'Saturday Night' Recreates the First Episode of 'SNL'

Summary

All Of It: 'Saturday Night' Recreates the First Episode of 'SNL'

Hosted by Alison Stewart on WNYC, the "All Of It" podcast delves into the cultural phenomena shaping our world. In the December 26, 2024 episode titled "'Saturday Night' Recreates the First Episode of 'SNL'," host Alison Stewart engages with writer/director Jason Reitman and actor Gabriel LaBelle to explore the intricacies of their new film portraying the tumultuous creation of the iconic television show, Saturday Night Live.

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Introduction to the Film

Alison Stewart opens the discussion by introducing Jason Reitman, the writer and director, and Gabriel LaBelle, who stars as Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live (SNL). The film aims to capture the frantic 90 minutes leading up to the live broadcast of SNL's inaugural episode, highlighting the chaos, technical difficulties, and interpersonal dynamics that threatened the show's first airing.

Notable Quote:

"This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart." — Alison Stewart [00:18]

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Behind the Scenes: Film Premise and Challenges

Reitman explains his fascination with real-time storytelling and the intense pressure of a live broadcast. He describes the film's setting within the 90 minutes before the SNL debut on October 11, 1975, emphasizing the blend of historical accuracy and creative license to portray the vulnerability and excitement of the cast and crew.

Notable Quote:

"I was already obsessed with real time films and this kind of countdown... a rundown that started with 10pm with Lorne Michaels looking for Andy Kaufman out on 50th street and leading all the way to the last line of the movie. Live from New York, it's Saturday night." — Jason Reitman [02:13]

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Character Portrayal: Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels

LaBelle discusses the depth of portraying Lorne Michaels, focusing on capturing Michaels' authoritative presence and nuanced personality. Reitman compliments LaBelle's performance, highlighting his ability to maintain composure amidst chaos—mirroring the real Lorne Michaels' reputed self-control and intentional responses.

Notable Quotes:

"I noticed that you don't respond immediately to everything coming at you... that's one of my favorite things about your performance." — Jason Reitman [06:18]

"He holds a power in his aura, and it's really cool to experience." — Jason Reitman [04:50]

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Research and Development: Crafting an Authentic Narrative

Reitman and his writing partner, Gil Kennan, conducted extensive research by interviewing individuals involved in SNL's early days, including writers, actors, and crew members. They navigated conflicting accounts to create a narrative that captures the essence and emotional intensity of the show's inception without adhering strictly to historical facts.

Notable Quote:

"We’re trying to capture what it felt like, that exhilaration of what it felt like in the 90 minutes before, and also capture a bunch of people that we know well now, today... how to capture their vulnerability." — Jason Reitman [09:12]

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Portrayal of Rosie Shuster and Lauren

A significant subplot involves Rosie Shuster, portrayed by Rachel Sennett, and her relationship with Lauren (played by LaBelle). Their partnership reflects the collaborative and often unconventional dynamics within the SNL team, emphasizing themes of friendship, creative ambition, and personal vulnerability.

Notable Quote:

"Rosie is... such a beautiful device for Lauren's vulnerability to get him to kind of admit that he is nervous and she understands everything that he's been going through." — Jason Reitman [11:42]

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Favorite SNL Moments and Influence

The conversation shifts to favorite SNL sketches, illustrating the show's enduring legacy and its evolution over five decades. Reitman shares his admiration for specific sketches, such as those featuring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, highlighting the timeless humor and cultural relevance that SNL continues to embody.

Notable Quotes:

"The one I've probably rewatched the most is Tina Fey and Amy Poehler doing the game show Meet Your Second Wife." — Jason Reitman [15:44]

"There's so many. It's like, you know, your favorite Beatles song. Except there are more SNL sketches than Beatles songs." — Jason Reitman [14:53]

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Steven Spielberg's Influence

Reitman recounts a personal interaction with Steven Spielberg, who, although not directly advising on the film, shared valuable insights about relationships and his fandom for SNL. Spielberg's dedication to attending live shows and fostering friendships within the SNL community underscores the show's significant impact on creators and audiences alike.

Notable Quote:

"Steven's been at at least seven of them. Like, just over. That's over 15 years. I just go there. And there he is, a genuine SNL super fan." — Jason Reitman [14:14]

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Conclusion: Preserving the SNL Legacy

Reitman emphasizes the film's goal to honor SNL's enduring legacy by showcasing the raw emotions and high stakes involved in its creation. By focusing on the human elements behind the show's success, the film seeks to resonate with anyone who has experienced the thrill and anxiety of putting on a show, making it universally relatable.

Notable Quote:

"It's... for, like, anyone who's ever tried to put on a show, and that's whether it's Broadway or a High School Musical or a talent show at summer camp... it's exhilarating when it comes together." — Jason Reitman [07:05]

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Final Thoughts

The episode concludes with a light-hearted exchange, maintaining the authenticity and spontaneity of SNL's energy. Alison Stewart transitions to the next segment, ensuring a seamless flow within the podcast.

Notable Quote:

"Never broken character. But I think... there's so many." — Jason Reitman [14:53]

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Through in-depth conversations and behind-the-scenes insights, this episode of "All Of It" offers listeners a comprehensive look into the making of "Saturday Night," celebrating the cultural significance of SNL and the creative vision that brings its storied beginnings to life on the big screen.

Transcript

[Listener Support]

Listener support, WNYC Studios.

[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart. Today, and for today's show, we've been bringing you some conversations with filmmakers and actors behind some of the most entertaining independent films of this year. And next, we hear about a movie that tries to capture the frantic minutes before that New York institution, Saturday Night Live first hit the air. Co written and directed by Jason Reitman, the film Saturday night follows the 90 minutes of sound checks and dress rehearsals and mishap after mishap, falling lighting rigs, disappearing cast members, bad drug experiences, and, well, not being ready. Here's a clip featuring my other guest, Gabriel LaBelle speaking to an NBC suit, played by Willem Dafoe.

[Gabriel LaBelle]

I can only imagine what must be running through your mind. The thought, no matter how improbable, that you might not make it to air.

[Jason Reitman]

That didn't even occur to me.

[Gabriel LaBelle]

Really? I heard that you were having some technical difficulties.

[Jason Reitman]

Not that I know what the.

[Gabriel LaBelle]

I just heard that your writers were stoned, your actors were physically assaulting each other, the sound system was down.

[Jason Reitman]

What the hell is happening? What?

[Gabriel LaBelle]

And a fire broke out earlier. I've been doing this job a long time. I've seen it all. I'm sure you have it all under control.

[Jason Reitman]

Minor issues already addressed.

[Gabriel LaBelle]

That's really sure.

[Jason Reitman]

Oh, this whole conversation is a soothing shower of relief.

[Gabriel LaBelle]

Hey, good, good. Look, if for some reason you can't block your script or commit your cast to legally binding contracts, rest assured the country will be happy to watch.

[Alison Stewart]

Johnny Kosh, writer and director Jason Reitman and star Gabriel LaBelle joined me to talk about Saturday night before its theatrical release. Let's listen to my conversation.

[Listener Support]

When did you know that was going to be the script that you were gonna write?

[Jason Reitman]

It's funny. I think it actually happened in some ways, the opposite order. I was already obsessed with real time films and this kind of countdown, and I was already interested in telling a story that I knew was gonna be 90 consecutive minutes. And then at some. Oh, the location of Saturday Night Live would be perfect. A rundown that started with 10pm with Lorne Michaels looking for Andy Kaufman out on 50th street and leading all the way to the last line of the movie. Live from New York, it's Saturday night.

[Listener Support]

So, Gabriel, people might recognize you as the young Steven Spielberg from the Fabelmans. Now you're playing Lorne Michaels. What is something you understand about fronting a movie? Being high up on the call sheet that no one could have ever told you about.

[Jason Reitman]

Something about film sets is Everybody is working so closely together, and there are a lot of people, and the energy trickles down from the director and the production. But then I think as the number one on the set, there's a responsibility to just be nice to everyone and treat everyone well and check in and make sure that everyone's feeling good. Because then as soon as everyone else is just like, that guy's not fun to be around, then everything collapses. And so I think it's just a matter of, like, making sure that everyone's having a good time.

[Listener Support]

So a big part of the film is old school versus new school, right? The SNL crew, their upstarts, are trying to get stuff over on the censor. And then the old guards, like the union guys, they don't want to pick up their stuff. They don't want to help.

[Alison Stewart]

They're ready.

[Listener Support]

Johnny Carson can roll at any time.

[Alison Stewart]

When you thought about it, why do.

[Listener Support]

People not want to try new things?

[Jason Reitman]

It's a great question, right? Because every generation, at one point is hip, right? But none of us want to let go. Saturday night live in 1975 is. It's kind of like the Woodstock moment for television, right? You know, you have Woodstock for music. You have early 70s cinema, the Graduate, Harold and Maude, Five Easy Pieces, all these movies that did that for cinema. And then in 1975, you have a group of young people, and it's a combination of writers, producers, actors, musicians who are ripping television out of the hands of a previous generation and saying, no, this is who we are now.

[Listener Support]

Gabriel, you had to play Lorne Michaels.

[Alison Stewart]

And you didn't meet him, right? Is that correct?

[Jason Reitman]

I met him the day before our first day on set when he invited us to watch Saturday Night Live, and he invited us to 30 Rock, the whole cast, while we were about to shoot two days outside of New York. But other than that, I did not talk to him or.

[Alison Stewart]

What did you observe?

[Jason Reitman]

I observed how everyone in the room is looking at him, and I observed that he. He holds a power in his aura, and it's really cool to experience. And then I couldn't also help but just, like, be hyper focused on what his face was doing, how he laughed at certain things. And I tried not to, but, you know, I've been studying him, so it was weird. It was very weird.

[Listener Support]

As you were studying him, what mannerisms did you know you wanted to show that you wanted to portray in your character?

[Jason Reitman]

I think certain facial expressions in how he's telling a story, in how there are old photos of him and his eyebrows are raised a lot. And he has lines in his forehead. And I thought that was very much. There's a very clear personification for me. And then how he carries his lips, his postures, how he pronounces certain words, how when he kind of laughs, he puts his tongue between his lips. I noticed that in person. Little things that I just thought were fun to sprinkle into the film.

[Listener Support]

Also, his. His vocal quality. You heard it in a little bit in the clip. There's sort of a flatness to it. I don't know what it is.

[Jason Reitman]

It's a. I don't know what it is either. I think he just operates at a lower octave. And he's speaks in a Canadian accent.

And something you did really great in the movie is that you don't respond immediately to everything coming at you. And that's the thing I've noticed about Lorne, is that the majority of the world flinches and he doesn't. Whether that's comedically out of fear, people are looking for his response, and he just has a sense of self control, and he seems to only respond exactly as he intends to.

Mm.

And I noticed that. I noticed you doing that even when it was complete chaos around you. That's one of my favorite things about your performance.

Oh, thank you very much.

[Listener Support]

You know, a lot of fans of SNL, it's 50 years. There's different groups of watchers.

[Alison Stewart]

Who did you think your viewer of.

[Listener Support]

The movie was gonna be? Jason?

[Jason Reitman]

Oh, that's a great question. Right? Because I feel like SNL is kind of like a great sports franchise. Everyone thinks that the members of SNL from when they were, like, 15 years old, are the greatest SNL members of all time. So you can almost guess someone's age if they're like, well, it's Eddie Murphy or it's Adam Sandler or it's Lonely Island. I think that's actually one of the beautiful things about Saturday Night Live is that it's actually grown. And that's almost impossible to say about anything comedically. Comedy has a short shelf life, and it. It doesn't age well. And yet somehow Saturday Night Live has found a way to reflect our sense of humor, reflect our politics, reflect our taste in music. Even the opening theme of Saturday Night Live has never been recorded. You know, they perform it live every Saturday. And as they've changed the band members out and changed the style of the music over 50 years, it is being a kind of a slight evolution. So my sense is that the movie is for not only anyone who's ever loved Saturday Night Live, which I, you know, that's pretty easy. I'm saying, oh, the movies for everybody. But it's actually for, like, anyone who's ever tried to put on a show, and that's whether it's Broadway or a High School Musical or a talent show at summer camp. There's that feeling 90 minutes before you try to do anything and where there's friction between the cast and the crew. And it never feels like this thing is gonna. Gonna come off. And somehow Saturday Night Live, 50 years later, still, in the seconds before show, they are painting the sets, they are painting the wigs, and it is frantic. And when it comes together, it's exhilarating.

[Listener Support]

I have a friend who's a stage manager there. It's like, it's crazy. Every week.

[Jason Reitman]

Yeah. Do they have ice in their veins?

[Listener Support]

She's a sweetheart. She's a sweetheart. She just really, like, is very mothering towards the crew, to her staff. Where did you go to get all your research for the writing?

[Jason Reitman]

The book?

[Listener Support]

Writing the book, the movie.

[Jason Reitman]

So my writing partner Gil Kennan and I just started interviewing everyone we could find that was alive that was in the building on October 11, 1975, and every writer, actor, Lorne, Rosie Schuster, Dick Ebersol, members of Billy Preston's band, NBC pages, even. We just wanted to get a taste of what it felt like. And of course, as you can imagine, they all contradicted each other. Like nothing added up. No one was in the room that they said they were. And so you get this kind of mix of mythology and legend, and there's truth in between everything. And we made an early decision that, you know, it's not our job to write a Wikipedia page here on the history of snl. We're trying to capture what it felt like, that exhilaration of what it felt like in the 90 minutes before, and also capture a bunch of people that we know well now, today, not only actors like Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase and Gilda Radner, but all the other people who were there. Billy Preston, George Carlin, Jim Henson is there. Andy Kaufman is there. Billy Crystal is there. What were every single one of those people, like, on the verge of fame when everything is potentially about to happen or blow up in their face and how to capture their vulnerability.

[Listener Support]

One of the people that you mentioned was Rosie Shuster, and she played Lorne Michaels first wife. Why do you think that's an important part? The story? Rosie and Lauren.

[Jason Reitman]

Well, Rosie and Lauren met each other when they were about 14 years old in Toronto, and they grew up together, and they conspired their mutual dream to be comedy writers. And they worked together and got married young and spent their incredibly important developmental years together. And they. And yet their relationship is also such a reflection of the time where they weren't monogamous and they were married, but they realized that they probably shouldn't have been that young. And Rosie doesn't want a nuclear family at that time. And they're sleeping with other people in the studio and who they're working with, and yet they're still best friends and they still respect each other and listen to each other. And Rosie, played so beautifully by Rachel Sennett. She's just amazing.

[Listener Support]

She's sexy in it, too.

[Jason Reitman]

Oh, yeah. She is the straight. She's sexy. It's funny because Lauren is supposed to be the straight man to all of the crazy personalities and characters in this film, but Rosie is a straight man to Lauren's straight man, and she's there and is such a beautiful device for Lauren's vulnerability to get him to kind of admit that he is nervous and she understands everything that he's been going through. So I think that's what's important for her. And also to reflect that she, you know, not a lot of people know about her. And she was a brilliant, brilliant writer who wrote a lot of amazing stuff on that show. And we wouldn't have Saturday Night Live without Rosie Shuster.

[Listener Support]

Let's listen to a clip from Saturday Night. This is Rosie Schuster playing, and she.

[Alison Stewart]

Has just left John Belushi's dressing room.

[Listener Support]

And has been trying to convince him.

[Alison Stewart]

To wear a bee costume.

[Listener Support]

Let's listen.

[Jason Reitman]

I heard John doesn't like the bee costume. You know anything about this?

[John Belushi]

It's not a costume, bro. He thinks he's Brando.

[Jason Reitman]

No, it's better than Brando. I'm working on it. Better than them. He's more important even. He'll be studied.

[John Belushi]

They will study his lesson. John is better when he's angry.

[Jason Reitman]

Rose, you understand that in our television program, I made a covenant with the national broadcast. Yeah, a covenant. And I'm on the hook for 90 minutes of live television.

[John Belushi]

Okay, Abraham.

[Jason Reitman]

Rose, must you turn him into a bee?

[John Belushi]

I am not turning him into a bee.

[Jason Reitman]

Thanks, Tom.

[John Belushi]

He is a man in a bee costume.

[Listener Support]

So good. I'm speaking with Jason Reitman, the writer and director of the new movie Saturday Night, along with Gabriel Lebel, who stars as Lorne Michaels. Gabriel, I understand Steven Spielberg gave you a good piece of advice, huh? Tell me what it is.

[Jason Reitman]

He didn't give me advice for the film, but he did sit me down and just tell me his experience with the people and his relationships and what he thought of people and how he became friends with them and how he was a total regular groupie for the show. He heard he was living in Los Angeles, but for months he'd been hearing like, there's something happening in New York. There is gonna be something great in New York. You have these great comedians, all these cool things. They're making something different on television. And he was so curious that he flew himself out to New York on Friday before that first show, watched it Saturday night, became friends with all of them, flew back to LA on Sunday and did the exact same trip every single episode. For the first season.

[Listener Support]

For the first one.

[Jason Reitman]

And it was.

[Listener Support]

He was most still making Jaws about that time.

[Jason Reitman]

Right. I've gone to about 10 live tapings of Saturday Night Live, and Steven's been at at least seven of them. Like, just over. That's over 15 years. I just go there. And there he is, a genuine SNL super fan.

Him and Lauren have been really close friends for about 25 years. They've known each other 50, but have been very close for a quarter of a century.

[Listener Support]

Yeah. As you're thinking about the show, what's your favorite skit?

[Jason Reitman]

Ooh, sketches, please.

[Listener Support]

Sketches.

[Jason Reitman]

Excuse me.

[Listener Support]

Sorry, Lauren. Sor.

[Jason Reitman]

I'm sorry.

This interview's over.

Never broken character. But I think. I don't know. I mean, there's so many. It's like, you know, your favorite Beatles song. Except there are more SNL sketches than Beatles songs. It revolves every once in a while. But one thing I've been thinking about lately, there was one with Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Bobby Moynihan, and it's this, like, faux documentary on the history of punk. And there's this great punk band from England, and it's about how they started and then why they broke up. Because their lead singer, Ian Rubbish, played by Fred Armisen, could only write Pro Thatcher songs, and the punk community wasn't into it. And so they broke up and Ian went solo and then could only make a career writing Pro Thatcher love songs.

[Listener Support]

Nice. Do you have one that you just remember that makes you laugh?

[Jason Reitman]

The one I've probably rewatched the most is Tina Fey and Amy Poehler doing the game show Meet yout Second Wife. And then there's a new sketch from the opening episode of this season that I loved as a young woman. I can't remember. She's a new cast member, Jane Wickline. The song.

Oh, that was amazing.

What is it called?

[Listener Support]

It's a party. It's my friend's daughter. She just got canceled. Yeah.

[Jason Reitman]

Wow. I'm the the party's over. I'm the plus one. Yeah. I'm the plus one of a plus one. That's killer.

I'm the plus one of a plus one of someone who doesn't exist.

Oh, I.

She was so charming. I had so much fun.

My favorite I feel good about the new season.

[Listener Support]

Yeah, I like sweater weather. It's sweater weather.

[Jason Reitman]

Sweater weather.

[Listener Support]

Sweater weather.

[Jason Reitman]

Sweater weather.

[Alison Stewart]

That was my conversation with Saturday Night writer and director Jason Reitman and star Gabriel LaBelle. Up next, we talked to the writer and director Jane Schoenburn and actor Justice Smith about the movie I Saw the TV Glow.

[Justice Smith]

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