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Saturday Night Live
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Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late-night 90-minute American sketch comedy/variety show filmed in New York City. It made its debut on October 11, 1975. The show features a regular cast of comedic actors, joined by a guest host and musical act. The show — which is broadcast live in the Central and Eastern time zones(with a time delay in the mountain time zone and pacific time zone) from Studio 8H at the GE Building in New York's Rockefeller Center — has launched careers for many major American comedy stars of the last thirty years.
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Encyclopedia
Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late-night 90-minute American sketch comedy/variety show filmed in New York City. It made its debut on October 11, 1975. The show features a regular cast of comedic actors, joined by a guest host and musical act. The show — which is broadcast live in the Central and Eastern time zones(with a time delay in the mountain time zone and pacific time zone) from Studio 8H at the GE Building in New York's Rockefeller Center — has launched careers for many major American comedy stars of the last thirty years. It was created by Canadian Lorne Michaels who, excluding seasons 6 — 10, has been with the show throughout, first as producer and writer and later its executive producer. SNL is one of the longest-running network programs in American television history.
Throughout its history (except for season 7 and other rare exceptions), the show has traditionally begun with a cold open that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night!"
History
- See also: history of SNL by season: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34
The show began as a replacement for Best of Carson.
Originally, the show was called NBC's Saturday Night, as the current title was in use by rival network ABC. NBC purchased the rights to the name in 1976 and officially adopted the new title on March 26, 1977. After five years, creator Lorne Michaels chose not to renew his contract, and was joined in departure by the cast members and writers. Jean Doumanian took over the show for the 1980 season, hiring a new cast and writers that included Eddie Murphy. Doumanian was replaced after one year by Dick Ebersol, who had hired Michaels as the show's creator. Murphy and Joe Piscopo continued as cast members under Ebersol, remaining with the show until 1984. For fall 1984, Ebersol added several cast members with television experience, including Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Harry Shearer, and Pamela Stephenson. After one season, Ebersol wanted a more significant revamp, which was rejected in favor of bringing back Lorne Michaels.
Michaels' return for the 1985-6 season restored an association with NBC that has lasted nearly thirty years. Since Michaels' return the show has launched the careers of Dennis Miller, Joan Cusack, Robert Downey, Jr., Damon Wayans, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Kevin Nealon, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Conan O'Brien, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, among others. As head of Broadway Video and SNL Films, Michaels has leveraged the talent he's helped introduce, producing shows and films such as All You Need Is Cash, Wayne's World, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Coneheads, and 30 Rock.
Saturday Night Live cast
Current repertory players
Current featured players
Notable tenures
Although Saturday Night Live has a rapid turnover of supporting players, some performers have had long tenures with the show. A in the final column indicates that the performer has a "Best Of" SNL Compilation:
Announcer
Don Pardo has served as the announcer for the series since it began (except for season 7, when Mel Brandt and Bill Hanrahan filled that role). Pardo, who was 57 when the show debuted and who retired from NBC in 2004 at age 86, still flies in from his home in Tucson, Arizona, to introduce the show as of 2009.
Hosts/musical guests
George Carlin was first to host the show; Candice Bergen was the first female to host the show a few weeks later and again hosted only six weeks after that.
The "Five Timers' Club"
The following performers have hosted SNL at least five times. A indicates that the performer are the subjects of their own "Best of ..." videotape, DVD, or compilation special. If a appears next to a persons name that means they were once a cast member on the show. The Five-Timers Club originates from a sketch which appeared on Tom Hanks' fifth episode.
This list comes from raw data compiled and listed from the following independent sources: http://snlmusic.parshaparts.com/snlmusic.php and http://snl.jt.org/). Contrary to popular opinion, Steve Martin was never a regular cast member of the show.
The following performers have been musical guests on SNL at least five times:
Musical guests who simultaneously hosted
The following performers have pulled a double duty as both musical guests and host during the same SNL episode:
In addition, Christina Aguilera, who had previously appeared as a musical guest twice on April 8, 2000 and March 15, 2003, hosted on February 21, 2004, singing early in that broadcast. Maroon 5 was the musical guest for the episode, with two song performances.
Hosts who auditioned (or were offered the opportunity) to join the cast
The following is a list of guest hosts who had previously auditioned for the show earlier in their careers only to be turned down. This list does not include the names of hosts, like Billy Crystal, who were rejected but eventually joined the cast at a later date. The list of the hosts and dates of their auditions are as follows:
- Four notable names that auditioned for SNL yet never hosted were comedians Dom Irrera and Robert Townsend, who both auditioned to be cast members for the 1980-1981 season. MADtv comedienne Stephnie Weir also auditioned for SNL for its 1999-2000 season, but lost to Rachel Dratch. Up-and-coming comedienne Maria Bamford auditioned for the show prior to the 2003-2004 season.
Castmembers who have hosted
indicates a castmember with a "Best Of" collection. Castmembers are put into order of when they first hosted.
The SNL Band
The Saturday Night Live Band (also known as "The Live Band") is the house band for SNL. It features New York studio musicians including Paul Shaffer (1975-1977, 1977-1980), G.E. Smith, Lou Marini (1975-1983), David Sanborn (1975), Michael Brecker, Ray Chew (1980-1983), Alan Rubin (1975-1983), Georg Wadenius (1979-1985), Steve Ferrone (1985), David Johansen (performing as Buster Poindexter) and Tom Malone, who served as leader of the band from 1981 to 1985. The band is currently under the leadership of Tower of Power alum Lenny Pickett and keyboardists Leon Pendarvis and Katreese Barnes.
Films based on SNL sketches
The films based on SNL sketches are listed below with their release, budget, gross, and ratings from Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. The gross is from Box Office Mojo. A Rotten Tomatoes score of 60% or higher indicates the film is "fresh" (well-received); Metacritic scores from 81-100, 61-80, 40-60, 20-39, and 0-19 indicate universal/near-universal acclaim, generally favorable reviews, mixed reviews, poor reviews, and overwhelming dislike, respectively.
| Film | Release
date | Budget | Gross | Rotten Tomatoes
rating | Metacritic
rating | | The Blues Brothers | 1980 | $27 million | $57,229,890 | 76% (fresh) | - | | Wayne's World | 1992 | $20 million | $121,697,323 | 83% (fresh) | 53 (mixed reviews) | | Wayne's World 2 | 1993 | $40 million | $48,197,805 | 58% | - | |
Mr. Saturday Night>1992 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | - | | Coneheads | 1993 | Unknown | $21,274,717 | 27% | - | | It's Pat | 1994 | Unknown | $60,822 | 0% | - | | Stuart Saves His Family | 1995 | $15 million | $912,082 | 29% | - | | A Night at the Roxbury | 1998 | $17 million | $30,331,165 | 10% | 26 (poor reviews) | | Blues Brothers 2000 | 1998 | $28 million | $14,051,384 | 45% | | | Superstar | 1999 | $14 million | $30,636,478 | 33% | 42 (mixed reviews) | | The Ladies Man | 2000 | $11 million | $13,616,610 | 11% | 22 (poor reviews) |
The early days of SNL spawned several movies, including the successful The Blues Brothers. However it was the success of Wayne's World, that encouraged Lorne Michaels to produce more film spin-offs, based on several popular sketch characters. Michaels revived 1970s characters for Coneheads (1993), followed by It's Pat (1994); Stuart Saves His Family (1995, with the Stuart Smalley character); A Night at the Roxbury (1998, with the Butabi Brothers characters); Superstar (1999, with the Mary Katherine Gallagher character); and 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 which made the film, Touchstone, pulled it only one week after releasing it, and Stuart Saves His Family, with the latter losing US$15 million.
In addition, Office Space (1999) originated from a series of Mike Judge animated short films that aired on SNL after appearing on several other programs.
The character Bob Roberts from the Tim Robbins film of the same name, first appeared on SNL in a short film about the conservative folk singer.
The group The Folksmen first appeared on SNL, performing the song "Old Joe's Place" before later appearing in the film A Mighty Wind. 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. At the time of the appearance, (the 1984-85 season) Shearer and Guest were cast members. Likewise, Guest's Corky St. Clair character from the film Waiting for Guffman originated in the 1984 "Synchronized Swimming" sketch.
The studio
Since the show's inception, SNL has aired from Studio 8H, located on floors 8 and 9 of GE Building (30 Rockefeller Plaza, or "30 Rock"). Due to the studio originally being a radio soundstage for Arturo Toscanini and his NBC Symphony Orchestra, the layout of the studio floor and the audience positioning causes some audience members to have an obstructed view of many of the sketches. According to NBC, the 8H studio has an almost perfect sound acoustic. The offices of SNL writers, producers, and other staff can be found on the 17th floor of "30 Rock."
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, appearing letterboxed on conventional television screens. Though the show is still produced in widescreen, beginning in 2008, many viewers again began seeing the show in a 4:3 aspect ratio due to the DTV conversion.
Three of the first four shows of the 1976-77 season were shot at the former NBC Studios in Brooklyn, due to NBC News using Studio 8H for Presidential election coverage.
Production process
The following is a summary of the process used to produce the show. It is based in part on interviews with former SNL head writer and performer Tina Fey in 2000 and 2004.
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. The official name is "The Host Meeting" but all the writers and cast members call it "The Pitch Meeting"
- 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, most of which will not be broadcast.
- 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 are in need of work, are rewritten completely. Others are changed in smaller ways.
- The Weekend Update crew starts coming together, starting with the news items written by writers dedicated all week to the segment.
- The crew comes in for rehearsal, and the music act is rehearsed as well as some of the larger, more important sketches.
- The host and musical guest and usually some cast members shoot two to four promos to play for NBC.
Friday:
- The show is blocked.
- The writer of each sketch acts as producer, working with the show's set designers and costumers.
- Special music is recorded for the show.
Saturday:
- With the show still far from finalized, the day begins with a run-through, with props, in front of Lorne Michaels.
- The Saturday Night Live Band does a mid-morning rehearsal.
- 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 a dress rehearsal performed in front of the studio audience, which lasts from 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. (or sometimes later) and contains approximately twenty minutes of material which will be deleted from the final broadcast.
- Lorne Michaels uses firsthand observation of the audience reaction during the dress rehearsal and input from the host and head writer to determine the final round of changes, re-ordering sketches as necessary.
- The live show then begins at 11:29:30 p.m. Eastern Time, but some markets will delay airing.
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.
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 hosts in developing and selecting the sketches in which they will appear. Similarly, there has been an A&E episode of Biography which covered the production process, as well as an episode of "TV Tales" in 2002 on E! Entertainment Television.
When it's not live
Reruns
SNL reruns are aired out of its original broadcast sequence, usually determined by which episodes have not yet been repeated, but had high ratings or acclaim for its live broadcast. 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, or episodes will be repeated a second or third time to coincide with a new event connected with the person who hosted. For example, the Natalie Portman episode aired in March 2006 to promote V for Vendetta was repeated August 5, 2006, prior to the film's DVD release August 8. Similarly, Jeff Gordon's episode reran following NBC's coverage of the Pepsi 400.
The show is never live in the western half of the USA. There was a short experiment in which it did air live on the west coast in 2001 after live XFL football games. NBC airs a recording of the live show for the Mountain and Pacific time zones, usually exactly as it aired in the East -- mistakes notwithstanding.
NBC and Broadway Video share the copyright to every episode of the show made thus far. From 1990 until 2004, Comedy Central and its predecessor Ha! re-aired reruns of the series, after which E! Entertainment Television signed a deal to reruns. Abbreviated thirty and sixty minute versions of the first five seasons aired as The Best of Saturday Night Live in syndication beginning in the 1980s and later on Nick at Nite in 1988, VH1, Comedy Central and E! Entertainment Television.
Compilations
From time-to-time, SNL airs compilation shows. Such shows will feature hand-selected best sketches from the previous season; of a particular cast member or multiple-time host; or centered on a particular theme (eg. Halloween, Christmas). Political sketches are typically culled for a special in presidential election years; the 2000 special was notable for having self-deprecating (though separate) appearances by candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore. During the 2008 presidential race, Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Barack Obama, and Sarah Palin all made appearances on the show.
Delays
- The show was forced by the network to run on a five-second delay on three separate occasions when Richard Pryor, Sam Kinison, and Andrew Dice Clay each hosted.
- The episode scheduled for October 25, 1986, hosted by Rosanna Arquette, was not aired until November 8 due to NBC broadcasting Game 6 of the 1986 World Series; the game entered extra innings, causing that night's broadcast of SNL to be canceled. The show was recorded for the studio audience starting at 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time, and broadcast two weeks later with an "apology" by New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling.
- The episode scheduled for February 10, 2001, hosted by Jennifer Lopez, aired 45 minutes late due to an XFL game. Lopez and the cast were not told they were airing on a delay.
- During Eddie Murphy's last season, he negotiated to record a number of extra sketches in September 1983 that featured him and were broadcast in episodes for which he was not available. His last live show was with host Edwin Newman on February 25, 1984.
- When Sam Kinison delivered a comic monologue in 1986, NBC removed his plea for the legalization of marijuana from the West Coast broadcast and all subsequent airings.
- A portion of Martin Lawrence's 1994 monologue concerning feminine hygiene has been removed from all repeats, replaced with a voice-over and intertitles stating that the excised portion "...was a frank and lively presentation, and nearly cost us all our jobs."
- In a November 21, 1992 Wayne's World sketch, the characters Wayne and Garth (respectively portrayed by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey) made fun of Chelsea Clinton (the-then 12-year old daughter of the then President-Elect Bill Clinton), implying that Chelsea was incapable of causing males to "Schwing!". This joke was subsequently edited out of all repeats and syndication rebroadcasts of this sketch.
Replaced/altered sketches
Encore showings are not always identical to the original broadcast. Successful sketches aired later in the show during the original broadcast may be reedited to appear earlier. In the earlier years of the show's history, reruns occasionally replaced weaker sketches with segments from other episodes, usually from episodes that did not have an encore showing at all.
Occasionally, sketches originally performed in the dress rehearsal (which is recorded as a backup) have replaced the live version in reruns. This is usually due to errors (either technical or by the actors) in the live broadcast. Examples include
- A Peter Sarsgaard sketch from his January 21, 2006 appearance, involving Rachel Dratch's fake newscast, met with technical difficulties during the live broadcast when the in-sketch TV stopped working and a stagehand was seen fixing it.
- Kathleen Turner's monologue in 1989.
- A sketch involving "butt pregnancy" during the first broadcast of the November 12, 2005, Jason Lee episode was replaced with a musical sketch about cafeteria food during the repeat.
- A sketch with Roseanne Barr where she played a customer service representative for a fictional credit card company. At the end of the sketch, she accidentally used the name "Master Card" and not the fictional (though very similar) name. The dress rehearsal version has replaced that version in all successive broadcasts.
- A Debbie Downer sketch featuring Ben Affleck was pulled from later rebroadcasts and replaced with the dress rehearsal version. In this case, the replacement is actually referenced by a title card, explaining that the dress version "worked better." The main difference between the two is that in the dress version, the actors broke character and started laughing during the sketch (causing the audience to laugh more), while the live version was performed without laughter from the actors, and less laughter from the audience.
- One of the most notable substitutions was the replacement of Sinéad O'Connor's October 3, 1992 live performance during which she destroyed a photograph of Pope John Paul II, with the dress rehearsal performance from earlier that evening where she holds up a picture of a starving African child.
- The It's a Match sketch with host Shia LaBeouf was edited so he would not fumble with the rings he pulled out from under his chair, and Casey Wilson's answer to where she was during the murder was "Making mouth whoopie" instead of "Eating pound cake and crying on my waterbed."
- The "I Drink Your Milkshake" sketch involving Bill Hader (as Daniel Plainview) was edited to remove Hader's verbal mistake when saying the city in Wisconsin. The mistake was edited out by showing the restaurant picture earlier, and the verbal mistake completely removed from the sketch in all subsequent re-broadcasts.
- The "VH1 Storytellers: Neil Diamond" sketch in episode 438 February 7, 1998 is edited out in repeats and is absent from the Will Ferrell "Best of" videos despite being recognized by many as one of SNL's funniest sketches.
- The "Michael Phelps Diet" fake commercial from the season 34 premiere episode used a dress rehearsal version in reruns because the live version had a part where Michael Phelps can be seen turning his head to cough just before delivering his line.
Censorship
In some cases, a sketch was censored in repeat broadcasts.
- A sketch featuring a performance of "War of the Worlds" by the Brooklyn Actor's Academy had as its primary joke the thick "Noo Yawk" accent of the actors. The sketch featured many lines using heavily accented forms of the word fuck; "fuggin'," "funkin'," etc. While the curse word proper was never actually used, the "close call" words are bleeped out on broadcasts of the sketch on E!, where the show is run in the daytime.
- On the Rainn Wilson/Arcade Fire episode on February 24, 2007, during the sketch where four men talk about where they were when they first heard "Danny's Song", Bill Hader's character tells the story of how he first heard the song when he was spending time with his father in the park, and concludes that it was the first day that he thought, "I have a dad," instead of, "I have a dad with Down's Syndrome." Due to complaints, the "Down's Syndrome" part of the line was bleeped out in all NBC reruns.
- When Nirvana played on SNL, at the end of their gig, frontman Kurt Cobain french kissed bassist Krist Novoselic. Cobain later stated, "I did that just to piss off the rednecks and homophobes back in Aberdeen, Washington" *On the NBC rerun of the season 34 episode hosted by Anne Hathaway, the CSPAN Bailout sketch was edited to remove references to Herb Sandler and his wife, Marion, and their corrupt banking practices, as days after the sketch aired, Lorne Michaels discovered that Herb and Marion Sandler were an actual couple who were accused of this.
On VHS and DVD
Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season was released on DVD, in the UK, by Universal Studios on December 5, 2006. Upon the set’s release, some criticism of its authenticity as complete and uncut arose from reviewers and fans. This was due to the existence of original live copies, which in comparison to the "complete" episodes reveal edits and omissions, which are common among the rerun versions of the shows in the set.
One such example is a Wrigleys gum parody which originally aired in two episodes live, but was removed for the repeat broadcasts for time, and the DVD uses the repeat versions of these episodes.
The complete second season was released in the US on DVD on December 4, 2007., the third season on May 13, 2008, and the fourth season on December 2, 2008.
In addition to the full season releases, there have been multiple releases both on VHS and DVD featuring the "Best Of" former cast members and guest hosts in addition to documentaries, musical performances and themed compilations of sketches as well as a release of the show's 25 year anniversary. In 2001, the Presidential Bash 2000 was released on VHS, but it not thus far been released on DVD.
See also
Further reading
- Cader, Michael. (1994). Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
- Hill, Doug, and Jeff Weingrad. (1986). Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live. New York, NY: Beech Tree Books. ISBN 0-688-05099-9.
- Mohr, Jay. (2004). Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live. New York, NY: Hyperion. ISBN 1-4013-0006-5.
- Shales, Tom, and James Andrew Miller. (2002). Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. Boston, MA: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-78146-0.
- Streeter, Michael. (2005). Nothing Lost Forever: The Films of Tom Schiller. New York, NY: BearManor Media. ISBN 1593930321.
External links
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- for Broadway Video
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- from snltranscripts.jt.org
- from snlmusic.parshaparts.com
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