SNL: The start of a legacy

BY ASHTYN HANSARD

Digital Media Director

Everyone today knows the comedy show “Saturday Night Live” (SNL). The hour and a half show starts at 11:30 p.m. EST and ends at about 1 a.m. It features a new host every week, usually being a popular celebrity, and a musical guest to perform. However, SNL wasn’t always popular.

On Sept. 27, 2024, the movie “Saturday Night” was released in select theaters worldwide. 

Unfortunately, Stephenville’s theater was not chosen to show the movie, so I gave up my chance to see it. 

However, Netflix recently added several new movies to their service, including “Saturday Night.”

I’ve been watching SNL for as long as I can remember, and since the 50th celebration of the show is coming up, I was interested to see how it all started.

The movie takes place on Oct. 11, 1975 at 10 p.m. The entire movie shows what happened in the hour and a half leading up to the famous show’s premiere. 

Immediately, the energy is chaotic. No one really knows exactly what they’re doing or how everything is going to turn out.

While watching, I noticed just how incredible of a cast the movie had. Many big names were featured, such as Dylan O’Brien, Rachel Sennott, Willem Dafoe, Lamorne Morris and Nicholas Braun, just to name a few. However, this wasn’t just a plot to get some extra sales.

Each actor does a fantastic job of channeling the comedian they’re playing. For example, Cory Michael Smith plays Chevy Chase, the now famous comedian. Having seen some of Chase’s projects, it’s clear how similar Smith’s mannerisms in “Saturday Night” were to Chase’s performances.

Another fun twist with the actors was Nicholas Braun’s performance playing two different characters. Braun played both Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson, two completely different people. As to why, I’m not really sure, but it was funny to see him switch between the two and everyone else act like nothing happened.

I was also a big fan of the filming style. Since the whole atmosphere is chaotic, it wouldn’t make sense to have still shots during intense scenes, which occurred pretty much every five minutes. 

Instead, the camera did many shots I can only describe as “follow the leader.” In these shots, the camera would trail one character while they were having a conversation and then follow another as they started a different discussion.

They also would play into the atmosphere by having the camera move around. If two characters got into a fight, the camera would be shaky, almost as if the viewer was in the fight themselves. 

These small details really helped tie the whole thing together and make it feel complete.

As for the actual story, I won’t give too much of it away as I feel it’s a better experience going into the movie blind. However, there were a couple quotes that really stuck with me.

The first quote wasn’t directly from a character’s mouth, but rather a display of a quote by Lorne Michaels, the creator of SNL, for the opening shot: “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready. The show goes on because it’s 11:30.”

This quote is perfect as an opener because there is not one moment in the show where everything feels like it’s ready to go live, even at the end.

Another quote that stuck with me was said by Cooper Hoffman’s character, Dick Ebersol.

“They want you to fail. They’re betting on it,” Ebersol said. 

This line talks about how the network, NBC, was ready to replace the show with reruns if it didn’t work out. This line is said to Michaels, played by Gabriel LaBelle, when the show seems like it’s falling apart.

The characters Michaels and Rosie Shuster, played by Rachel Sennott, have an interesting dynamic. While I don’t want to give too much away, it’s a new yet refreshing perspective of love between two characters.

There were also some references that fans can still see in today’s episodes. One was the iconic corkboard that the writers use to plan the show and cue cards for the actors to read off of. Michaels also kept correcting everyone that called the sketches “skits” throughout the whole movie.

If you know of SNL or want to know how it got started, I’d recommend checking out “Saturday Night” on Netflix before it’s gone.