{"id":594116,"date":"2026-04-19T18:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/594116\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T18:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:28:09","slug":"how-the-snl-sausage-gets-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/594116\/","title":{"rendered":"How the “SNL” sausage gets made"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems like there\u2019s a new celebration of the \u201cSaturday Night Live<\/a>\u201d legacy every other month at this point. Last year, there was the late-night variety show\u2019s 50th anniversary special, a star-studded affair with cast members old and new, celebrities aplenty, musical performances, sorely missed recurring characters from the days of yore, and plenty of jokes at the expense of the show\u2019s creator and producer, Lorne Michaels<\/a>. To accompany the special, Peacock aired the four-part docuseries, \u201cSNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,\u201d diving deep into aspects of the show fans don\u2019t often get an intimate glimpse of. Then, there was \u201cLadies and Gentlemen . . . 50 Years of SNL Music,\u201d a feature-length documentary directed by Questlove<\/a> about the show\u2019s truly iconic and totally unique musical performances. And then there was the 2024 narrative feature, \u201cSaturday Night<\/a>,\u201d where a slew of young actors and comedians stepped into the shoes of the not-ready-for-primetime players cast in the series\u2019 first season, documenting the lead-up to the first-ever episode in real time.<\/p>\n

In Morgan Neville\u2019s<\/a> new documentary about the man, the myth, the legend Lorne Michaels, fittingly titled \u201cLorne,\u201d talking heads muse that \u201clittle in TV has been explored as much as that first season [of \u2018SNL\u2019].\u201d And Michaels himself \u2014 that is, when Neville gets him mic\u2019ed when he\u2019s not trying to give the cameras a slip \u2014 seems to agree. Neither Michaels nor Neville seems particularly interested in spending this documentary rehashing those early days of \u201cSNL.\u201d (Though the documentary does retread some of the ground covered in the recent docuseries about the show.) Rather, they\u2019re keen to offer a backstage glimpse into the series\u2019 extensive, storied production process to highlight why \u201cSNL\u201d has stood the test of time in ways that NBC-sanctioned media can\u2019t always give audiences. It\u2019s not exactly raw, but it is unapologetic; a more authentic and appropriately ridiculous look at the only show of its kind to last this long.<\/p>\n

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(Focus Features) Lorne Michaels stars in director Morgan Neville\u2019s documentary \u201cLorne\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLorne\u201d speeds past the horror stories of coked-up late writing nights and overworked employees. Those tales are all par for the course at this point. The film isn\u2019t excusing these rough working conditions, but it\u2019s not a puff piece, either. Instead, Neville tries to communicate his subject\u2019s belief that the best, strangest and funniest ideas come from the most unexpected places.<\/p>\n

\u201cLorne\u201d frames Michaels as a caring but stoic presence, as tender as he is esoteric. More critically, the film questions how and if \u201cSNL\u201d can continue without Michaels, stressing that he is the key ingredient to the show\u2019s success. At times, it feels like a victory lap, the most flattering possible portrait of a man who might be toying with the idea of going out while he\u2019s still on top. But when Neville digs deep down to the heart of the matter \u2014 when he gets Michaels talking, or points his camera in the right direction at a precise moment \u2014 he captures the spirit of \u201cSNL.\u201d This isn\u2019t just a late-night comedy variety show, and it\u2019s not enough to deem it a major cultural institution, either. \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d still sparks the imagination and drives the conversation after all these years because it\u2019s writer-focused. It\u2019s a series exploding with ideas and risks in equal measure. The show lives and dies by the people behind the camera, not in front of it. And in a culture so hellbent on idol worship and exhausting discourse, where every blemish is smoothed out or screamed at, \u201cSNL\u201d still offers us something scrappy and unvarnished. No wonder we can\u2019t seem to stay away, no matter how hard we try.<\/p>\n

Even those familiar with the process at \u201cSNL\u201d will find Neville\u2019s depiction of it fascinating, even somewhat novel. \u201cLorne\u201d walks viewers through the Monday-to-Saturday schedule, interspersed with memories from cast members, writers, producers and NBC execs past and present. The film emphasizes the pivotal importance of each day\u2019s routine, without making it look as stressful as it\u2019s known to be. \u201cLorne\u201d speeds past the horror stories of coked-up late writing nights and overworked employees; those tales are all par for the course at this point. The film isn\u2019t excusing these rough working conditions, but it\u2019s not a puff piece, either. Instead, Neville tries to communicate his subject\u2019s belief that the best, strangest and funniest ideas come from the most unexpected places. Often, that\u2019s during Tuesday writing nights, where writers typically work until sunrise. \u201cThe unconscious takes over,\u201d Michaels says. When the film cuts to the pages of a sketch-in-progress, closing in on the words \u201cVFX: Medium Fart,\u201d one wonders whether the fart was a risk Michaels was ultimately happy with or if, in the case of thousands of other sketches, it was cut.<\/p>\n

The truth of \u201cSNL\u201d is that there\u2019s no way to really know for sure if it will play with an audience until the sketch gets in front of one. For many, that never happens. At one point, cast member Mikey Day does a rough calculation and estimates that Michaels has read somewhere in the realm of 28,350 sketches. At the Wednesday table reads, Michaels trims the initial 60 sketches down to 40, and spends the next four hours reading through each and every one with the cast and that week\u2019s host. It\u2019s a draining process, but one that Michaels admits he can\u2019t let go of, no matter how old he gets or how much he wants to. To see someone care as much about the minute details of their work as he does is a rare thing for someone of Michaels\u2019 caliber. He could easily cash his checks and go. But, as Neville and those interviewed for the film stress, it wouldn\u2019t be the same \u201cSNL\u201d without Lorne\u2019s invisible touch. \u201cA good producer leaves no fingerprints,\u201d Michaels says. That may be true, and yet, Michaels\u2019 influence remains in every frame of every episode.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s something that\u2019s always struck me as singular. How many television shows are there where fans are highly familiar with the habits and penchants of the show\u2019s producer? I can\u2019t think of many, but if you ask any \u201cSNL\u201d diehard \u2014 even just a regular viewer \u2014 about Michaels, they\u2019ll likely prattle off some fun facts to you. His incessant love of popcorn. His favorite restaurants. The fact that he hates it when cast members break during a sketch, even though viewers love it. These are all facets of Michaels covered in the documentary, but I learned them back in my Tumblr days, when I\u2019d spend my teenage years liveblogging episodes with friends online.<\/p>\n

The late \u201900s era of \u201cSNL,\u201d stretching into the new decade, is revered as one of the show\u2019s strongest. Viral sketches and digital shorts occurred as frequently as new fan-favorite characters. The show was firing on all cylinders, and watching live every Saturday night with both my family and the anonymous crowd of people I knew online was an experience unlike any other. To me, it felt like being a part of history. (During the 2008 election season, when one could count on Tina Fey to appear as Sarah Palin<\/a>, it really was history, as evidenced by Julianne Moore\u2019s cutting turn<\/a> as Palin in the underrated HBO film \u201cGame Change.\u201d) When you can make a viewer in any part of the country feel connected to the world in that way, it\u2019s a special experience. And no matter how much some argue that \u201cSNL\u201d is a show for coastal elites, \u201cLorne\u201d correctly argues that Michaels understands the people of middle America, even if every sketch isn\u2019t always tailored to their interests. For what it\u2019s worth, this former North Dakotan certainly loved it.<\/p>\n

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Lorne Michaels and Steve Martin in director Morgan Neville\u2019s documentary \u201cLorne\u201d<\/p>\n

But that hasn\u2019t always been the case since. I\u2019ve soured on \u201cSNL\u201d more times than I can count in the past decade or more, not only aggravated by Michaels\u2019 willingness to give Donald Trump<\/a> a platform to humanize someone who had the distinct makings of a fascist in training, but because the humor just doesn\u2019t cut it like it used to. I was surprised to see \u201cLorne\u201d touch on both of these factors, and even more startled to find myself respecting Michaels\u2019 reluctance to apologize for any of his decisions. For all of the bad, there\u2019s good, too. Michaels egged Norm Macdonald on during Weekend Update, encouraging Macdonald to keep going after O.J. Simpson, despite how much NBC producer Don Ohlmeyer \u2014 one of Simpson\u2019s closest friends \u2014 hated it. Michaels didn\u2019t just stand by his writers; he risked the longevity of his show.<\/p>\n

Watching live every Saturday night was an experience unlike any other. To me, it felt like being a part of history. When you can make a viewer in any part of the country feel connected to the world in that way, it\u2019s a special experience.<\/p>\n

That longevity is always in peril if the sketches aren\u2019t funny. When I tune into \u201cSNL\u201d these days, I find myself getting an audible laugh out of maybe a third of the night\u2019s sketches. It\u2019s not just that the humor often feels too topical or reliant on pop culture, but that the culture it\u2019s relying on is pandering to younger audiences. It\u2019s a move that feels unnecessary for a show that can still steer the conversation, not follow behind it.<\/p>\n

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(Focus Features) Erik Kenward, Steve Higgins and Lorne Michaels in director Morgan Neville\u2019s documentary, \u201cLorne\u201d<\/p>\n

But \u201cLorne\u201d got me thinking that perhaps this would\u2019ve been my reaction with any era of \u201cSNL.\u201d After all, nothing lasts half a century without changing with the times, and \u2014 big shocker \u2014 not everything is meant for me, specifically. We may be firmly in the tech age, but even though \u201cSNL\u201d pioneered early viral videos with its digital shorts, the show is still finding its footing as it tries to understand how it fits into a culture where so much of what\u2019s deemed \u201cfunny\u201d takes place on a screen. The new franchise across the pond, \u201cSaturday Night Live UK,\u201d initially looked as though it might be an answer for fatigued viewers looking for a refresh, but even that show has stumbled. Though it wouldn\u2019t exactly be fair to write it off, either. As Neville\u2019s documentary reminds us, not everything played so well in the first handful of \u201cSNL\u201d episodes back in 1975. A little bit of breathing room is necessary for any creative entity to establish itself, and the same could be said with this age of \u201cSNL.\u201d And just when I think all of the internet-based bits are cloying, here comes<\/a> Sarah Sherman dressed as Punch the monkey\u2019s<\/a> mom with a Betty Boop-meets-Jersey girl accent, and I\u2019m reminded that when \u201cSNL\u201d goes full stupid, it brings me a unique joy that few other things can.<\/p>\n

This is what \u201cSNL\u201d does best. As Michaels puts it in the film, the sketches are like confections: they\u2019re not always what you want, but when you\u2019re in the mood for something delicious, you\u2019ll indulge no matter how fleeting the joy is, or how much you beat yourself up for giving in. What Michaels and \u201cSNL\u201d do is play to the American sweet tooth. They give us candy-coated comedy with a surprisingly varied center, full of unexpected twists. It\u2019s just enough to sate the palate until next week, when we find ourselves craving a treat once again. No matter how much we try to resist, curiosity remains. Sometimes, even the memory of the experience is enough to keep us coming back for more.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/p>\n

about recent documentaries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It seems like there\u2019s a new celebration of the \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d legacy every other month at this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-594116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}