If you are fan of Saturday Night Live as I am, you may have guessed that cast members get paid well to be on the show. If that was also your guess, then guess again. As this piece shows, the pay is not exactly stellar. Mind you, for some cast members, things have worked very well in the longer term. But in the short term, it’s not all that much. Enough to pay the bills of living in NYC and a bit more.
Still, if fame now and fortune maybe later is your goal, SNL is the way to go.
It’s been a year of celebration for the television show, Saturday Night Live. And why not? Any show that can last for 50 years deserves to be celebrated. And celebrate they did with a three hour prime time special.
I’ve started watching the show on TV at the very first season, when it was a new way to fill the dead hours of Saturday night. Now 50 years later I watch it mostly on Instagram. The Media has changed dramatically, but the Message has been consistent: 90 minutes of music and comedy every Saturday night in a strict format of cold open, monologue, sketches, music, Weekend Update, more sketches and music, closing. That it could continue to do that for half a century is a tremendous credit to the talented writers and comedians and musicians who create the show. And especially it is a credit to the producer, Lorne Michaels.
The influence of Michaels was apparent in how the show started with Paul Simon and Steve Martin and ended with Paul McCartney and Martin Short. But while it had a lot of his favourite old timers laced throughout on the show, it was not just a nostalgia trip. Which is why you had Paul Simon perform with Sabrina Carpenter and the new cast mixed in with the old. This show, like all shows, aimed to be current and successful. It was a bullseye.
For those who missed it, the New York Times has a good run down of the special: ‘S.N.L.’ Celebrates 50 Years With Star-Studded Prime-Time Special, while CNN has what they considered the best moments from ‘SNL’s’ 50th anniversary special, here. CBC also had a piece on it: Saturday Night Live celebrates 50 years with comedy, music and many, many famous friends. Of course being CBC they also had something on some of its best moments that have featured Canadians.
Theres been many a story written on the show this season. Here’s one on performers breaking on SNL. This is a good set of interviews of the original snl 1975 cast and crew.
Even with it being double a normal show’s time slot, it could not be all things to all people. This is a lament for what was not on the 50th special, here. And while it seemed like everyone who was ever on the show was there, a few big stars like Dan Ackroyd and Bill Hader could not make it.
P.S. I’d be remiss without mentioning this year’s film of the first episode of SNL. Sadly it got mixed ratings, such as this: Saturday Night mild? Jason Reitman’s SNL recreation doesn’t quite match the original’s rebellious spirit.
This is an odd piece in GQ: The New Cast Reshaping SNL’s Next Decade . It states: “After a slew of exits, Saturday Night Live is reloading—with a squad of young comics that could form the nucleus of the show for years to come.”
It’s odd because yes, there have been a slew of exits, and yes there are new comics, but if you have been watching it recently, the comics dominating it now seem to be people like Heidi Gardner and Bowen Yang, and of course, the great Keenan Thompson. To see what I mean, check out this recap of a recent episode with Travis Kelce starring. Or watch tonight. They aren’t the new people, and they aren’t the older comics leaving.
The new comics are no doubt good, and they likely appealed more to the GQ readership than the people I named. Plus everyone wants to talk about what’s new. But I can see the current veterans being around and in the forefront when it comes to SNL celebrating half a century in 2 years from now.
A little perspective, please, GQ. 🙂
P.S. As an aside, I’ve been a fan of both GQ and SNL since the 70s. Good to see them both still around and being current.
I’ve been wondering when this would happen, but finally some of the bigger names from SNL are departing next year, including Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Kyle Pete Davidson, according to Deadline. I’ve been surprised both by how stable SNL has been over the last decade and how big the cast has grown. It started off with less than 10, now it’s over 20.
Having a big cast makes sense in some ways. It means there is a deep bench of talent ready and eager to step up. It also helps SNL deal with the lack of diversity problem they had all too recently.
I’ve been watching more SNL recently, ironically because of Twitter. I say ironically because social media used to freak Lorne and company out. Now they feed the whole show via twitter on the weekend. I get to skip the ads, and I get to watch the best bits. It’s ideal for me. My rule of thumb is if Kenan Thompson is in a sketch, it’s probably funny. That’s likely why he is sticking around.
That piece above got me to this piece: ‘Saturday Night Live’: Actors Who’ve Hosted The Show The Most – Photos – Deadline. Several things to note there. In the early years, it was often people associated with the show, like Chevy Chase (although that is also true with Tina Fey in the later years). Later it was big actors who were just really good at being funny. For awhile Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were tied in appearances (there was even a bit where to win, Martin knocks out Baldwin, wraps him in a rug and throws him out the window!) Baldwin eventually ran away with it, not just for hosting, but by being a regular with his Trump appearances. (It probably helps too he lives in Manhattan.)
I have a sentimental weakness for SNL. It’s been on 47 seasons and I’ve been watching off and on since S1. I’m looking forward to it reaching S50 and beyond. Who knows will show up for that season. Tune in.
The joke is that SNL was at its best the years you watched it as a teen. I have literally been watching it since it started — Yes, I am old — and I kinda agree with that. SNL is really such an uneven thing that even back then there were good and bad parts of the show. (Usually anything after the second musical performance is throwaway). As well, SNL is best as much for individual performers as it is for the entire show. From Catherine McKinnon all the way back to Gilda Radner, there have been individual performers who made a good show great. (My favorite of all time is Bill Murray, but there are too many to mention here).
For another take on it, here is a someone more objective study on when SNL was at its peak. According to this piece in OpenCulture, this YouTuber took a systematic approach to deciding the best of SNL. He…
… decided to withhold judgment on the overall quality curve of Saturday Night Live, his favorite show, before putting in the time and effort to watch at least one episode from every year in its run
The article has a link to his YouTube results. As OpenCulture concludes,
He may not change anyone’s mind about the best, and worst, seasons, episodes, cast members, and hosts. But he does demonstrate an admirable willingness to dig into SNL’s history and give years of comedy positively antiquated by 21st century standards a fair shake.
Saturday night music, on Friday. Here’s Florence + The Machine – No Light, No Light (Live on SNL)
Smart People I Know 