SNL Costume Designer Tom Broecker on How He Outfits an Entire Show in Three Days, Thriving in Creative Chaos, and the 50th Anniversary Special

Summary

The Who What Wear Podcast: Episode Summary

Title: SNL Costume Designer Tom Broecker on How He Outfits an Entire Show in Three Days, Thriving in Creative Chaos, and the 50th Anniversary Special
Host: Hilary Kerr
Guest: Tom Broecker, Costume Designer for Saturday Night Live
Release Date: May 21, 2025

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Introduction

In this captivating episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, Hilary Kerr engages in an in-depth conversation with Tom Broecker, the legendary costume designer behind Saturday Night Live (SNL). With over three decades of experience, Tom shares his journey, the intricate process of designing costumes for a live sketch show, the challenges of managing a vast costume archive, and his reflections on the show's monumental 50th-anniversary celebration.

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Early Career and Path to Costume Design (03:08 - 07:45)

Tom Broecker recounts his childhood aspirations, alternating between dreams of becoming a fashion designer and a child psychiatrist. Influenced by a book titled The Book About Me during his early years, he expressed an interest in fashion, albeit without a clear understanding of the profession. Growing up in Indiana, his exposure to fashion was limited largely to magazine pictures, which didn't initially cement his desire to pursue it.

In high school, societal expectations steered him towards more conventional careers like law or medicine. However, his passion for understanding how individuals present themselves persisted, especially in the context of acting. This fascination led him to the multifaceted world of costume design—a field that seamlessly blends performance, history, language, art, and psychology. Tom notes, “The idea, ultimately, of going into costumes was truly a way to combine everything I lumped into one job.”

Joining SNL and Building a Family (08:03 - 10:00)

Tom's journey with SNL began in 1986 when he joined as a production assistant, thanks to a connection with Melina, a friend from college. At the age of 25, he found himself amidst iconic figures like Dana, Phil, Kevin Nealon, Jan Hooks, and Victoria. Reflecting on his early days, Tom describes SNL as feeling like “the beginning part of a home,” a sentiment that has endured over the years. He emphasizes the familial bonds formed within the high-pressure environment, stating, “The thing about working here, it's super hard, but the amount of family quality that you feel with the people you work with... it really does make it hard to leave.”

The High-Speed World of SNL Costumery (10:00 - 22:20)

Designing costumes for SNL is likened to emergency surgery by Tom, highlighting the show's need for rapid problem-solving and adaptability. Each sketch on SNL is treated as a standalone "five-minute movie," often requiring vastly different costumes within the span of a single episode. Tom elaborates on the meticulous weekly process:

1. Wednesday Read-Through: The team reviews approximately 40 sketches, making initial notes and selecting the top candidates for production.
2. Thursday Breakdown: Detailed discussions and planning commence, involving sourcing specific garments from various stores or suppliers, sometimes necessitating last-minute acquisitions.

Tom shares a memorable instance where, for a sketch featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda's character from Hamilton, his team had to secure the exact costume on the night of the show. “We put a PA in a car and sent them an hour and a half north to a person, handed them the costume they went back into the car, and Lyn had a costume to wear Saturday night.”

This episode underscores the relentless pace and resourcefulness required in SNL’s costume department, where having an extensive network and quick access to diverse fashion outlets is paramount.

Creativity and Resourcefulness in Costume Design (16:20 - 22:20)

Tom emphasizes the importance of creativity and an expansive knowledge base in costume design. He humorously acknowledges the chaotic nature of his workspace but explains that it’s a strategic system allowing for quick retrieval of needed items. “I do a lot of collecting while I'm out. I'm a true believer, particularly with a consignment store... when you see it, it means you need to see it and buy it.”

The collaboration with skilled artisans on his team allows SNL to create unique and memorable costumes, such as the intricate iceberg outfit worn by Bowen Yang. Tom describes the process: “We gave her [a team member] a hacksaw and an electric saw and a two by two piece of styrofoam and said, 'we're thinking of something like this.' Two hours later, she had created a lightweight foam model.”

The 50th Anniversary Special and Costume Archive (25:48 - 31:42)

Celebrating SNL's 50th anniversary presented Tom with the opportunity to delve into the show's extensive costume archives. He navigated the challenge of retrieving and preserving original costumes, including rare pieces like the Wild and Crazy Guys outfits and Gilda's iconic bathing suit worn alongside Carrie Fisher. Tom remarks on the sentimental value and historical significance of these items: “That bathing suit... it's an amazing artifact worn by one of the original people who had such an impact on so many young female comedians.”

The archival process ensures that pivotal costumes are preserved for future reference and special occasions. Tom explains that scented pieces are photographed, described, and stored systematically, with select items also being reproduced using printed fabrics to maintain the integrity of original designs.

Influence of Pop Culture and Current Events (31:42 - 32:13)

Tom emphasizes the necessity for the costume team to stay attuned to current pop culture and societal trends to keep SNL relevant and timely. "The show is of the minute. And so you have to know the referencing of the minute," he states. This vigilance allows the team to create costumes that resonate with contemporary audiences and reflect ongoing cultural dialogues.

Reflections on a Career at SNL and Future Outlook (32:57 - 38:16)

As the conversation draws to a close, Tom reflects on the enduring appeal of his role at SNL. He appreciates the constant challenge and creative stimulation the job offers, likening it to a perpetual puzzle that never ceases to engage his problem-solving skills. “I think you never look at anything the same way twice,” he muses, highlighting the endless opportunities for innovation within costume design.

Tom also shares heartfelt moments from the 50th anniversary celebrations, noting the importance of recognizing the specialness of such milestones. “Laughter is a really powerful and necessary” aspect of life and performance, underscoring the profound impact that SNL has on both its cast and audience.

Conclusion

Tom Broecker’s tenure at Saturday Night Live exemplifies the fusion of creativity, adaptability, and dedication required to sustain a live sketch show’s dynamic aesthetic. His insights reveal the behind-the-scenes artistry that brings iconic characters and memorable performances to life each week. This episode offers a rare glimpse into the world of costume design at one of television’s most enduring institutions, celebrating both its rich history and its vibrant present.

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Notable Quotes

• Tom Broecker [03:28]: “The idea, ultimately, of going into costumes was truly a way to combine everything I lumped into one job.”

• Tom Broecker [08:11]: “It really did feel like the beginning part of a home.”

• Tom Broecker [10:04]: “Entertainment triage.”

• Tom Broecker [16:40]: “Costume designers have to be resourceful.”

• Tom Broecker [17:26]: “I'm a little bit of a Mad Hatter in that sort of way. Or some might say a hoarder.”

• Tom Broecker [35:32]: “The job of the costume designer is helping the actor realize their idea. That is always one of the greatest moments.”

• Tom Broecker [35:50]: “It's incredibly frustrating sometimes. It's incredibly challenging. But the puzzle and the possibility.”

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Attribution:
This summary is based on the transcript provided from The Who What Wear Podcast episode featuring Tom Broecker, released on May 21, 2025.

Transcript

[Hilary Kerr]

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[Tom Broeker]

Looks for 10 different sketches set in.

[Hilary Kerr]

10 different time periods, all within a matter of a few days. Tom joins me today to talk about his experience of costuming and producing the show over the last three decades, the recent SNL 50th anniversary extravaganza, the show's giant costume archive, and so much more. It's all coming up on who, what where?

[Tom Broeker]

Tom, thank you so much for joining me today. I am a massive fan of your body of work and you are a huge legend. Not only to me, but to anyone who knows anything about the world of costume design.

Oh, my God. Thank you. As long as you're calling me a legend and I'm not calling myself a legend, that's good.

Well, that's on you and your modesty, but it's just a fact. But it was interesting when we were doing some background research on you I read that as a kid you were going back and forth between dreams of becoming a fashion, fashion designer or a doctor. So tell me a little bit about what attracted you to those two different worlds and how fashion ultimately won.

So I don't remember the fashion designer part so much, except I had a book that someone gave me, so I would have been like six. And it's a yellow book called the Book About Me. It's still in print and all that sort of stuff. You can get it to any kid. And it's a really great book. You put your picture on the front of it, and one of the pages was, what do you want to be when you grow up? And my dad's girlfriend at the time was in fashion, and I think she was probably helping me with the book. So I just said I wanted to be a fashion designer. Not having like any clue at all what even that meant. I think, like, I grew up in Indiana. Like, I had no clue even that there was a job. I would look at fashion magazines, but it didn't stick in my mind that someone was actually doing those things. I was just looking at the pictures and that sort of stuff. And then when I was in high school, I think because my stepfather was a lawyer and I come from a pretty. Like, you're either a lawyer or you're a doctor or you're CEO. Like, those were my options. And so I thought, I'll be a child psychiatrist. I mean, there is still a part of me that is attracted to that idea. But the joke now is that I still am a child psychiatrist because I, I, I deal with actors. But the only now it's like I usually tell them to take off their clothes, listen to their problems, and put different clothes on them. So I just sort of do it through clothes.

[Eliza Huber]

I mean.

[Tom Broeker]

But it's true. There's so much psychology tied up in how we present ourselves in the world, how we want to present ourselves, what we feel comfortable in, et cetera.

Exactly. And I talk about that a lot with actors, particularly younger actors who are just starting off in the business. You leave the house and you are projecting some sort of image to people as soon as you walk out that door. People are making assumptions, people are making judgments. As you walk down the street, you may not be conscious of that, but you as someone who is trying to get a job in that, you need to start being more conscious of that. Look, I'm a big judger as I walk down the street, but for a lot of different reasons. That's why I love walking around the city is just the people who inspire me and their outfits. And I'll be working with the actor or the writer, and they'll start talking to me about these ideas and adjectives. And I'll literally just whip out a picture on my phone and say, oh, you mean sort of like this person? And so most of those pictures I have on my phone are pictures of people in New York who inspire me because of their outfits. And also there are combinations of things in a million years I never would have thought of. That's the thing that's really inspiring.

Very much so. So there are a wide range of things that you can do within the fashion industry. And I'm curious about how you specifically narrowed in on costume design. When did you start figuring out. Oh, I think this holds interest, where I think I can use my skills and make a difference.

There was a part of my time when I was contemplating performing, and so I was doing a lot of dance work and came to New York as a dancer and sort of studied at Juilliard and did some musical theater things on the road. There was a part of me that also knew that that was not really an avenue that I was going to really pursue. And I've worked in fashion, but ultimately I felt fashion was so changeable. Like, you're relying on the whims and the ideas of people, and one minute you're fashionable, one minute you're not. And things that don't necessarily say whether you're good or bad. It just has to be because the wind blew this way as opposed to that way. And then all of a sudden, three years of blowing one way and you're out of business. The idea, ultimately, of going into costumes was truly a way to combine everything I lumped into one job. Performance, actors, history, language, understanding a script and how to break down a text into anthropology, art history, color, fabric, and then you add psychology. And then you're really like, wow, how did I not know that there was a job that did all that?

I love it. So can you tell me about some of your early experience with Saturday Night Live? Working in the costume department. You started as an assistant. You have spent many years there. Talk to me about working on that show as an assistant. Was it what you expected? Was it different?

I've been at Saturday Live forever now, but I didn't really grow up watching Saturday Night Live.

Now what I know we are not the same.

It is so crazy. I landed here as a production assistant because when Lauren came back in 85, there was a new costume designer who came in in 1986, and she hired a friend of mine, Melina. And I was living in California at the time, and Melina and I had gone to college together. And it's just like, there's this new show. Come work with us. We're looking for someone to help us. Then she just sort of started pushing me a little more. And then finally I was on a plane coming back to New York working on this show. And that was in 1986. So it was Dana, Phil, Kevin Nealon, Jan Hooks, and Victoria. I was, like, 25, and I've worked with a lot of amazing people, but those guys were really just, like, so lovely and friendly. And it really did feel like the beginning part of a home. And cut to a thousand years later, here I still am at this amazing home. The thing about working here, it's super hard, but the amount of family quality that you feel with the people you work with over the course of the time and the years, you get to know everyone, and you're really in the trenches of all of it. And it really does make it hard to leave.

It does feel a little bit of, like, literally the speed of which everything happens, it's such a crucible in so many ways. But that also bonds you.

Yes, exactly. And not to equate what we do with doctoring, but there is an emergency surgery aspect to where we work because of the speed with which what we have to do. And if there's a crisis or if the show is live, the instantaneousness of what have to do is very much the same. Of course, there's not a life or.

Death situation, but it's Entertainment triage.

Exactly. 1,000%. 1,000%.

So speaking of that, as someone who has read and watched just about everything about Saturday Night Live, the level of pressure that is involved, the frenetic schedule, the weekly cadence. I know that the sketch writing happens on Tuesdays, table reads happen on Wednesday. Talk to me about when the costuming element fits in. I realized that there are a lot of variables, like if you have a Walton Goggins on, and we're doing, you know, an early sketch about the Founding Fathers, okay, now we've got all this historic costuming we have to do, and that's one level of difficulty. Another is like, oh, we're interviewing Kate McKinnon from her alien experience. It's another level of costuming. But walk me through a little bit of the process and how long it takes and what you do.

That is one of the amazing, wonderful aspects of Saturday Night Live. Is that each sketch is its own little five minute movie, right? So we have 15 five minute movies. And they can all be different periods. In a grande show, there were 10 sketches and each sketch was a different period, starting with the Titanic. And it was hilarious because it was like, how did that happen? Like, how did we go from like modern day from her outfit and the monologue to then every period? Sometimes that's just the way the writing falls into place or whatever. But in terms of my schedule and all that is part of it also depends on whether I'm styling the host for that week or not. And that's a thing in and of itself. But I'll walk you through like a normal week without the styling aspect of the host part. So we have a read through on Wednesday and that's really the first time we begin to hear what the characters are like. And each actor is reading their sketch with the other actors. And there may be little nuggets in the script that have descriptions or sometimes they'll put a little picture of what they have in mind. And then if I think of something while I'm hearing the sketch, sometimes I'll make a little note or I'll say, like, read Leotard. Or sometimes I'll do it like a little thumbnail sketch or whatever. So we read about 40 of those. Then there's a meeting where about 15 of those 40 sketches are chosen. Usually it's clear after the read through what the top 20 of those 40 are. And then if we really start breaking it down after that meeting, I'll go and talk to the host quickly to see if they have any ideas about hair or makeup or costume. Each host has a different level of involvement or deciding or preferences. Some hosts have lots of ideas and others are just like, I trust the process. Whatever you guys come up with, let's go from there.

A range of good ideas and truth.

[Hilary Kerr]

Exactly.

[Tom Broeker]

And sometimes I have to nod and sort of go, mm. And usually what I will say is, that's a great idea. But we're gonna go into a meeting after this and all the writers will have ideas. So they'll tell me their ideas and I'll tell them what you said and try and marry the two thoughts together. And so we do go into a meeting with all the writers and actors after that, and they talk about their sketches and all that sort of stuff. And so by that point, it's 11 o' clock on Wednesday night and we start breaking down the sketches again and writing all the information so it's fresh in Our mind. And then we come in on Thursday and I get here about 8 o' clock and we start breaking all of the ideas down again. And some sketches will be like, oh, this can all come from our stock. The idea is that this kind of thing and that most of this should come from our stock. Or here's an ER sketch. So scrubs, but we have scrubs from the 90s. So now we're going to do the pit. That means there have to be all black and gray and there has to be a hoodie to be Noah Wylie. And, you know, each sketch gets its own detail that I talk to my team with. And then we kind of break down things into, oh, I do a lot of contemporary. There's someone on my team who does a lot of period stuff.

So people, like, have their majors?

Yes, some people. And. Or if they don't, I have assigned them that because they're good at that. We all have our strong suits and it is very much a team effort. And Thursday we're working shopping, pulling, going to stores, consignment places, calling Western Costumes in Los Angeles to have them pull. We're calling Oregon Shakespeare to pull. We call everywhere. Sometimes we call Global Effects, which is astronaut costumes, and sometimes we call Medieval Times. You know, we need medieval armor. And they're upstate New York and so they can get it. Sometimes Saks Fifth Avenue in New York doesn't have it, but Saks Fifth Avenue in Philadelphia has it. So we put someone in a car and they drive a PA down to Philadelphia and buy something. But basically the joke is that if it's within a two hour driving radius, someone can always get into a car and get it. We did another Founding Father sketch a couple weeks ago that Lin Manuel was in. We found out that Lin Manuel was gonna be in it Friday night about midnight. And they wanted him in his costume from Hamilton, as one does. Yes. So we kind of started thinking about, okay, well, it's midnight on Friday night. What are we doing? Where is it coming from? One of our wardrobe supervisors was the supervisor on west side Story that Paul Tazewell designed. And Paul Tazewell also designed Hamilton. So when she got into work at 9 o' clock on Saturday, she was like, do you mind if I call Paul? And we were like, please call Paul.

Call Paul immediately.

So then Paul called the producers of Hamilton. The costume warehouse for Hamilton is an hour and a half north of the city. So we put a PA in a car and sent them an hour and a half north to a person, handed them the costume they went back into the car, drove back down, and Lyn had a costume to wear Saturday night. He was like, how'd this happen? How'd you get my costume? I think costume designers in general work magic, resourcefulness. Yes. And someone will call someone who knows someone who knows something, call that, to get that, to get that. And it is true. Costume designers have to be resourceful.

Listening to you talk about this feels like investigative journalism too. Of, like, who can you get to do the thing? And thinking of that level of problem solving and creativity, you get a no here. Well, you have 47 other ideas of how you get to. Yes, you also must have. Not that anyone uses this very old fashioned word, but like the Rolodex, you must have after all these years.

Well, it is funny you should say Rolodex because we had a Rolodex that was just sitting on the shelf that probably hadn't been used in 10 years, but still had 15 years of information. Half the places don't exist anymore. But my assistants, we were going through and going card by card.

So tell me about some of those special relationships that you must have forged over the years. Like, are there certain retailers on speed dial who, you know, who will hold certain items for you? And then also, can we talk a little bit about the costumes that require more than just clothes? Like, I'm thinking of bow and yang as knitting or as the iceberg that sank the Titanic. Like, where does that fall into all of this?

So we were doing an update feature and the words called for things like a Jimmy Choo shoe, a Balenciaga bag. We didn't find out this particular piece was going in until 7:45 and it was going into the 8 o' clock air show. And so all of a sudden we were like, wait, what? One of my assistants knows one of the sales clerks at Nordstrom's by this point. Now it's five till eight. They close at eight. He literally called him and said, I need a Jimmy Choo black pumpkin in this size. Can you do it? We sent someone to Nordstrom's to pick up the shoe at 8:05. And then that person ran back to the show so that it could be on weekend update at 8:40. And then I happen to have a vintage Balenciaga bag underneath my desk from another project.

As one does.

As one does. That is the joke that all my assistants say, if you would see my office, they laugh hysterically because my side of the office looks like a crazy Salvation army and everyone else in the office looks like you Know, a neat and organized area. But they're always like, wait, I'm looking for. And then I'll dig for about five minutes and pull out like, oh, you mean this McQueen dress? They're like, yeah, that. I said, okay, well, here you go. But yeah, I'm a little bit of a Mad Hatter in that sort of way. Or some might say a hoarder.

Potato, potato.

Exactly, exactly. But I do a lot of collecting while I'm out. I'm a true believer, particularly with a consignment store, a vintage or something like that, that you see something when you need to see it, and when you see it, it means you need to see it and buy it.

I am unfortunately going to steal that from you. That is dangerous advice.

It is very dangerous advice. But my thought process is that I will need this and use this at another time. And to that end, I usually don't take people to my, what I call my magic room at Saturday Night Live, which is this room which allowed us to do our show during COVID which is 6,500 square feet of clothing, double hung. And it's all different kinds of stuff, right? Like there's a section of 90s and a section of uniforms and a section of trench coats and shoes divided in black, low pumps, black high pumps, black platform pumps.

An archive?

Well, no, the archive is actually some other place. This is the working room. And this is like men's suits, women's suits, women's blouses. So it's our department store. But it has allowed us to do our job in a way that because of the speed with which we have to do the show, we can do it.

And apparently it also has baby hippo costumes.

It does have. So those costumes. We have some amazing people who work on our team, and two people who work on our team are actually artist artists. And one is a fine artist who does a lot of sculpture and her name is Kate. And Kate does a lot of the bow and things. So we basically gave her a hacksaw and an electric saw and a two by two piece of styrofoam and gave her some pictures of an iceberg and said, we're thinking of something like this. Two hours later she had hacked and sawed and chopped and came away with this light weight foam thing. And we painted into it, cut it down some and had bone dried on. And we had to figure out what would an iceberg wear. Like half of an iceberg is actually in water, so it's half frozen, you know. And of course, we put sparkles on it because as all things iceberg should sparkle in the water with mu dang. It was about trying to create the fabric to give the hippo the leather quality. Yeah, but not have it be leather. And so she did some experimentations on fabrics that we had brought back and how to layer certain fabrics and then cover them in latex and then over paint them. But we're very, very lucky that we have these amazing craftspeople who do know how to use weird fabrics and combine things and actually like doing it, because usually we don't find that information out until Friday afternoon or sometimes Saturday morning. And so they're carving an iceberg at 10am on Saturday morning. So that's always a nice challenge.

I love that.

[Eliza Huber]

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[Tom Broeker]

So over the past 30 plus years you have played a part in creating some of the most iconic original Saturday Night Live characters of all time. Stephan, David S. Pumpkins, the Californians, Debbie Downer, Drunk uncle, the Listeners is endless. I am wondering about some of your personal favorite characters that you have helped create and any sort of behind the scenes info on how those looks came to be.

It's so funny because the thing about working on Saturday night is that you get to download the computer on Sunday and it just goes out so that Monday comes and you're just like oh.

I'm fresh until you have to do a 50th reunion.

[Eliza Huber]

And then.

[Tom Broeker]

Just kidding.

Exactly. Then all of a sudden you're like wait, where is that costume and who has that costume. And, I mean, this whole 50th year has been a really interesting journey for me because it was a chance to reexamine all the archives of the show and try and find some of those old costumes that maybe other people had in their closets or underneath their beds or things that I knew existed because people had told me they existed but didn't know where they were. So we were doing this NBC Experience thing at the end of January. One of the costumes that NBC had asked for were the Wild and Crazy Guys. And so I had known that they existed, and we had done them once before for the 40th. Part of the thing with archives and original costumes is that 20 years later, most people are not the same size they were when they wore the original costumes. So now we have the ability to reprint fabric. So what we've been doing this year is print the fabric so that we would have a copy of it. The original could go someplace special, and if we really needed it, we could show people what it actually looked like. One of the original costume designers had taken those two costumes, along with this amazing Gilda bathing suit that she wore with Carrie Fisher. And I didn't know she had that bathing suit, but Karen sent me the two Wild and Crazy Guys, which were in pristine condition. She said, I've just had them in a box underneath my bed. And then to my crazy excitement, when I opened the box, there was the bathing suit, which, like, it's very hard for me to get excited about things, but when I opened that box and saw that bathing suit, I knew exactly what it was. And we have very few things of Gilda's. This bathing suit was just, like, an amazing artifact worn by one of the original people who had such an impact on so many young female comedians. Like, when I got it, I literally had to go to Lauren. I was like, oh, my God, you will never believe this. He started laughing because I was really excited by the whole thing, but I don't think he'd ever seen me that excited about something.

It's a lost treasure, correct?

It literally is like a lost treasure. And the same way with those two original costumes for the Wild and Crazy Guys. And we still have a bra back in the 90s. Seemed to be the generic bra that every man wore whenever they played a woman. It has Keenan's name in it, Tim Meadow's name, and Tim Robbins name. It has seven guys names in it. And it's just sort of the most generic, innocuous bra, but it speaks to sort of the legacy and how the show is created a lot of times in its quickness and its throwaway cultureness of the show.

Can you tell me a little bit? You mentioned it earlier. There is an actual archive. How do you know that something makes it into the official archive? Obviously something like Church lady, of course, that became iconic. But what is the tipping point? What is the deciding factor?

So the archival process kind of started 20 years ago. You know, the show started and it was throwaway culture. And so we still believe that any day the show's gonna be gone and we won't be here. And there's still like this sort temporariness to everything. But there's those early things we knew which were truly archives, like the Conehead pajamas and the Cohen cape. But what happens when each cast member leaves is that their costumes are boxed up. And for the most part, we guess at what their archival pieces might be. Sometimes it's obvious. Sometimes like if a character has been on more than twice, it generally means that it should have an archival aspect to it. It gets photographed, described, put in a box. The box has a number and then it goes into the computer database. And all of that is stored in a giant warehouse in Brooklyn.

When is the museum installation happening?

There is a big exhibition that is starting in two weeks at the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. So we'll be there for about two years. Most of those are music centric. So there are things that are like Taylor Swift or Lonely island things or James Brown hot tub. But that also got us thinking. Is there a museum that could travel or a thing that you could take to Nebraska and Texas and Iowa? Because about the engagement. An exhibition of Saturday Night Live has to represent the bigger picture. And how do clothes affect comedy? And how do clothes help storytell? And how do you do comedy? Clothes and quotation marks. Because comedy is a serious business and clothes are even more serious because it can either help or hurt the comedy.

So I'm wondering how plugged in you are to pop culture and news, given the frenetic cycle of the show, do you feel like it's important to know what's going on at any given time? So that if a politician does something crazy on Friday night, like whatever it may be.

Correct? Correct, Yes. I work with a team and we're all plugged into different aspects of something. We are 25 and up. The 25 year olds help us understand.

What the kids are doing.

And the older ones know what the younger ones do not in terms of the historical aspects of certain things. But it takes a Village to understand everything. Right. That age range helps us all to move forward in understanding completely different things at different times. And sort of like, you know, we always have to know which tie Trump is wearing or what did that person wear to that event? And are college kids wearing those skinny je that the fashion designers are trying to tell us every young kid is wearing, or are they still wearing baggy jeans? The thing about working on Saturday Night Live, it is a show which is of the minute. And so you have to know the referencing of the minute.

As the season is coming to a close, do you have any favorite moments from this current season, whether it's hosts or costumes or sketches or moments? And is it even possible to think of that? Because as you said, Sunday comes, the slate clears, and you move on.

I will say this. It kind of happened a couple times during the week of the 50th, where everyone was working super hard and making sure I would tell the people I was working with while they were in an elevator or whether they were outside to just stop for a moment and take it in because this was never, ever going to happen again. Like, this is a moment and you have to take the weight in of that moment and really understand that this is something special. And all of these people who come to this show and all the people who watch this show are really special. That is important sometimes to acknowledge. And a lot of times when we're living our lives, we're just going through the day and sometimes we have to be like, wait, I'm alive. And I have to remember that the sun is shining and life is good, even though it's really hard. I think the 50th really brought that together. Me just going through all the archives and understanding what these costumes meant and what the costumes mean to these people and how these costumes really did affect a performance. It's hard to remember sometimes how lucky we are to be able to do what we do and to make people laugh and appreciate things. And, you know, laughter is really powerful and necessary. Yeah. If anyone who knows me at work, they know I do not laugh. But every now and then it just comes out and you sort of realize, wow, laughter is a really powerful thing.

I'd also like to point out that you're responsible for a solid quarter of all Halloween costumes. You know, like I dressed up as the cheerleaders in high school. I did the cheerleading sketch every Monday at lunch with my buddy. Like, like, it's so in the Zeitgeist.

I have a six month old God nephew. His name is Jack. And his mom is my niece, and she's the firstborn of all my nieces and nephew. And for the 50th, she dressed him up in a little cheerleader outfit that said Spartan across the thing and sent it to me and was like, go, 50th. And, like, that's when you sort of go, okay, life is pretty special.

It's amazing.

Yeah.

So my last question is, when you look back at your incredible tenure at Saturday Night Live, what is it that keeps you in this marvelous madness for all of this time? And also, what are you looking forward to in the future?

Well, it is funny. I think one of the things that has kept me there, and I think it took me the 50th anniversary to really sort of, like, work through, is like, I think you never look at anything the same way twice. Like, you look at a jacket and you figure out, okay, if I take the sleeves off, if I do this, I could turn it backwards. I could take this. This could be this. And then all of a sudden, you're constantly having to process everything and what it could be or what it couldn't be. And. And nothing is what you think it is. And so it's this weird sort of game of having to constantly pivot at any given moment. And I think it's taken me this long to kind of really understand that is very exciting to do. It's incredibly frustrating sometimes. It's incredibly challenging.

But the puzzle and the possibility.

Exactly. And the job of the costume designer is helping the actor realize their idea. That is always one of the greatest moments. And it happened this past week with Walton Goggins. You know, we were doing that 1787 sketch, and he was feeling lots of different things. And I said, let's try this. He put it on, and literally, he was like, okay, that's exactly what I had in mind. And I didn't realize it. And so in those moments, you go, okay, I've reached the person, and I've collected the information from the text. I've collected the information from the psychology. I've collected the information from the art history. And all of that happens simultaneously, sometimes not even noticing that it's happening Right. Somehow. All of those connections and synapses are happening with your brain energy and information. So all of your entire life leads up to every conversation you have. Right. We can only do what we know at that particular moment. Now, in 30 minutes, we may know more information, and our answer may be completely different. But all of our decision making is based upon that thing that we have now, and it's the trust exercise of life.

Tom, I just wanted to say thank you so much for your time and your thoughtfulness and above all, your art. Because I have been watching it every single Saturday that the show is on since I was in high school.

School.

I don't think I've ever missed an episode.

Oh my God.

So I appreciate your time so much. This was like, I don't think I've stopped smiling. My face hurts. I'm so delighted.

No, I could talk to you for another two hours. So thank you. Thank you.

[Hilary Kerr]

A huge thank you to Saturday Night Live's costume designer, Tom Broeker. Make sure to subscribe to our show wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss an episode. And while you're there, I'd also be so grateful if you'd rate and review us. If you have any guest suggestions or any other feedback, drop us a line at podcastwhowhatware.com or you can find us on social at whowhatware. See you next Wednesday on the who what Where Podcast. This episode was produced by Hilary Kerr, Summer Hammeris, and Natalie Thurman. Our production assistant is Claire Schmidt, our editor is Ko Takasuki Chernovin. Our audio engineers are at Glen Canyon Audio, and our music is by Jonathan Leah.