline Dion hosting a talk show (mercifully, the real Dion has never appeared on SNL due to her exclusive TV special contract with CBS). Also new this year was another regular black cast member, Tracy Morgan, a move that some cynics have suggested was motivated by persistent criticisms that the show did not feature enough black performers.

Darrell Hammond proved a great find, perhaps the most gifted impressionist in the show's history. He has built up a repertoire of uncanny and hilarious impersonations, including Bill Clinton and Ted Koppel, taking the show's political satire to new heights. This aspect of the writing task was assisted by some of the juiciest and most satire-worthy stories in years, including the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, the OJ Simpson trial and the various Michael Jackson scandals.

The wonderful Will Ferrell was undoubtedly the keystone of this new cast and during his stint he performed superbly in all his partnerships, with Oteri, Shannon, Gasteyer and Kattan, as well as creating some devastatingly funny solo characters. The best of these is undoubtedly his bellowing belligerent parody of former US Attorney General Janet Reno. And like Carvey's Bush and MacDonald's robot-like Bob Dole, Ferrell's fake Reno continued the tradition of having the real-life target of the satire appear on the show to confront their tormentor.

This period featured many classic recurring sketches and characters, with radio and TV parodies featuring prominently. They included the NPR parody “The Delicious Dish” (Shannon and Gasteyer), “The Ladies Man” (Tim Meadows), the geeky Spartan Cheerleaders (Ferrell and Oteri), Ferrell and Gasteyer's starchy, husband-and-wife music teacher duo Marty Culp and Bobbi Mohan-Culp, Kattan's campy “Mango”, the brain-dead, disco-loving “Roxbury Guys” (Ferrell and Kattan), Shannon and Kattan's delightful “Goth Talk” and Molly Shannon's star-struck, accident-prone Catholic schoolgirl, Mary-Catherine Gallagher.

The huge success of Wayne's World evidently encouraged more feature film spinoffs, with several popular 1990s sketch characters (and a few unlikely ones) adapted into movies. Producers tried their luck with a revival of '70s character The Coneheads, followed by movies based around Pat, Stuart Smalley, The Ladies Man, The Roxbury Guys and Mary-Catherine Gallagher, which was probably the best of a fairly mediocre bunch. Some did moderate business but others bombed disastrously — notably It's Pat and Stuart Smalley Saves His Family, with the latter losing US$15 million despite good reviews.

This fine ensemble remained substantially unchanged for the 1997-98 and 1998-99 series, although the latter series introduced important new cast members — Jimmy Fallon, Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz. The only surprise departure was Norm MacDonald who left the series under a cloud in 1997 and was replaced by Colin Quinn as Update anchor. It was reported that MacDonald was fired on the order of a senior NBC executive, who claimed the actor “unpopular and unfunny” but it was widely thought that MacDonald had been fired because the executive — a close friend of O.J. Simpson, a regular Weekend Update target — had taken offense at MacDonald's persistent attacks on Simpson and his blatant suggestions that Simpson was guilty of slaying his wife.

The 1999-2000 was the last for Colin Quinn, Cheri Oteri and Tim Meadows, but it also marked the arrival of two strong new female cast members, Rachel Dratch and Maya Rudolph (daughter of the late singer Minnie Riperton and a lifelong friend of actress Gwyneth Paltrow).

Although SNL has an often rapid turnover of supporting players (many of whom have appeared for only one season or less), some performers have had remarkably long tenures with the show. Among the longest serving are the late Phil Hartman (8 seasons), Will Ferrell (7 seasons), Darrell Hammond (now entering his record-breaking 10th season), Tim Meadows (9 1/2 Seasons) and Kevin Nealon (9 Seasons). Don Pardo has been the main voice-over announcer for the entire 30-years of the show, with the exception of the 1981-82 season, where he was briefly replaced by Mel Brandt. He was re-hired the following season.

The process

The following is a summary of the process used to produce the show. It is based in part on an August 2000 Writer's Digest article and an April 2004 Fresh Air interview with Tina Fey:

  • Monday: The day begins with a topical meeting, identifying the biggest story for the show's opening. This is followed by a free-form pitch meeting with Lorne Michaels and the show's host for the week. According to an October 2004 60 Minutes segment on the show, throughout the week the host has a lot of influence on which sketches get aired. Following the meeting, writers begin to draft the two scripts each must produce.
  • Tuesday: Starting in the afternoon, anywhere from 30 to 45 scripts are written, significantly more than will make it to air. Most writers work through the night. Once a writer's scripts are complete, he or she will often help other writers on their scripts.
  • Wednesday: All scripts get a read-through. After the read-through, the head writer(s) and the producers meet with the host to decide which sketches to work on for the rest of the week, with Lorne Michaels and the host having the final say.
  • Thursday: The surviving sketches are reviewed, word-by-word, by the writing staff as a whole (or in two groups in the case of co-head writers). Some sketches which survived the cut because of their premise but otherwise needed a lot of work are rewritten completely. Others are changed in smaller ways. Thursday is also the day that Weekend Update starts coming together, starting with the news items written by writers dedicated all week to the segment. This is also the first day the crew comes in for rehearsal. The music act is rehearsed as well as some of the larger more important skits.
  • Friday: the show is blocked (staged). The writer of each skit acts as producer, working with the show's set designers and costumers.
  • Saturday: The day begins with a run-through, with props, in front of Lorne Michaels. After the run-through, the cast and crew find out which of the sketches are in the dress rehearsal, and which are cut. The writer/producer deals with any changes. This is followed by an 8pm dress rehearsal in front of a live audience, which lasts until 10pm or sometimes later, and which contains around twenty minutes of material which will not make it to the broadcast. Lorne Michaels uses first-hand observation of the audience reaction to the rehearsal, and input from the host, to determine the final round of changes, re-ordering sketches as necessary. The show then begins at 11:35pm.

The status of the show during the week is maintained on a bulletin board. Sketches and other segments are given labels which are put on index cards and put on the board in the order of their performance. The order is based on content as well as production limitations such as camera placement and performer availability. Segments which have been cut are kept to the side of the board. As the broadcast approaches, often the writer/producer discovers the fate of his or her segment only by consulting the bulletin board.

When it's not live

SNL is one of the few shows on television to have its in- and off-season reruns aired out of its original broadcast sequence. The sequence of the in-season reruns (that is, encore shows that air during the season it originally aired) are usually determined by the episode(s)' popularity. So, for example, if by the midway point of the season in December, a show hosted by Robert DeNiro turned out to be the highest rated show of the season thus far, it would be the first show to be repeated when SNL begins airing its reruns during one of their live breaks. Shows usually air twice during a particular season, but often the highest rated shows of the season have a second encore show towards the end of the off-season.

Encore showings are not always identical to the original broadcast. Frequently, segments that did not work well during the original showing are replaced by alternate performances, or sometimes completely different skits, that had been taped at the dress rehearsal that preceded the live broadcast.

From time-to-time, SNL airs compilation shows. Such shows will feature the best of a previous season (consisting of skits and musical segments specially selected by the producers), or of a particular cast member (such as Eddie Murphy or Adam Sandler) or guest (such as Tom Hanks), or centered on a particular theme (for example, Halloween, Christmas, or a major news event).

When it's less than live

Over the years SNL has almost always been broadcast live on the east coast, in spite of the expletive spoken by Charles Rocket in 1981. The exceptions were shows hosted by Richard Pryor, Sam Kinison, and Andrew Dice Clay, which were broadcast on a five-second delay.

Some live shows may also be altered and edited for the west coast the same night, such as a 2004 show in which, as the New York Times reported in the article 'Ailing Singer Needed Lip-Sync', "a technical foul-up on the NBC show "Saturday Night Live" exposed the pop singer Ashlee Simpson's use of prerecorded vocals on live television." The network attempted to hide the flub by remixing the show's sound for the West coast audience making the pre-recorded track inaudible, which only confused West Coast viewers by making it appear as if the singer walked off stage for no reason. When Sam Kinison delivered a comic monologue in 1986, NBC removed his plea for the legalization of marijuana from the West Coast broadcast.

The rights to SNL

NBC holds the copyright to every episode of the show made thus far. The syndication rights to the original incarnation (1975-1980) were originally acquired by Filmways Television (later Orion Television and MGM), while the syndication rights to the shows made from 1980 forward (that is, rerun rights beginning two years after its original NBC airings) have been held by Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels' production company. The home video rights have also been scattered. Warner Home Video originally released several episodes from the original incarnation (1975-1980). Paramount released a "Best Of Eddie Murphy" video compilation in the 1980s (Murphy had a multi-picture deal with Paramount at the time). In the 1990s, Starmaker Entertainment held the video rights. Today, Lions Gate Home Entertainment handles the VHS and DVD releases of SNL under a new license with NBC.

For many years, both Comedy Central and E! Entertainment Television aired SNL reruns under license with Broadway Video and Orion/MGM (respectively). In 2003, full rights reverted completely to NBC, and the E! network acquired the exclusive syndication rights to the series.

The only episodes that have not been included in any syndication package (including the current deal with E!) are the prime-time special at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans (the only time the show has originated outside of New York), the Milton Berle episode, and the shows where Andrew Dice Clay & Drew Barrymore first appeared as hosts.

Contracts

SNL received some negative publicity in 1999 when it was leaked that, henceforth, actors joining the show would have to agree in their five- to six-year contract that, upon request, they would act in up to three movies by SNL Films, for fees of US$75,000, US$150,000, and then US$300,000; and also that, upon request, they would leave SNL and act in an NBC sitcom for up to an additional six years. This appeared to be a reaction to the departure of Adam Sandler to movie stardom.

Some agents and managers characterized these long-term contracts as involuntary servitude, saying that almost any young, undiscovered comic would immediately agree to any given set of exploitative contractual restrictions for the opportunity to launch their careers via the show. NBC publicly defended the new contracts, saying that SNL was doing a service to young comics by launching so many careers.

It was reported in 1999 that the starting salary for SNL cast members was US$5,000 per episode.

Trivia

Steve Martin was a frequent guest host of the program but was never officially a member of the cast.

The cast

See Saturday Night Live cast.

Frequent hosts

The following performers have hosted SNL at least five times:

Several special episodes of Saturday Night Live have been compiled and aired that were "best of" episodes of several of these hosts, including Christopher Walken and Tom Hanks.

Hosts appearing as musical guests

Dolly Parton with SNL's Victoria Jackson

Michael McKean is the only performer to appear as cast member, host, and (as David St. Hubbins of Spinal Tap) musical guest. Those appearing as both host and musical guest include:

Recurring characters and sketches

The most enduring segment is Weekend Update, which has been part of every show (though under varying names during the Doumanian/Ebersol years). Other recurring characters and sketches include:

Catch phrases

Movies based on SNL skits

Saturday Night Live sketches have inspired many theatrical and TV movies. Here's a list of them:

See also

External links

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