Saturday Night Live is simultaneously blessed and cursed by its history: When the show was good, it was good enough to build up positive feelings that stick with it today, but every current character, sketch, and joke is measured by the ones that preceded it. And there's a lot of "before" for comparison. On the air since 1975, and still mostly holding to its initial formula, SNL is often criticized as "comedy by numbers," when it isn't being praised for becoming "relevant" again. That seesaw of expectation leads to every new season being called either the worst ever, or the best in a long time.
But if nothing else, SNL is still a thriving school for comic actors. The list of brilliant comedians who started out as SNL cast members stretches back from Bill Murray through Dana Carvey and Will Ferrell, and to current players like Will Forte and Rachel Dratch. (Of course, the list of not-so-accomplished comedians goes back pretty far too, but that's another story.)
The four newcomers of SNL's 2005-6 season—Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, and Kristen Wiig —have begun to make their mark on the show, as well as stake their claim on its future: Hader is a master of impersonation, while Sudeikis, an SNL writer for two years, has proven to be a solid player. Wiig already has a recurring character (The Target Lady) under her belt, while Andy Samberg, of Lonely Island fame, has ensured SNL will be running digital shorts until 2008 at least.
On a recent Monday, The A.V. Club stopped by 30 Rockefeller's 17th floor to talk to SNL's four newest cast members about their (tiny) offices, their work week, and their fears of typecasting, recurring characters, and auditions.
The A.V. Club: How did you two end up in an office together?
Jason Sudeikis: They just put us here.
Bill Hader: They go by height.
JS: I have a different office every year. So this is my third office. I like this one because it's close to the action.
AVC: You mean that room with the big table?
BH: Yeah. And it was also reportedly Al Franken and Tom Davis' office, right?
JS: It was? I know it was James Anderson and Kenan Thompson's office.
BH: Oh, well, that's even more impressive.
Andy Samberg: A lot to live up to.
AVC: So you've never been in an office you wanted to stay in?
JS: No, every person I've ever been in an office with has been let go, so…
Or they've left on their own accord. They haven't necessarily all been let go.
BH: Yeah… That sounds more like it. [Laughs.]
JS: So it wasn't my choosing, but I couldn't be happier. I think that goes for both of us.
BH: I couldn't be happier either. We found out we have a lot in common.
And we don't have to look at each other, because we're back to back when we're working.
AVC: So what are you all doing today? Today is…
Everyone: Pitch.
JS: Pitch meeting. Where you meet whoever's hosting. The writers go through a topical meeting, where they talk about all the things that have happened in the past three weeks and things that are going to be happening during the week—predicting the future to a certain degree. And then deciding what they want to write about, and who's going to write what, and things like that. Then we go meet with Natalie Portman.
BH: And this happens. [Everyone starts clapping.]
JS: We clap. And everyone gives her a couple ideas about what they may or may not write, and then we eat free food. And then either you stick around, or you go do…
BH: You stick around, generally try to write something,
AS: Get a jump on the week.
BH: That's a really great feeling when you come in on Tuesday, and you're like, "I have a piece underneath my belt." It lays off the pressure.
AS: You're talking about a gun, right?
BH: Yes. I come to work with a gun.
AS: Under your belt?
Kristen Wiig: You can't print that.
BH: I mean, I've got a license for it. I use it for an intimidation tool. It's not loaded. "Oh really? You don't like that sketch?"
AS: "Well, I've got a piece underneath my belt."
BH: I'm just putting my guns on the table, I'm just saying.
KW: We're all required to bring some sort of weapon.
JS: I wear shoe lifts.
AS: Totally unnecessarily, too.
JS: I'm fairly tall, but it's like another quarter inch.
AVC: It gives you an edge?
BH: Not with most hosts, but with Lance Armstrong, it gives you an edge.
AVC: And with Natalie Portman.
JS: Yeah, but her bone structure totally outweighs my lifts.
AVC: So what was everyone's first pitch, whether or not it made it to air?
KW: I can't remember. My first show was with Jason Lee, and I honestly can't remember what I pitched for him. I know I had written it down, though. I was terrified.
BH: I think I pitched a Bobby Flay thing for Steve Carell, him playing Bobby Flay and getting executed, or something.
JS: A couple of years ago, when I was just a writer, I pitched to Jack Black an idea about him being a college-kid folk singer who tries to sing "Cat's In The Cradle" to his dad, but his dad keeps interrupting him. And it did make it. But that is the only one. First show, first thing. I was very nervous.
BH: So your first pitch, you then wrote, and it got on the show. God, that doesn't happen a lot.
AVC: How much of the pitch meeting makes it to air?
JS: I would say 15 percent of what is pitched in that room probably actually gets on the show, much less even written. Sometimes it will be a variation on it. Sometimes people pitch whatever, just sort of to protect the piece or the joke or the notion. It's a lot less interesting than the Saturday show, which is probably why they don't televise it.
AS: Yet.
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