Episode 86 - Peacock SNL Docuseries, Questlove's documentary, and more

[00:00:06] It's The Ten to One Podcast, with your host, Brad Oman, featuring Ben Conowitz and Nate Lauchs. And here's the podcast! Hello friends, it was a great new episode of SNL this last week. No, no, you're tricking. You all got it, I missed one?

[00:00:30] Yeah, you silly trickster. But SNL will be back on March 1st with host Shane Gillis. Are we okay with Shane? I like Shane Gillis, but are we okay to say that publicly or not? So we did talk about this when he hosted, and we've talked about his stand-up, I think it was on Go Flicks Yourself that we talked about it maybe, or something like that.

[00:00:54] But I'm on the fence, because while I do think that there is something that does bubble beneath the surface of his comedy that feels like he's tricking the wrong audience into liking him, and there's smarter stuff for people who aren't terrible people in there. The Joe Rogan? Yeah, he's still said some pretty shitty things that aren't really that funny and are kind of prejudicial, if that's a word. I think it's a word, isn't it? Oh yeah, yeah.

[00:01:24] Yeah, yeah. Like for example, one of the things that I found out from a friend of mine is that he said something, making a joke about how the Wachowski siblings, who are trans and are women, he's like, you can't convince me that two chicks made the matrix. And it's just like, I don't really know, but we can do that, Shane. The thing is, that's not even funny. Yeah. It's just dumb. Yeah. On top of the other problem.

[00:01:53] But yeah, so it's a tough line to walk. He's also sometimes very funny. He is sometimes very funny. I think he's got some good stuff, but yeah, I don't know. It's tough. But after that, Lady Gaga will be pulling Double Duty as host and musical guest, and she's always a treat. Lady Gaga. Yeah, always a treat. So that'll be a lot of fun. Less problematic than Shane Gillis. Yeah. Although Joker, Joker Foie Gras sucked real bad. Joker Foie Gras.

[00:02:21] But we are talking today on this episode of the 10 to 1 podcast about a series of Saturday Night Live documentaries that were released before SNL 50. We wanted to do this before the big special debuted, but we got sick and we almost died. Well, me and Ben did. So you're welcome. Nate with Healthy the Horse. We're back. Yeah. With a vengeance. You guys both sound a lot better. You're getting better. Yeah. I look better too. I've got a new hat. Yeah, you know. Listeners, he bought this dumb new hat. It's not a dumb hat.

[00:02:50] We're going to post this both on the 10 to 1 and Facebook because we're not even going to say what he looks like. We're going to post it and we're going to let you, the listeners, make the judgment and the observation. It's a good hat. Everyone's got something in their mind right now, what this hat looks like. Yeah. Go dumber. Yeah. Oh, come on. Go dumber. Yeah. You act like I wear like a fucking like from Strange Brew. I'm going to have like the McKenzie brother's floppy hat. I'd prefer it. I'd prefer that.

[00:03:18] I would love it if you had a nice Canadian toque, but no. But no. You know who does love a good hat? Brad loves a good hat and you look great in your hats. I do love a good hat. Coincidentally today, I'm not wearing one. Me either. I'm not either. Oh, wow. The hat bros have gone just because dominated by one stupid hat. I like my hat. I'll bet. We'll see how long it lasts. It's a good look. It's vintage. Anyway, we'll post a picture. You can make your observation. You'll only need one guest to figure out the best joke on that comment. We'll get on our podcast. Yes, absolutely.

[00:03:47] I don't know why there needs to be a joke is all I'm saying. It's going to be like a caption contest. But anyway, we're going to talk about it because it's the cat that I'm wearing. Caption contest. Good. To begin with, we're going to start with a docu-series called SNL 50 beyond Saturday Night. This was a series of four episodes, essentially, each being an independent documentary about a different facet of Saturday Night Live.

[00:04:15] This was really cool because it allowed audiences to kind of get a glimpse and understand more about the show that they might not be familiar with in a variety of ways because there's so much to learn about the history of the show, but also just its inner workings and things that people probably weren't aware of before. And so there's, like I said, there's four episodes. The first one is called Five Minutes. It focuses on the audition process for SNL. Loved this one. The second one is called More Cowbell. That was great.

[00:04:44] And that focuses, actually, sorry, the second one is written by A Week Inside the SNL Writer's Room and that focuses on the writing staff as they make a single episode with Io Adeburi. Which our listeners know, we do try to give the writers as much credit as possible because they are such a vital part of the show. Yeah, and they don't often get a lot of the credit they deserve. Yeah, yeah. And this, for what big respect I already had for them, this made me respect even more. The third one is More Cowbell, which is focused entirely on the inception and the legacy

[00:05:14] of the famous cowbell sketch. I was a little nervous about that one because I'm like, a whole, but it worked. Yeah. It worked. And then the last one is Season 11, The Weird Year, which is about the year that Lorne Michaels came back to SNL after being away. I actually was really, I really liked it a lot, but we'll talk about more as we dig into this. So we're going to go one by one and kind of just talk about each of these episodes and observations, what we liked about them. So let's start with Five Minutes, the one about the audition process. Yeah, the whole idea is you get five minutes, unless you're Kenan Thompson.

[00:05:43] You get five minutes to audition. And, you know, can you imagine, some of these people have been dreaming about this since they were 10 years old, right? Five minutes. And you get the call up to do it, right? Yeah. Something that everyone in the sketch comedy world is trying to do, or even in the stand-up world, right? I mean, there are actors that are just comedic actors that have said their dream was to be on SNL. It's also one of those things where no matter how cool you think you are, if SNL calls and says, do you want to audition?

[00:06:13] Even if you're too cool for school, you're like, I'm going to go audition. Like, of course you are. Yeah. Oh, I don't know, man. It's pretty corporate these days. Fuck you. You're going to go audition. It's the pinnacle of comedy. It's still at the top, right? Yeah. And what I loved about this, though, is how you realize, or when you watch it, you realize that every single human being is struggling from imposter syndrome. Oh, yeah. Right? Like...

[00:06:39] One of my favorite, and they've told this story so many times, this is not the first time you've heard it, especially... Can I guess? If you are an SNL fan, what is the story I'm going to tell, Brad? The Hater-Sandberg story. It's the Hater-Sandberg story, where in the elevator, Hater and Sandberg auditioned on the same day. They rode the elevator up, and Sandberg had a box full of props, and Hater had nothing. And Hater said, oh my God, this guy's got props. I brought nothing. I'm fucked. And Sandberg goes, look at this guy.

[00:07:09] He's so fucking cool. He doesn't have any props. Yeah. I'm fucked. So good. It's... But it encapsulates perfectly the audition process. Which is exactly what I would have thought, regardless of which one I was. No matter what exactly. Whatever one you're doing is probably the better one. Yeah. And I am so stupid, I didn't bring props. Right. You know? I also loved, loved, loved... I would almost love a documentary just on the cast members, or the auditions that did not make it. Oh, absolutely. Oh, yeah. I would love to see so much more footage from those. Jennifer Coolidge, right?

[00:07:38] I never, of all the things, I never knew she auditioned, right? Yeah. You have Mindy Kaling, who... I am a huge Mindy Kaling fan. I think she's just so funny. Barack Obama. Another one that was really surprising to me, Kevin Hart. Yeah. Right? Who's done, obviously, very, very well. Stephen Colbert. What I found really interesting was that Colbert auditioned with a character that would eventually go on to be on the Danny Carvey show.

[00:08:08] The waiter who can't stop, like, almost throwing up when he's... Talking about food. That's a great character. Another one, another one, because I never know where to put him, because I love him as a musician. I think he's a good serious actor, but Donald Glover, right? Yeah. That dude is just... I don't think people give him the credit for what a genius he is. No, he's hilarious. He's so funny. Community, I just think he's just a genius on. Yeah. He wrote on 30 Rock, too.

[00:08:38] Yeah, he wrote on 30 Rock. But also, musically, he is a genius. He is so good with Childish Gambino. He was partially responsible for Werewolf Bar Mitzvah on 30 Rock. Really? Yeah, because he wrote on that episode and he also... He's on the track, actually. He's like, oh no, Trey, it's about to be a full moon. Jordan Peele. How different would it have been if Keem Peele, right? So, what I love to think about and what I was kind of going with is the careers that these people have had.

[00:09:08] I mean, obviously, there's countless auditions that did not make it, people that didn't make it, that didn't go on to great careers. Right. Yeah, they're showing you the ones they're showing you. Yeah, but Keem Peele would not have happened. There's 400 others that you've never heard of, right? Yeah, Keem Peele would not have happened, though. And I like Keem Peele a lot. Oh, of course. It would not have happened if he didn't get this no. The Colbert Report and, you know, I mean, just the trajectory of these people's careers and lives.

[00:09:34] And I bet they were as devastated as any human has ever been when they got the call that they're not on a show. Absolutely. Well, and that's just crazy to show you, too, like of like how it's a crapshoot of who, like sometimes who you're picking for SNL. Like, you know, oh, maybe they'll work out and become Will Ferrell or Amy Poehler. But then you get someone like not to necessarily fully disparage these people. But, you know, you get Luke Knoll. You know, you get Finesse Mitchell, people who don't turn out to be big comedy stars. By the way, I looked it up. Sorry, Ben.

[00:10:05] Finesse Mitchell was on the show for like four years. How did I like that? It's nuts to think that. So like you got a very famous person like Stephen Colbert now. And the thing is, it's not that if he did get the show, he wouldn't have been good on it. You know, he would have been good on it because he's proven that he's great on it anyway. But that's just so I think to Brad's point, it's like it's not the be all end all of like, oh, well, you didn't make it. Therefore, you're not worthy of comedy. Good greatness.

[00:10:34] You can easily just, you know, it's it's SNL's fault they didn't choose you. Well, and sometimes I bet it's just a matter of timing to like maybe by the time Stephen Colbert was auditioning, they already felt like they had somebody who offered what he did, you know, because you want an eclectic ensemble that delivers a wide variety of things. You don't need five Chris Farley's, you know, you don't need four. Well, I mean, you know, you only four Phil Hartman's, you know, that right thing. You have to have that good mixture. Yeah.

[00:11:00] One of the things I loved about this documentary was the fact that they showed the audition to the cast members. Yeah. And a lot of them had never seen it before. Yeah. And we're all so cringy. Right? Yeah. It was great watching her. Oh, yeah. It was so adorable to like have her cry. Did other people cry? Yeah. Did other people cry? I need to know. I loved Amy Poehler's too because she was so uneasy about wanting to watch it and then when she did. Yeah. Yeah. And she's like, okay, I've been up. We get it. We get it. We get it. We get it. Where's the joke?

[00:11:30] Where's the joke? Come on. Come on. But her audition process was fascinating though because she's like one of the few people, maybe even the only person who she was basically told that she already had the job and they just wanted to see her be herself as opposed to doing the characters they'd already seen her do on like late night with Conan O'Brien and stuff like that. She was already doing TV stuff by then and she had been with UCB and whatnot. So it was really fascinating to kind of hear that very unique instance of like her not

[00:11:59] necessarily needing to audition and doing something completely different that was kind of outside of her wheelhouse in a way. The other thing too that I loved about it is when they're going in there and they talked about this on the actual anniversary special as well where and Jimmy Fallon just talked about it on a show. You go into audition and you're in the studio. You're on the main stage and you can't really see, you know, there's four people maybe in the room with you. Yeah. Right.

[00:12:28] Lauren Michaels, Marcy Kaufman, and Marcy Klein, sorry. A couple other people. Right. And they're not laughing. Yeah. Or if they are, it's like very like brief and like, you know, not consistent. I never got the feeling that Lauren is a ha ha laugher much anyway. Yeah. Not really. So, so. Yes, that's good. Exactly. And so like, can you just imagine going up there and you've honed these skills.

[00:12:58] You've gotten laughs, right? You wouldn't be up there if you hadn't gotten laughs before, but you're up there and nobody is laughing. I don't remember which one of the documentaries or live shows it was that Jimmy Fallon talked about. Like everybody warned him that no one was going to laugh. Yeah. It was at the concert he talked about that. And then Lauren laughed. Yeah. I was like, oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. Then the other one too that I thought would have been so hellish is you, you, you go up there, you bring all your stuff.

[00:13:25] I can't remember which cast member talked about this, but you, you give, you give them your best, you know, all of the stuff and then they give you a call back. Yeah. And they want and they will all new stuff. I got shot my load. That was everything I had. Can you imagine? Every prop in the trunk I brought with me. All of my good stuff. I'm going to come up with something new. If I would have known I got a call back, I would have maybe held one back. Right.

[00:13:51] I, I loved, uh, seeing Kyle Mooney's bit where he did his awkward version of himself and he's like saying things wrong. It's like the 30, 30 Rocky Plaza. Um, of course the amazing Lauren Michelson. And then cutting to him and back talking about it too. And he's like, I think a lot of people do you think I'm like, and Beck's like, I think it's exactly like you. I think it's exactly like you. And Beck's impression of Lauren too.

[00:14:21] He was like, it's like, Laurie Mitchell's what the fuck? But like that, I honestly kudos to Kyle Mooney for doing not, not, not that bit, but calling out Lauren Michaels while doing the bit like that takes some balls. I think, um, what was the other, was another audition story that I thought was really, uh, really good.

[00:14:43] It is amazing though, where you see so many of the cast members that bring these characters to life. Once they're on, they auditioned with them. Right. And so they bring them to the show. Right. Yeah. Oh, like Shoemaker said, Mike Shoemaker, um, who works with Seth Meyers on late night and has been a long time writer. Uh, he said that every character that Kristen Wiig did in a audition made it onto the show, which is just nuts. Yeah.

[00:15:10] I mean, that, that, that, that many characters that are good enough to get on national television. But I'll say it again though. There are every performer. I think that did something on the special was a great performer on SNL, but there is something different about Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell when they're on stage. Yeah. There is just genuinely, it is watching Michael Jordan up there. Right. It is. It is something about, there's a level of trust that you, the audience just has with those

[00:15:39] two specifically where you're like, I don't care. I'm going to laugh. Yeah. I know I'm like, if I don't laugh, it's my fault is how I feel when I watch Will Ferrell or Kristen Wiig. Yeah. It's just, it's ingrained. It's the confidence. It's the energy, you know, and their ability to make everything else better. Right. I mean, they're just, they did not miss a beat. Right. Yeah. And just so, so amazing.

[00:16:05] They could join the cast tomorrow again and still be the funniest person on the cast. Just incredible. You know, it's so interesting to... Kristen Credible. We're done. We're done. I mean, I just, I can't... Okay, what, can you move on? Andy Samberg as well. Will, we move on. I mean, I think he's got to go up before he auditioned. Yeah. Which is so, if you listen to the Lonely Island podcast, you know, very Andy Samberg. Yeah. Being nervous and anxious.

[00:16:35] Well, it's so funny listening to the things too that like people remember after all these years. Like, I was really fascinated by Shoemaker again talking about Andy Samberg's audition. He's like, and he says, I always remember for my entire life when Andy Samberg, he does like a bit in his thing where like he like saying something that he wrote and like whatever. And so he's like, I just want to point out that I did this, I did this and I did that. So triple threat. And like Shoemaker remembers like the way like he held his hand, like doing it and everything.

[00:17:05] Like it's just a weird little thing to remember. But also those are the things they're looking for. Yeah. What is the thing that you're going to bring that's unique to this? And it's so funny too, because like one of the things I've noticed in listening to Samberg and Yorma and Keeve and all them on Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast, Samberg has such just a naturally way of being funny in the way he talks. Like the way he shortens certain words or like comes up with weird little phrases of how to say things that are totally normal. It's so funny because I always think, I want to do that. Yeah. Why do I do this? This is hilarious.

[00:17:34] But I never think of it. And he just like- So easy. Like just comes up with it. And also like they're so close. You could tell he's just done it his whole life with them. Yeah. Exactly. Smart. Smart. Yeah. I just, I really loved the auditions. I loved seeing the videos. This was so well done. I wish they would release like just a whole thing of like just the full reels to watch because that was one of the coolest things they would do on best of releases is they would include their full audition reel.

[00:18:03] And I wish that they would just release a whole library so that you could- There was another one too, that another kind of data point too that I thought was interesting where some of them are getting discovered in the club, right? Mm-hmm. They're, they're, SNL kind of scouts are out there or, or Loren himself, right? He's still going to clubs and watching people. Um, but obviously there's the big sketch comedy, you know, kind of farm system in America that they've got.

[00:18:32] But some of them were just calls, right? Jason Sudeikis got on or an audition, not on the show, but an audition because his uncle George went call. Yeah. Right. Um, uh, who was it that Gwyneth, uh, uh, Maya Rudolph? I think it was Maya Rudolph. Um, you know, and so that doesn't get them on the show, but it sometimes can help if you know somebody, you know, to say, Hey, you gotta, I think John Mulaney was somebody too. He saw somebody, but think about that.

[00:19:02] Or maybe somebody saw John Mulaney. George went, makes a phone call and we get graced with the perfection that is Jason Sudeikis on Saturday Night Live. Like, nepotism be damned. That guy deserved to be on the show. Yeah. He was an all timer, you know? And it's just, yeah, there's something to be said for like, there's sure nepotism and this and that, but is some of that stuff is like, Oh, you know, maybe really, really funny talent runs in that family. Yeah.

[00:19:30] And that not everyone too, that gets on audition makes it the first time. Right. Yeah. Oh, that was the other story that I really loved. Bobby Moynihan being smart enough and like wanting to do good enough that he, when they asked him to audition, he was like, Oh no, no. Like I'm not ready for that. And like working on stuff for a year and then coming back and doing it. Like, I don't know that I would pass up the opportunity.

[00:20:00] You know, never get that again. That was like, so like, I was so impressed, but he had the, just the, the, I'm sure that that was pure terror made him feel probably a little okay too. Right. Where he's like, I don't know. I'm not ready for this. I'm terrified. I don't want to do it. His reaction to his audition was great too. He's like, Oh Bobby. I should watch this one. It may be, it may be miss Bobby Moynihan. Honestly, there was some cast members I saw that are like, Oh, I don't see enough of you in things. Yeah.

[00:20:29] Bobby Moynihan had the show near the top of that. That he was on a couple of years ago. Mr. Mayor. I watched it because of him and he's great in it. Yeah. He's great in it. And I just feel like he needs more vehicles because he is so funny. So funny. I listened to him. I forget. Maybe it was on the Conan podcast or whatever, but he also doesn't seem to be a person that chases a ton of stuff. He's pretty content in his life. Um, there's a lot of voice work. Yeah. He gets a lot of voice work. I think he, I don't even know if he lives in Hollywood anymore.

[00:20:57] Like, you know, he just, he's raising a, he has a family. Like I think he's just content. Right. And I think he's one of those that also lives with a high amount of anxiety, like a Bill Hader a little bit. Right. Um, and I think there's a balance there with his mental health. He tries to, you know, go with as well. So the project has to be right. Yeah. I was lucky enough to meet him actually on a elevator at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago. No, he was so nice. He was so nice. I, we, I, it was actually really like cute because like we nerded out about Star Wars

[00:21:26] stuff because we were at Star Wars Celebration. And so I was like, Oh, Hey, have you seen this? And he's like, no. He's like, how, how was that? I was like, Oh dude, it's so cool. The other thing I was thinking too, this is not about the doc necessarily, but, uh, you mentioned Jason Sudeikis and you know, obviously had one of the biggest shows of the last 10 years. Yeah. Um, Ted Lasso, but I looked it up. He's got nothing going on right now. Uh, Brad, you know a little more about like just development stuff. Does that mean he's developing something and nobody knows kind of what it is?

[00:21:55] As far as I know, there's another season of Ted Lasso that's in the works actually, whether or not. But it isn't going to have him in it though. I don't know. And even if it doesn't, it doesn't mean that he's not part of it. Like as a producer or something like that. The last thing I want to talk about with this one was one of the things I loved so much about what they did is they put a, um, they, they had a camera set up and they put an, like an iPad or some kind of monitor in front of the camera.

[00:22:22] And while Ego Wodum was talking about what the process was like of waiting to audition, walking onto Studio 8H, being guided to the stage and all that stuff, they pushed the monitor with her talking head on it and went through the entire studio to like illustrate what her walk was like. And that was just a really cool way of like doing that and putting you in that moment and understanding what it would have been like for her to do that, you know? Yeah. So yeah, that was pretty cool.

[00:22:49] No, it's an, uh, that audition process is unlike anything else, right? Like I can't even imagine. Good Lord. The, just the nerves, but I mean, it's pressure produces diamonds, right? So we get some really, really great performers out of it. It's awesome. So speaking of sometimes people audition and they're auditioning for the cast, but they don't get it, but they become writers. Mm-hmm. Uh, John Mulaney, I think is one of them. And Bolin Yang when he started. Chevy Chase was supposed to be. Yeah.

[00:23:17] And so the second episode of this documentary is all about the writers. Mm-hmm. I, it was, when people ask me what I think of this, uh, thought of this episode, I tell them, it's very apparent that every writer has anxiety on this show. Oh yeah. Because. Even more so than the performers. And it's not even probably close. I think it was Jimmy Fowley that said, I've never been, uh, mentally as unhealthy as I am today.

[00:23:46] And I think he was joking, but there was some truth to it. Oh yeah. Right? Like that this show takes it out of you. And we know that to be true with the lonely island, with other cast members that have been on it. Right? Um, that. You just get, I mean, like I said earlier, like I, I apologize. I apologize so much after watching these behind the scenes. Yep. It's so hard. I don't even know what the fuck I'm thinking. Complaining. It's. It's so hard. It's competitive with other writers. It's stressful because you want it to be good.

[00:24:15] It's stressful because of the time constraints. You're living in what have you done for me lately. Yep. You can have the best sketch of the last decade. And then the next day, you need to come up with something just as good. Yeah. And that's just, it's crazy to think that that's, you have no downtime to even pat yourself on the back a little bit and be like, wow, what a great thing I did. Nope. It's next week. We gotta go. Wow. I don't think it was during this episode. I think it was during the audition episode or something like that.

[00:24:44] I think it was Sue Dacus who talks about like what he got on in like his first episode or something like that. And it was like two or three sketches. And then he's like, and then I didn't get shit on the rest of the season. Yep. But yeah, this was amazing to watch because like we knew I think a big chunk of the process of how SNL operates just because we're big fans of it. You know, you know that writing night is Tuesday. They do the table read on Wednesday.

[00:25:11] They start, you know, putting together all the practical technical stuff on Thursday and you're getting all that stuff ready for Friday, dress rehearsal Saturday. But I never stopped to consider how much more the writers were involved with the creation of the actual execution of the sketch. You're directing that. Yeah, they are. They're all directing. And that's actually what people wear in the sketches to, you know, everything. The camera shots.

[00:25:38] They go to the showroom and they talk to the director and they're like they talk about when they want the camera to cut to certain characters. Because it's in their head. Yeah, and it's all got to be there for timing. You don't want to reveal a joke if you know they have the wrong shot, you know, and obviously mistakes get made. It can ruin a punchline. It can ruin a reveal or something like that. But yeah, all this. They have to approve costumes. They have to approve props that all this stuff. Did you listen to the most recent Lonely Island? Not yet.

[00:26:01] It was a Q&A and they talk about a sketch that got cut and you cannot find it. It may have actually made it to air and it is not online anymore. Which one is it? I can't remember. Seth has talked about the sketch apparently before how it's the worst sketch he's ever seen on SNL. Really?

[00:26:29] And he was saying that the writer of the sketch, I can't, you know, again, I don't remember the name as well. But he said, Loren looked over at the writer and goes, do you want me to help you bury this? Oh, wow. Loren, just the king of just devastation. Yeah, exactly. And they talk about that. Like there's just... Is that something you're proud of? Yeah, so we're proud of this one. We're proud of this one.

[00:26:58] This is something you want America to see. But again, though, you are king of the world. You get Beavis in by head on. Right. Right. And the next week, you've got nothing. Eat shit. You know? And what I love about this too, and again, I know I keep on referencing the Lonely Island podcast, but right now I am obsessed with it. It's so good. And it does provide a very good look into SNL. Yeah. I hope that they do something about SNL 50 because I want to know everything. They're going to. Because today they talked... They said it? Nope.

[00:27:28] Because Seth wouldn't let them, but they're like, you know, Andy's like, so we just can't mention anything? Like, you know, but they mentioned a couple things, but they're going to get to it. Okay, good. Yeah, I've got to catch up on Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast. But yeah, the... I was... Yeah, I was... You know, also the other thing that I was surprised by too is listening to the writers talk about how pitching the host goes and how most of the stuff that they're pitching, they're not intending to really write or anything like that.

[00:27:57] Like, they're just saying stuff to say something that's funny because like if you really want to write it, you don't want to blow your wad right there in the room. Yeah. You know, you want to have the full sketch and have it, you know, ready to go and ready to submit. And so, yeah, though, sitting in on like that meeting where everyone's just in Lauren's office and hearing pitches and talking to the host and getting a vibe for, you know, what they like and like hearing, you know, whatever they have super early in the fucking morning.

[00:28:23] I know I talk a lot about the Lonely Island podcast and it just, it talks so much right now about good SNL trivia. They go sketch by sketch through a lot of what they're, not just the Lonely Island stuff, but, you know, they talk about sketches that bombed, but you can tell they still think they're funny. Oh, yeah. Right.

[00:28:45] And so that is one of the hard elements of being a writer is what the three of us might find funny because we laugh at dumb stuff sometimes. Oh, yeah. No, me. Other people won't. Yeah. Right. Right. And knowing what other people will laugh at is a skill. Right. Because sometimes, you know, writers or, you know, you have certain kind of humor or you have a certain kind of element there and it just doesn't translate for whatever reason. Yeah. And so they talked a little bit about that.

[00:29:13] Or you have a great sketch. They talk about that on the podcast in the Q&A. That was one of the things that they did mention about the 50th anniversary special is when Adam Sandler and his song talks about a cast member not being willing to take off his shirt. Yeah. Or not a cast member, a host. A host. Yeah. Not being willing. Yeah.

[00:29:37] And they said, and every writer in the room felt that because like, you know, you've got this sketch, you've got this idea. Everything would be perfect. Ben, I just need you to take off your shirt. What's the big deal? It just like, and you've gone shirtless on other film projects. Just take off your shirt. And you're just being weird about it and it just ruins everything that we've built here. Yep. Just do it. Like, it's going to be so funny. And then they're like, nah, I don't think so. Yeah. You know, and that's hard too as a writer because you're like, this is, just do what I want. I tell you to do kind of. Yeah.

[00:30:06] You don't even know it's going to be so fucking funny. Exactly. That was one of the other great things she was talking about with the writers because they often have to be the one who gives the host notes on like how to deliver a punchline or something like that. And hearing Tina Fey talk about having to go and tell Sylvester Stallone to like enunciate and it's like, we can't understand you. It's like, and that was not the first time he had gotten that note. So easy to talk to him. The other one who was talking about like giving De Niro. Yeah.

[00:30:33] You got to walk up to Robert De Niro and be like, hey, actually we need, I'm going to give you some lines on how to deliver a line. Yeah. Actually. So one of my favorite parts of this documentary, and this is something that kind of even further solidified for me that Tina Fey has to be the one to take over SNL is they're talking, she's talking about like the competitive nature between writers and how it's kind of fallen by the wayside. And she's like, they got to bring that back. Yeah. You got to get that back.

[00:31:02] And so it was just the way she said it. Like she, she understands just enough of the cutthroat attitude that you want to have where you want to be better than somebody else and how it makes you that much better of a writer because you want it more and you, somebody else wants it just as much as you do and pushing yourself and each other to get there. You want a little bit of that. You know, it's, it's, it's that whiplash mentality, you know? It's really interesting because they, they talked about that again, a lot of Q and A today.

[00:31:28] So there's some things here on the Lonely Island podcast, but how back in the day that they were on, and that sounds like 500 years ago, but it was like 10, right? Yeah. 10, 15. Um, they said, you know, Andy brought it up that when he was there recently, he said it's a little bit of a different culture now because he feels like cast members have more autonomy to say, no, they're not going to be in a sketch. Back when they were on the show, they were not able to do that.

[00:31:57] Or, or it kind of implies too, like, I'm not going to be in a sketch about this thing. Right. There was, I cannot remember a year ago or so, there was a sketch where, uh, there was a rumor that, um, Cecily Strong was initially in it and then decided I don't like the content of this. Oh yeah. Like, and, or who it's, you know, parodying or whatever. I'm, I, based on my values or based on, you know, my, my beliefs, I don't want to be in this. And they're implying that we wouldn't have been able to do that. Right.

[00:32:27] And that is something that Lauren allows now. Things have softened. I mean, he used to not, you know, want people to go and do their own shows or movies and stuff like that. And he, you know, he lets people off for a few episodes here and there. And like, um, I think we talked about this on another episode of, of 10 to one where, uh, David Spade was talking about being there when he was doing, um, uh, who did he play? Dickie Roberts. No, no, no. What? No. Oh, he played a Biden's son, Hunter Biden. Oh yeah. And when he was, I thought you were talking about the movies he was doing. No.

[00:32:56] When he was there for the show and he was talking to like Sarah Sherman about something and Sarah was like, I'm going to text Lauren to find out why this didn't get on or didn't get picked. And David's like, what? Yeah. You're going to text Lauren to ask him why your sketch didn't get on. And it's like, what the fuck is this place? Everyone's like friends with him. Why the fuck would you do that? You would get fired? Yeah, exactly. So it's yeah. The vibe is a guy though, by the way, of a writer that David Spade famously talks about. He didn't get a sketch on for the first three years of being on the show. Right.

[00:33:27] Yeah. He's like, I'm just not. And it wasn't until he found a couple guys to write with, which I think the show shows, right? Yeah. I think one of the best things writers can do, not every writer likes to write with other people, but is finding somebody you trust to write with you. Because sketch comedy, I think, especially sketch writing that's really good, is oftentimes incredibly collaborative. Of course. Yeah.

[00:33:55] Especially if you can take it almost all the way there. And then if I run something by you, oh shit, I didn't look at, I didn't think about that logistical problem. Even if it's not because like, especially with sketch writing, like you can, that's the funniest line that could possibly exist. But you know, I know a little bit more about blocking and you're going to have a real tough angle to make that come across on film. Yeah. Even that kind of stuff where you've got just another perspective, you know? Yeah.

[00:34:20] But yeah, this, I think for me, this was the most revealing and fascinating episode of this docu-series. This made me the most apologizing. Especially because us being such super fans, like I felt like I was learning stuff. I was like, wow, I had no fucking clue. Never knew about it. And again, kudos to giving the writers their own space. Yeah. Because they don't get enough. They don't get enough. You know what I don't get enough of? What? Cowbell. Yes. Oh, look at these amazing transitions. We're really good. Yeah.

[00:34:50] Wait, why? I ruined it. That's fun. More cowbell. Ben, had you seen that sketch before? I don't even know what you're talking about now. He didn't understand. Christopher Walken saying, you ruined my life. It's just a great, he hates that sketch. There was a lot about this one. Like I wasn't sure how they were going to do it. Right? Because obviously, great sketch. I mean really genuinely.

[00:35:21] Oh yeah. It's probably, if not the best one of all time. One of the most definitive sketches of SNL. It's one of the most definitive SNL sketches of all time. Became a cultural phenomenon. You know, like Wayne's World where people are quoting things. But I wasn't sure how you can turn that into a full, you know, docu-series kind of thing. And it was fascinating. All of it. Especially because they found that it wasn't just about the sketch. There was a lot of really fun tangential stuff that was tied to it. Blue Oyster Cult. Oh man. Those guys. All that.

[00:35:51] All the back and forth. Who really was the... No, I played the cowboy. No, I was Bruce Dickinson. I mean, I was the real Bruce Dickinson. And then to find out there really was a Bruce Dickinson. Yeah. He was just like a line producer though and didn't have anything to do with that album. And he worked on like the compilation that had hits. Fucking love that. Such great stuff. And like talking about like the actual instrument, you know, the cowbell and its evolution. Having people like Dave Grohl and What's-His-Face from Queens of the Stone Age. I always forget his name. I can't remember his name either. Roscoe B. Jenkins. There you go. That's it. Yeah.

[00:36:21] No, but this... If I had one complaint about this one is it was such a starkly different tone than the other ones. Almost like kind of hokey at times. But when I... The more I thought about it, it almost kind of felt like it was trying to capture like a certain like TV documentary vibe maybe from around the time that like the sketch did come together. So like being a little bit more cheesy and playful about it.

[00:36:45] Definitely like cutting to that guy a lot where he was the really egotistical producer guy. Yeah. Leaning a little too much into that. Well, and also like having the voiceover like do like funny little bits even though they were like more cutesy than funny. Did it feel more like a VH1 documentary to you? Yeah, definitely. This was the one that felt much more like a TV documentary. We really enjoyed it though. Honestly, VH1 brought a series like this and where they were just going over sketches like, you know. Oh, I would watch so many of those episodes.

[00:37:15] I wish that someone... They've got to be available online somewhere and I haven't dug deep enough to find them. But I loved those VH1 decades sketches. I love the 80s. No, no, no. They did it when... This was the year of I think SNL's 25th anniversary. Oh, gotcha. VH1 produced by Broadway Video did an entire run of sketches or documentaries hour-longs about the different decades of SNL. They had one for the 70s, one for the 80s, 90s and 2000s and that's where they were.

[00:37:44] Because that's where I first heard the... That's where I first heard the story. That's where Bill Hader talks about discovering YouTube because of Lazy Sunday. Lazy Sunday, yeah. There's so many great anecdotes and that's actually where... We'll talk about this later, but that's where they got the footage of Lorne for the season 11th documentary. In 2005, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But yeah, so this... I thought this Cowboy sketch was so fun because there were so many things that I didn't know about the sketch. How about the wood block? Oh, that blew my mind.

[00:38:14] I had no idea that it was originally wood block and not Cowbell. That's just so silly to think about how nuanced that is. By the way, was it that Will Ferrell put on a tighter shirt? Yeah, got it. Smaller shirt. That's not the shirt he was wearing in dress. No, I didn't know if he just pulled it up more. No, he actually had a tighter. Completely smaller shirt. Yeah. Which explains a little bit of Jimmy Fallon losing it more. Oh, for sure. Right? Because... Oh yeah, and then just being like letting loose instead of just kind of rubbing up against Parnell. Yep.

[00:38:40] Like bumping up against him and really getting it, turning it up to 11. Like that clearly, that dress was much more subdued. And then of course, hearing that Walken was basically doing a parody of himself in the actual live show. Because in the dress, they were a little bit like, ooh, he's just got a phone in the sin a little bit. Yeah. He was literally just saving his voice. I love that. There was... I had no idea that it also was in Shit Can Alley too. Yeah. That's where the sketch was, which was interesting to hear.

[00:39:09] Which is gonna show you how much they believed in this sketch, right? Like, yeah, let's put it over there. They don't put their top sketches over there. Yeah. Right? But I do think that it's more of a superstition probably for the writers and cast than it is something that anyone actively chooses to put a sketch there because they think it's gonna be bad. Because there is even one person, I forget who it was that talks about it. They were like, we had no preconceived notions. Like, there's no... We didn't put it there, you know, because of that or anything. I think it just happens that like, some bad sketches have ended up there and that's just, you know, how it goes.

[00:39:39] But yeah, all the interesting details, I had no idea that it was originally written when Norm was hosting and it didn't work, you know? And so, Will sat on it and brought it back for Walken. I love the other little details too of like, they point out in the background of like, the crooked sconce during the live that got messed up that I never noticed that you could see Walken in the back room, like smiling. And then there's another producer back there. Yeah. There's just a guy that looks like he would be a record producer. Yeah. And he's an actual sound guy, too. Sound guy from Saturday night.

[00:40:07] No, that was one of the things, again, I've seen this sketch, I mean honestly, probably 30 or 40 times in my life. I've watched this sketch so many times, I never noticed Christopher Walken in the back laughing. Like, you know, and just smiling, right? Like understanding how funny this was. And that's the gift that these documentaries give to you is you can just- Last I checked, we don't have a lot of songs that feature the cowbell. All those lines are amazing.

[00:40:36] I also loved how the details for all of the band members were completely wrong. Oh, absolutely. It was so good that they have to match up different clothes with different names. It's like, well, actually this is this person and that's not me. I didn't play the bass. Yeah. So funny. Yeah. But surprisingly, all the stuff with Blue Oyster Cult and those producers added a whole other angle of making it so funny. It really did. It was so fun. But yeah, I would love to watch an episode about so many different sketches about SNL.

[00:41:06] I could see so many of these. I wouldn't stop. I would just do that the rest of my life. Okay. All right, Brad. Yeah. Just do it. Please do it. So final one. This was not my favorite, but I really enjoyed it, but it was not my favorite. It was about the 11th season. Yeah. But Brad, you said you really liked this one. I did. And I think part of it is because admittedly, I didn't know a ton. I learned more on this one than all the others combined about the history of the show.

[00:41:36] I still wish I would have read it. Sure. And then I had a different documentary made about something different because this is all informational for me. I think that's what it was. It just wasn't as riveted maybe. See, for me, I think what I appreciated about it was it was both informative and redemptive for a season that is largely maligned by a lot of people. And I think I appreciated that they picked out some really interesting things that you wouldn't even see on SNL today.

[00:42:04] Like having Francis Ford Coppola direct an entire episode. I didn't know that at all. Yeah. That's awesome. That's crazy that that even happened. And that's something that wouldn't ever happen on SNL today. I also did not realize truly, I mean, John Lovitz is on the show and he's a beloved SNL alum, but I didn't realize he was basically like the Eddie Murphy of that season where everything was like, dude, as long as we got Lovitz, we're fine. Yeah. I mean, that's nuts to think about. Yeah. I had no idea about that. It was powerful.

[00:42:32] His role was in reviving the show. Yeah. And I liked seeing clips that I wasn't as familiar with, you know, seeing stuff that that was funny during a season that people largely hated it and have forgotten. Well, and then at the end of it, right, they literally had it was a burning, burning studio clip. Yeah. Of like who's going to make it next year. Like how like credits with question marks. Yeah. What a weird way to end it. I bonkers, man. I forgot Damon Wayans was on the show, by the way. What's that?

[00:43:01] I forgot Damon Wayans was on the show. Oh, really? Yeah, I did. I knew that he was famously fired for playing the character. I didn't realize they brought him back though. Yeah. I didn't know that either. And they're famous for that, right? Like they're basically like your persona non grata right now. But then Shane Gillis comes back to host. Right. Right. It's crazy. Yeah. The writers thing was something I was familiar with because they talked about in one of the VH1 docs. So I did remember that. But yeah, I mean them, him bringing out Lovitz, like saving Lovitz from the cast.

[00:43:31] Just go wait in the car. But yeah, I mean like hearing from people like Terry Sweeney, you know, how like him being the first openly gay cast member, you know, and the remarks he would get from other, you know, gay comedians and stuff like that who like inspired them. I think hearing the good things about, you know, this, this era which people have forgotten and don't praise very much. You don't see a lot of best of clips that come out of, you know, a season 11 or something like that. And I liked that they, they shined a light on it.

[00:44:01] It was, and it plus it was nice getting like the real history of like how the cast came together and what the vibe was like, Lauren coming back and like how he felt like he had something to prove and, you know, wiping the slate clean and, you know, all that stuff. And it was, it's interesting to just hear like that as in control, Lauren Michaels has seemed in SNL for so long that even him when he came back was flailing, like desperate to make it work again, you know? I am.

[00:44:30] I know Dick Eversol is often kind of viewed as a villain in some circles with SNL because I think there's some people that just believe that like Dick Eversol was maybe one of the people that, you know, was why Lauren left or got him to leave. You know, like there's cause even in the Saturday night film, you see the tension that Dick Eversol has as being somebody that does believe in Lauren and believes in sketch comedy, believes

[00:44:56] in the show, but also says we got bills to pay and we've got a network to make happy. And if we don't make them happy, we got bills to pay. We ain't nothing in this world for free. Yeah. But, but, but I, I get Dick Eversol a little bit to say, I want you to be you, but you, you have to work with me here. Right. Um, see John, it's a Polaroid and what you do. So, uh, it just, yeah. So that was fascinating to me again, to see some of that stuff. But, uh, um, but I agree with Ben.

[00:45:25] I thought this one was, was, it was very interesting and informative, but it wasn't as entertaining to me as like, it was a lot of like, wow, I didn't know that rather than, um, but I love that and stuff like that. It's fine. It was fine. And not everything needs to be a fucking joke, Ben. No, it is better if it is though. It is better if it is though. Not all the time. Sometimes you can learn for incredible documentaries. Do you guys like music? Not really. This transition is bad.

[00:45:55] What about, what about, do you guys, do you guys like food? No, no, no. Wait, wait, wait. I got another one. All right. You guys ready to go on a quest? Oh, that's better. I love going on a quest. Would you love to go on a quest? Oh, there it is. There it is. That's the much better transition. I would love to go on a quest with you. How about that first five minutes of that documentary? Yeah. Well, so just to be clear, we're talking about ladies and gentlemen, 50 years of SNL music,

[00:46:23] which is a feature length documentary. Two hours. Aired on NBC and then is available on Peacock now. And it's directed by Questlove, who is the band leader for the Tonight Show Jimmy Fallon and also the drummer for The Roots, famously. Man. And yeah, this was a documentary solely about the musical guests that have been on SNL over the years. And musical guests and musical sketches. Yes. Yeah. Musical sketches too. I was not expecting this to be a feature length doc.

[00:46:52] And it was fantastic. Yeah. Such a great surprise because typically I don't care too much about the musical stuff on SNL. Obviously, there are some fun... We don't even talk about them on SNL usually. Yeah. And there's some fun stories that have come out over the years. And it's great when the musical guests get to play with the cast and do sketches. But this was an incredible documentary. Yeah. But yeah, you're right, Nate. Starting off with this huge mashup of both clips and the live music from the show. Incredible. I mean, just... I want to listen to it.

[00:47:22] I want to listen to it. Exactly. The creation of that clip or that montage. Yeah. Incredible. And it kept going. I was like, oh, this is cool. And it's like, wow. He's really going for it. No. You watch more documentaries than I do, but I do try to watch a decent amount. As a documentary as a whole, not just because I'm an SNL fan, this was just really well done. Yeah. Like the whole thing was just really well done. Kudos to Questlove. He loves SNL. I mean, I've heard him in interviews now.

[00:47:50] Obviously, I think he's a native New Yorker, but he just loves SNL. And there was so much good stuff here from talking about Sinead O'Connor to Adam Sandler doing his songs. I mean, the Ashley Simpson thing, just all the big moments over the years that have happened. You don't realize how much music really is a part of it.

[00:48:13] And I think what I liked is that they, even though there were those stories that we do know, like Sinead and Ashley Simpson, they provided a lot more detail. Well, that's what I mean. Like, we all know on paper what happened. Yeah. But they really delve into like why it was important and why, like even with the Ashley Simpson, which is such a silly thing to talk about, but that her voice was maybe not the best. Yeah. And in dress and this happened, they really delve into and kind of give you an, hey, you want to know? Here's what really happened. Yeah.

[00:48:39] And honestly, it kind of sucks that like she got so like hit hard for it because it killed her career. Yeah. And it's because it's a pretty innocent mistake and it's just her trying to not cancel and put SNL in a tough spot. And she just got railroaded for it. Yeah. The stories from Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine stuff was awesome. Great fucking story. Like, I don't know what Lauren was thinking putting Forbes and Rage Against the Machine together. That was another thing I forgot.

[00:49:09] I watched that episode. I remember Forbes hosting, but I had forgotten that he did. I'm like, why would you bring Forbes on to host, right? Yeah. Steve Forbes, right? Yeah. Steve Forbes. Yeah. He's ready for president. Yeah. There was a time when they had even more presidential candidates and like senators and stuff like that. I'm not open to doing weird stuff like that. Yeah. But wow. Putting Rage Against the Machine on with the machine. The height of irony. Yeah.

[00:49:39] Elvis Costello. That was another good one where he changes the song up. Oh, yeah. And I'm sure Lauren's just going, what the hell is he doing? And that's actually something that I learned too, because I had no idea that during SNL 40 that that was a when he performed with Beastie Boys. Oh, yeah. That was a reference to that happening on the show. So that was really cool. I love hearing from Jack White because he also loves comedy and SNL. I think he's actually friends with Lauren too. He's a great talking head in this.

[00:50:08] Well, no, he wasn't in the talking heads. Oh, fucking asshole. But, you know, he is. The other one that I really... There's David Byrne. Talking heads. The other one I really love too is when they're talking about Kanye. Oh, man. That was a story I was not aware of at all. And I'm not even sure a lot of people are that how... Now they don't have to worry because nobody's ever inviting Kanye back anyway. So let's just air it.

[00:50:37] But how that turned out with the credits and like him just continuing to talk and like do stuff after that. And so fucking weird. Who was it who felt super awkward? Because... It was... It wasn't Eggo, right? It was... No, I think it was Eggo, was it? She looked around and looked around and she's like, I'm the only black person on stage. That's just gotta be awful.

[00:51:06] Just to be stuck there and like, what the fuck are we supposed to do? I'm doing now. Uh... But no, if you haven't watched, ladies and gentlemen, 50 years of SNL. Yeah, it's just... And again, even if you're not a huge, huge music fan and just an SNL fan, this is totally worth it. I will... I'm gonna echo that sentiment because I'm not. I don't love the musical guests on there. It's fine. It's part of the show. But if I can fast forward it, I normally do if I watch it the next day. Unless it's one of my favorites. Yeah. Yeah. But this was so well worth your time.

[00:51:36] They also again talk about the Lonely Island, you know, again because of their musical. Adam Sandler, you know, sketches that are theater type of musical sketches. There's just so much sketch stuff that's brought into the documentary as well. I was glad that they did a little segment about the musical comedy stuff along with this and giving it like that treatment of like, yeah, because it is music and it is comedy. So yeah, Tearing from the Lonely Island and some of the other various musical bits that have been on the show over the years.

[00:52:05] It was just really cool. Awesome. I was sad after all this was done because we have been talking about this on this podcast for so long building up to this 50. And it paid off. It paid off. But now there's a void. I'm like, give me more. I need more. I actually saved up some of the late night clips that like I hadn't gotten around to watching of like Bill Murray and Amy Poehler and Tina Fey stopping by various talk shows and stuff over the couple weeks leading up to SNL 50. So it's been nice to go back and watch those. What did you guys?

[00:52:35] Okay. A couple quick things again. Just two more things I learned from the podcast, the Lonely Island most recent one, Q&A. First is they did not do a dress rehearsal for the 50th anniversary. Yeah. I forgot where that popped up, but they just couldn't. Yeah. No, you couldn't get everyone there. Right. I mean, it's a three hour show. You're not going to do another three hours before. So even more impressed with the, you know, the overall production. Yeah.

[00:53:04] Just like, but also a little, a lot more forgiving of any little things that did go wrong because they're, they're running blind. No time. Yeah. I mean, wow. Incredible. So the other thing that was interesting is during the 40th, Lorne was in all of the, you know, anniversary specials hammered. Lorne produced, he was, he was underneath the bleachers. He was calling shots. He was. And did you notice where he was this one? In the audience. He was in the audience.

[00:53:34] You think that has anything? You think, you think that for him was, it's time to let somebody else do some of the work here? No, I think what it probably. He was sent by Sandler, I think. I think what it probably was is the 40th was the first time they had ever done anything like that big. Cause even the 25th wasn't that big. Yeah. It's actually getting bigger and bigger. Yeah. 40th was a huge celebration. I think that that probably did require him to like have his producer hat on and wrangle all the people and everything.

[00:54:02] This time, I think they probably had a better idea of what they were doing. And like, I wonder if it was just Higgins that was doing it or something or. I don't know. I mean, but I just, I feel like he probably knew that he didn't really need to quite be as quite hands on cause everyone knew what they were doing. But they were surprised by it. Lonely Island, you know, Seth Meyers and Lonely Island were surprised to see. Well, he's also now. What did Lorne sit down for? Like, because again, he was sitting down and he was enjoying the experience. And so I thought that was an interesting, you know, an interesting comment, but also just

[00:54:32] observation because we are certainly at the point where we're talking about what, what happens after Lorne. Right. I don't, there's been no talk of him retiring after the, he didn't have to retire at 50. Right. But I agree with you. I think Tina seems to be a pretty good logical choice. Yeah. And until I hear otherwise, I'm assuming. I don't want Lorne to go, but I also want Tina to start. So there's this weird thing where like, if Tina's going to do it, I would love to see what Tina can do.

[00:55:01] Cause what Tina does is always good. You know? Yeah. It's another one that I trust with my whole heart. But yeah, these were all such good documentaries and specials. One last thing that I want to give a shout out to is the, what was basically amounted to an SNL 50 pregame, which was the SNL 50 homecoming concert. Everyone from Miley Cyrus to Cher, to a reunion of Nirvana with Post Malone and Jelly Roll and the B-52s. So many musical acts.

[00:55:30] But what was also great about it is they did have bits and two fantastic bits that were there that easily could have been in SNL 50. And I'm glad they made time to do them during the concert instead, just to give them some of the spotlight was first, there was an amazing lonely island medley of a bunch of their different songs and moments from SNL digital shorts over the years that included Lady Gaga with singing with Andy Samberg, Chris Parnell, Bad Bunny.

[00:55:58] And that was hilarious because they were able to bring in people like Eddie Vedder and stuff to perform bits of songs like Dick in a Box and I'm on a Boat and Jack Sparrow. That was a blast. It was awesome. I lost it when they did the Dear Sister reference with Lasercats. Yes. Brilliant. I could not believe that they did that. It was such a fun thing to see them do live on stage and just put so much gravitas and

[00:56:25] weight behind it with a choir and mixing all the songs together. If you haven't gone to watch that yet, that clip itself is on YouTube. But there are some other great highlights that are not available unless you just go stream the concert on Peacock. Because I loved that Will Ferrell and Anna Gasteyer reprised their role as the Culp's and did a whole new assembly of frisky tunes, as they call them, and them doing the Kendrick Lamar song and then saying,

[00:56:54] Kenny Lamar and Drake Graham, are you guys here tonight? Maybe you guys can hug it out. Squash the beef. And that's similar to what you guys were talking about how SNL 50 didn't have rehearsal. They didn't rehearse that except for the day of. They did it once and that was it. And the fact that they pulled that off so seamlessly because that's like fast moving musical lyrics, I don't know how even...

[00:57:22] Shout out to Anna Gasteyer who again was an excellent performer on the anniversary special. She was great. She was in a lot. Yeah, she was. That made me realize underappreciated. Yep. For sure. And then one surprise thing that happened during the concert I wasn't expecting, but Tracy Morgan appearing and putting Lorne Michaels on blast. Just respect me. Yeah. And then also singing the theme song to Astronaut Jones. Rocket. What a great deep cut.

[00:57:51] I'm taking a rocket and it's just him like he can't really sing at all. It doesn't matter though. I love it so much. Look out moon. It's just great. What's a real bummer is none of the Astronaut Jones songs are officially available on YouTube. Oh. I just want to listen to them. I know. All I want to do is watch them. But they did get a shout out in SNL 50 for being about sexual harassment in the memoriam bit. So good.

[00:58:18] But yeah, if you haven't watched SNL 50, the homecoming concert, the musical performances are so much fun. Really, really good stuff there. Post Nirvana by itself. Just watching that was cool shit. Yeah. It was a lot of fun. So yeah, feel free to go check that out as well. But yeah, this was our episode about all of the SNL 50 stuff that led up to the special and it's just been such a treat to like dig into all this stuff. It's well worth your time. And again, even if you're not, if you're on the fence at all about, well, I don't really

[00:58:45] like the music as you know, I don't find that as interesting as the comedy. You should double check that. Yeah. Like it's well worth your time to watch those documentaries. And I don't know if Peacock still has it, but I just recently for this, for all these specials bought a annual Peacock subscription for half off. I don't know if they still have it. $30 for the year. Oh yeah. It's not bad at all. But even if they don't buy a month of it and cancel it, but just it'll be worth the $8

[00:59:15] or $7 that you have to pay to watch all of the SNL content they have right now. Cause it's so, so yeah. Cause they also have a whole SNL hub where they have like a little decades compilations of tons of different sketches. And one thing before we go, uh, thought something that happened in one of these documentaries that I never thought about and you never did either. Go ahead for me right now and just go ahead and sing the SNL theme song. Oh yeah.

[00:59:43] It was embarrassing cause I paused it and I was like, I don't even, it's a, it's a fucking saxophone, but I don't know what it is. It's literally at the beginning of our podcast. And it's, I don't know. No, it's, it's drums. It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a point of the reason why we need a video podcast cause that was amazing.

[01:00:13] You were all in right there. You want to borrow my hat? Like I love being a one man orchestra. Oh my God. But that's, it was so funny cause I'm like, I don't like, I, I know what it is, but I can't do it. It's scat. It's all over the place. Yeah, improvisational jazz, but also definitive. When I hear it, I'm like, that's just enough. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, so Lenny Pickett and G. Smith. We got some G. Smith. So that was awesome. Yeah, just guys, go watch it all.

[01:00:43] Go watch it all. Go watch it all. And then when you're done, prepare for the new episodes of Saturday Night Live, which we will be recapping and reviewing after every new episode. So we'll be back after the March 1st episode that Shane Gillis returns to host. And then we'll be back the week after when Lady Gaga returns to host and pull double duty as musical guest. And we'll see what else they have coming after that. There will be probably five or six episodes that happen throughout March and April and maybe at the beginning of May.

[01:01:13] We'll get a Mother's Day now. We'll get a Mother's Day. Yeah. And yeah. Nate, should we do something? Should we be good to ourselves? Should we be good to others? Hey, Prince. Thanks so much for listening. Check us out on the 10to1.com. And again, like us on Facebook and X or Twitter or whoever you're calling it these days. Let us know what sketches you love.

[01:01:41] I don't know what this is. Nate glitched, I think. He had a stroke. I don't think I had anything else. What I want from you, though, is to be good to yourself, be good to others. Bye-bye.