who said comedy was easy hey everyone
I'm Rebecca and welcome to watchmojo.com
during dress rehearsal so it's very
important that they fit to her face
right away and that's the whole point of
doing the life cast is just like we only
need to do it it's gonna fit perfectly
have you ever wondered how this
venerable an influential sketch comedy
show gets off the ground each week well
it's a lot more work than you might
imagine leaving everyone involved with
nary a moment to spare from Monday
morning all the way to Saturday night at
11:30 p.m.
Jack I put on a live show every week
unless there's wrestling Monday the
script is due on Monday Monday well I
guess I won't be able to go to the gym
this weekend it takes six out of seven
days to get an episode of Saturday Night
Live ready to air on Monday morning is
the all-important pitch meeting in
showrunner Lorne Michaels office where
ideas for 30 to 40 sketches are tossed
around and skeletons laid out for
approval
it's not so fun being hands-on these
bloodsuckers is it could we talk about
this on Monday the host for that week is
included in the meeting and the writers
are tasked with making that host look as
good as possible highlighting their
strong points in fact the host often
dictates the tone of that episode and
can mix pitches if they don't feel they
can execute them well or if they just
aren't comfortable with the content I
got here on Monday and people and the
crew came up to me in the studio and
said welcome home and it just made me
feel so bad that I didn't remember their
names the meeting takes at least two
hours and by the end of it all a rough
idea for that week's show is laid out in
writing and posted on Michaels office
wall well the first three days Monday to
wednesday were up on the 17th floor
that's for the writing whose time
Tuesday for SNL writers Tuesday serves
as the longest day of the workweek as
this is when the sketches for that
week's show get their first draft about
Tuesday well Tuesday is no good for me I
gotta get fitted for a new toupee yeah
someone just doesn't quite give me the
coverage I was hoping writing is
actually all the takes place on this day
and if you think that's just an
eight-hour day then think again it isn't
uncommon for writers to pull
all-nighters to get these sketches off
the ground
with the entire process sometimes
getting into the following morning I'm
sorry but we're gonna have to work all
night tonight till we get caught up
don't feel too sorry for the SNL staff
however as these writers are often
performers or comedians themselves and
are well versed in how to write comedy
for the stage and screen some are hired
from prestigious and well-respected
stand-up troops such as the Second City
or The Groundlings and go on to enjoy
thriving careers of their own after they
leave the writers room
examples include Conan O'Brien Tina Fey
and Adam McKay the latter of whom
co-founded the website Funny or Die
alongside fellow SNL alum Will Ferrell
pearl I'm gonna pay you I'm working
three jobs right now so the real
challenge behind the writing day isn't
lack of ideas or talent but more in the
time crunch and how little wiggle room
the SNL writers have to get these
sketches ironed out in time this might
explain why the show often goes for
topical humor of the day as a quick and
easy way of getting a sketch in the can
I guess that's why they call me mitt
baseball mitts Romney and Barack
allama aren't saying anything Wednesday
what's the hump day schedule look like
oh it's not Wednesday Liz it's Thursday
I read somewhere it's Tuesday
once these sketches are written out
there's a live reading of all of them
during a 5:00 p.m. meeting on Wednesday
night Wednesday we have our table read
starts around between 4:00 and 5:00
o'clock in the afternoon we'll start the
table read this roundtable get-together
features the cast writers and producers
while other staff such as hair and
makeup might also attend to bring
together any visual cues that might be
integral to a gag
additionally the SNL music director
might also be invited to the meeting to
play music on the piano or guitar
ironing out beats and timing for each
sketch Liz I'm going to be gentle all
day today no personal day this table
read could include up to 50 people
depending on the complexity of the
sketches and the meeting doesn't end
until every potential sketch has been
performed after this the meeting moves
to Lauren Michaels office where the show
is streamlined and put into a logical
order the flow of the episode is decided
at this point as the hosts head writer
and show producers work together to
figure out which sketches are going to
be performed and which get tossed aside
once this is finished the writers in
Casca
invited in to see what's been decided
what a week lemon it's Wednesday
Thursday and then we move down here on
Thursday of course not every sketch
makes the cut and even the ones that
have been approved undergo some serious
tinkering on Thursdays we're scheduled
sketches continue to be worked on and
ready for Showtime further cuts are made
to ideas that just don't work and the
sketches that do survive into Friday are
usually good to go Thursday I'm going to
a bris I'm kind of nervous hope it
doesn't hurt as much as my first one
Thursday is also the day when hair and
makeup for the sketches get tested out
and any sets that are needed are built
for the show at the Brooklyn Navy Yard
fun fact none of these sets can be over
9 feet tall in order to fit inside the
elevator at 30 Rockefeller Plaza stories
I could tell about this place
jokes for The Weekend Update segment a
collaborative effort by the two anchors
alongside a small group of writers get
table read and edited for air finally
anything that can be pre taped for the
show such as digital shorts or parody
sketches start their production here
which continues into Friday oh we're not
doing the pre tape tonight because I'm
leaving at 6:00 what's going on with you
why are you acting so weird you're
talking about doing your job Friday hey
guys it's Friday why don't you follow me
around the SNL makeup lab things are
getting down to the wire by Friday and
there's still plenty of work to be done
mainly with yet more rewrites and edits
for the Saturday sketches what if there
was a talking dog I like to see that
incorporated into your rewrite Friday is
also the day when the scripts are
reviewed by network censors and hours of
rehearsal are logged in by the cast to
get each sketch ready for a live
audience have you seen this memo from
standards Kenneth is being a real
dingbat which is now the harshest word
bear allowed to say speaking of live
those affer mentioned pre-taped segments
continue their production on this day
although it's not out of the question
for some of these bits to be shot on
show day as well finally any sets that
have been built gets shipped over to the
building and gets set up for the live
show on Saturday night it gets fairly
intense Friday night late because you're
you're locking in the shower and changes
are still coming in and then the hosts
very often is filming till 5:00 in the
morning before we continue be sure to
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you go into your settings and switch on
notifications Saturday is Liz back you
know which cat do you want Jenna to
carry it's show time
well almost there's still a lot of
rehearsing to be done and this continues
from Friday into Saturday as the cast
nails down their work on the sketches
adjustments that still need to take
place get smoothed out here from
costuming and wigs right down to script
ideas that may see further edits I don't
know if your research covered this but
we do a dress rehearsal and then a live
show believe it or not SNL is actually
live twice as there's a dress rehearsal
performed for a test audience at 8 p.m.
any sketches or jokes that don't make
this audience laugh or cut or edited
until the show is knocked down to a neat
90 minutes sketches are edited right
down to show time when SNL goes live at
11:29 p.m. and 30 seconds the show kicks
off and runs 92 minutes ending at 102
a.m. thanks to Nicki Minaj
after this it's time for a group exhale
Hardy back slaps and that iconic SNL
send-off tune to launch cast and crew
out into a New York City night for all
the after parties I'm going to get ready
to do it all again 24 hours later I've
always wanted to go to an SNL afterparty
but seriously did you know how much work
goes into SNL each week it's bananas
you'll probably be a lot kind to chew
them next time there's a rerun and
you're like these lazy bums they get a
week off all the time yeah cuz they
usually work six days a week anyway come
tell me what you think in the comments
or come talk to me on my youtube channel
or on twitter or instagram at rebecca
brayton also please watch this other
video