![]() ![]() In the book Live From New York, NBC chairman and CEO Robert Wright recalled Smigel and former cast member Chris Farley developing the characters: “I told Farley and Smigel, who wrote a lot of that material. “Bill Swerski’s Super Fans” By Robert Smigel SNL writer from: 1985-92 Add to that, creating Late Show with David Letterman’s Top Ten List and it’s no wonder he penned this sketch, wherein a then new to SNL Chris Farley auditioned alongside Patrick Swayze to become a Chippendales dancer.Ģ. ![]() Jim Downey is regarded by many as perhaps the greatest sketch writer of all time, and during his tenure at SNL (he worked on the show for 27 of the first 32 seasons and served as head writer for 8 of them) wrote much of the Obama-centric political sketches and late ’90s Weekend Update segments. McKay and Ferrell started the comedy video site Funny or Die in 2007, and continue to work with one another.ģ. In writing the Celebrity Jeopardy sketches, future writing partners Adam McKay and Will Ferrell honed their penchant for taking every day mundane characters (newscasters in Anchorman, and in this case the host of Jeopardy, Alex Trebek) and flipping them on their heads by placing them a midst over the top ensemble casts. “Celebrity Jeopardy” By Adam McKay SNL writer from: 1995-99 Since leaving SNL, Mulaney has had much success as a stand-up comedian, and has his own titular sitcom debuting this fall on FOX.Ĥ. “Stefon” By John Mulaney SNL writer from: 2008-12Īlong with cast member Bill Hader, John Mulaney created the Weekend Update city correspondent, and has said one of his favorite things to do on set was replace the jokes they had rehearsed all week with new ones at the last second, to make Hader break on camera. Let’s take a look at five writers who wrote iconic SNL sketches that we all know and love.ĥ. And it was the best press I ever got in my career.Becoming a writer for Saturday Night Liveis often the pinnacle of a sketch writer’s career, but when it comes to receiving credit, the writers at SNL tend to remain anonymous, while the fame goes to the performers. “Normally in show business that’s all you do is sell out your friends when things get remotely complicated or problematic, but (Ohlmeyer) stood by the guy. “I kind of admired it, it was so old school,” said the Harvard grad, who rejoined “SNL” after Ohlmeyer left his post. He and then-”Weekend Update” anchor Norm MacDonald angered NBC cheese Don Ohlmeyer, with a number of jabs at Don’s pal during The Juice’s murder and civil trials. Simpson who got him fired in the late ’90s. Writing political spoofs for “SNL” never got Downey into trouble, but it was O.J. “I think it’s best when the candidate doesn’t win,” said Downey. “Tina had a lot going on at the time, but she agreed to do her four or five times during the election, and she did it again when she returned to host last spring. “The moment we heard her talk with that Midwestern twang, we said, ‘We gotta get Tina Fey,’” he said. Sarah Palin as his running mate, Downey, a nonpartisan satirist, knew the show hit political comedy gold. ![]() “Maybe we should ask Barack if he’s comfortable and needs another pillow.”Īs Dana Carvey’s Church Lady would say, “Well, isn’t that special?”Īnd when GOP presidential pick Sen. “(I’m) curious if anyone saw ‘Saturday Night Live,’” said HRC, complaining about treatment by moderators Brian Williams and the late Tim Russert. Then there was the 2008 Democratic presidential primary debate when Hillary Clinton (the real one) referred to an “SNL” spoof where the moderators fawned over Barack Obama while treating the former first lady as a pesky annoyance. So I flipped around some more, and sure enough, other channels were doing the same thing.” “I ran in and they were doing a segment about our Bush-Gore debate. one Monday night when I heard Will ( Ferrell) and Darrell ( Hammond)’s voices on CNN,” he said. “You know how they say a mother can recognize her child’s cry? I was in the kitchen at 6 p.m. ![]()
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