Saturday Night Live | Contenders TV Nominees 2023
Saturday Night Live | Contenders TV Nominees 2023
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00:00 - Hello, my name's Peter White.
00:01 I'm the executive editor of television at Deadline.
00:04 I also cover the late night beat,
00:06 which means I spend a lot of time watching,
00:08 thinking about, and writing about shows
00:11 like Saturday Night Live.
00:12 So I'm pleased that we've got two of the leaders
00:14 of the show here to talk about season 48.
00:17 We have director Liz Patrick, who joined last year,
00:19 and musical director Lenny Pickett,
00:21 who joined the show in 1985.
00:24 Before we head into Studio 8H, let's watch a clip.
00:28 - I'm just so excited for snow.
00:30 If I close my eyes, I feel like I can almost see it.
00:34 (upbeat music)
00:36 ♪ Where it's snowing all winter through ♪
00:43 ♪ That's where I want to be ♪
00:47 ♪ Snowball eating, that's what I'll do ♪
00:50 ♪ Eating ♪
00:51 ♪ How I'm longing to sleep all night in the snow ♪
00:55 - Sleep in the snow, are you crazy?
00:57 - For snow?
00:58 - Gosh, now I'm excited for snow.
01:00 (audience cheering)
01:01 - Hey, what's up, I'm the wedding singer.
01:04 - Oh, it's my fault, Selena Gomez,
01:07 you're even more beautiful in real life.
01:09 - I know.
01:10 Thanks.
01:13 - Franck, how much is she gonna cost me?
01:15 - 1.8 million, easy.
01:17 - Come on, George, sing it to everybody.
01:19 Let's sing.
01:20 ♪ Every party is a pooper ♪
01:21 ♪ That's why we invited you ♪
01:23 ♪ A party pooper ♪
01:24 ♪ Party pooper ♪
01:26 ♪ Every party is a pooper ♪
01:28 - Come on, sing it with me, buddy.
01:31 ♪ My stomach hurts ♪
01:33 - Sing it with me.
01:34 ♪ I've got a bad cramp ♪
01:37 - Come on, I love you, together.
01:39 ♪ I think I accidentally have diarrhea ♪
01:44 - All together now.
01:45 ♪ We can't go on together ♪
01:50 ♪ With delicious cheese ♪
01:52 ♪ With delicious cheese ♪
01:54 ♪ We don't have diarrhea ♪
01:58 ♪ From delicious cheese ♪
02:00 ♪ And when those blue snowflakes start falling ♪
02:05 ♪ That's when those blue memories start calling ♪
02:23 ♪ We'll be doing all right ♪
02:28 ♪ Every Saturday night ♪
02:32 - Brilliant, brilliant,
02:36 a nice broad range of clips there, wonderful.
02:41 Liz, let's start with you.
02:42 This was your second season directing "SNL,"
02:46 taking over from Don Roy King,
02:48 who'd been there since 2006.
02:51 How have you settled into the show?
02:53 - I don't know if it's a show you ever settle into.
02:56 (laughs)
02:57 No, but it's been a great experience.
03:01 I think the first year,
03:03 you hear about the show being a high-speed train
03:05 and being able to manage it all and control it,
03:08 or at least steer it correctly.
03:10 And this year, I think I had my feet
03:14 underneath me a little bit more
03:15 and everything seemed a little more at ease.
03:17 And they're all elements that I've done,
03:19 but this is just a larger version of it.
03:22 I mean, from music to news to games
03:25 to comedy to performances,
03:28 it's just one giant variety show on steroids.
03:33 And so I feel like I felt more comfortable
03:36 coming in this season
03:38 and just having built a relationship with the writers,
03:43 the cast, and then the different departments
03:45 and working with all of them.
03:47 And you feel so well-supported on this show
03:50 that it's amazing.
03:52 It really is.
03:53 - Yeah.
03:54 I imagine it's a little bit like a sports team.
03:56 You sort of start mid-season of that
03:59 and you sort of settle in
04:00 or you get your feet under the table
04:02 and then season 48 is yours, right?
04:04 That's all you.
04:06 - 100%, yeah.
04:07 It felt really good.
04:09 And a great analogy,
04:11 it does feel like a sports team
04:12 and just coming in and taking over.
04:16 It felt really good.
04:19 - A variety show on steroids
04:21 is a very good description of it.
04:23 (laughing)
04:25 Although you've done over 2000 episodes
04:28 of the Ellen DeGeneres show,
04:31 how different was directing a show like that versus SNL?
04:35 Everyone I speak to says
04:36 there's nothing like SNL on television.
04:39 - Oh, there's definitely nothing like it.
04:40 I mean, Ellen was, in its own way,
04:43 a daily variety show
04:45 just with the different elements
04:46 that were produced every day.
04:48 And then this is just a bigger version of that.
04:51 And even though it's a weekly show,
04:53 it's just the elements that are in it
04:55 are dreamed up by the writers.
04:59 And it can be small, it can be big,
05:02 it can be time-consuming.
05:04 And the amount of creativity
05:09 that goes into it from every department
05:11 that shows up and just produces just an amazing product
05:15 and in just a short amount of time,
05:17 it's a lot of pressure.
05:19 And walking into a show like this
05:21 that has been on, it was on for 40,
05:24 I came in during its 47th season,
05:27 I grew up watching this show, I love this show.
05:29 So to be a part of it and be asked to be a part of it
05:32 was just a huge honor.
05:34 And to work with someone like Lenny here too,
05:37 it's kind of a dream come true.
05:39 And the current cast, some of the cast members that left,
05:44 and then some of the cast members that return,
05:46 it's just, it's a real honor to be there.
05:49 - Yeah, absolutely.
05:51 What was the most surprising element
05:53 of getting into Studio A-H for the first time?
05:57 - The most surprising element?
05:59 I feel like one of the first things I asked Don
06:02 after week one, I said, "When do you eat and sleep?"
06:05 (laughs)
06:06 Because there was no time and he wasn't a big,
06:10 he didn't take much time to eat.
06:13 So managing that aspect, I know it sounds silly,
06:16 but it's very true.
06:17 (laughs)
06:18 - I can imagine that.
06:19 Yeah, I can imagine some of that going by the wayside.
06:23 Lenny, you've seen a lot in your years.
06:26 I almost don't even want to do the maths there
06:29 since you've been on.
06:30 What was season 48 like for you?
06:32 - Like season 47 and 46, 45, 44.
06:42 It's an amazing experience and it's hard to,
06:47 I've been doing it for 38 years
06:49 and it's difficult to parse it.
06:53 Everything is merged together in one long stream.
06:57 So 48 was great.
07:01 - Yeah, no, that's fair, that's fair.
07:03 Look, I'm sure they all meld into one after a while.
07:07 Liz, you sort of briefly referenced it there.
07:10 "Lawn" has called season 48 a transition year.
07:12 There was obviously a lot of veteran cast that left,
07:16 Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, many others.
07:19 What was that like for you?
07:21 I guess you hadn't worked with these people for as long,
07:24 but what was that transition like
07:26 for someone directing these episodes?
07:28 - In a way, it's forming new relationships
07:34 with these cast members.
07:35 And a lot of them now,
07:38 I don't know if it's about half
07:39 or almost half are on the newer side then.
07:44 So it's like we're in this together,
07:46 figuring it out together.
07:47 And in a way, starting high school or college together
07:52 in this process.
07:53 But it was such an honor to work with Kate and Cecily
07:56 and Aidy and Pete and all of them that were there.
08:01 It's their final moments.
08:03 I really wanted to send them off with a nice bang.
08:06 But yeah, it just goes back to building relationships
08:09 with all these people and trust.
08:11 I wanna take their ideas
08:14 and create the best vision I can for them
08:18 and make their ideas whole and better.
08:21 - Yeah, no, I hadn't thought of that.
08:23 Yeah, you got to shoot the final episodes
08:26 from some of these people who've been on this show
08:29 for a very long time.
08:30 But on the other side of that,
08:32 it certainly felt like some of the cast members,
08:35 whether that's Heidi Gardner or Ego Rodim and Bowen Yang,
08:39 they really stepped up this season.
08:40 I imagine, again, without overusing the sports analogy,
08:44 it's like when some of the older stars leave,
08:47 it leaves a little bit of room
08:48 for the younger rising stars, right?
08:50 - 100%, like there's more room for growth.
08:53 And then there's more room also to explore.
08:56 Maybe a cast member had been,
08:59 a certain cast member had taken over a certain side
09:02 of doing different characters,
09:06 and it opens up now a new area for different ones.
09:09 They've all kind of come into their own.
09:13 I mean, I know Heidi and Ego were established before,
09:16 but I feel like they had great seasons this year.
09:18 Chloe as well.
09:19 It was just a really nice year for all of them.
09:23 - Yeah, absolutely.
09:25 Lenny, in that sense, you've seen a lot of cast
09:27 come and go over those 38 years.
09:31 How does it feel from your side of things
09:33 when the cast rotates?
09:34 - It seems like a natural progression.
09:40 When you watch it this long,
09:42 you can feel the ebb and flow of the individuals.
09:47 And they sort of get,
09:50 they come in sort of nervous and hesitant,
09:57 and they get more confident.
09:58 And the cast, it's a very collaborative experience.
10:01 So the cast and the crew all help the new people warm up.
10:09 And then they gain some traction
10:12 and started really shining.
10:15 And then after a while,
10:16 you can see that they're interested
10:20 in going on to do other things.
10:21 And you feel that coming too.
10:23 But we've had, it was a blessed few years.
10:27 I mean, it was awkward with the pandemic,
10:29 but we had holdovers because of that too.
10:32 So we had some cast members longer
10:34 than we might've normally had them
10:36 'cause there was no place to go.
10:39 We were the only game in town for a while.
10:41 The people who came to the live show,
10:44 the audience members were seeing theater,
10:47 the only theater in town when that was going on.
10:50 And the cast was also similarly
10:55 doing something that was unique.
10:57 So the last few years have been exceptional
11:01 in a lot of different ways.
11:03 And you're sad to see people go,
11:08 but at the same time,
11:09 it's always really interesting
11:11 to see the new people come in.
11:13 And there's been such an interesting diversity
11:15 of talent and background coming to the show.
11:20 It keeps changing.
11:21 It's never the same show year to year.
11:24 It's always different.
11:26 - Yeah.
11:26 As someone who's worked on that for so long,
11:29 I saw on your bio that you've played the opening
11:33 and closing themes for more than 750 episodes,
11:36 which is wild.
11:37 Can you sort of pinpoint some of the biggest changes
11:40 since you've been there?
11:42 I know you sort of said it all feels
11:43 sometimes like it comes to one,
11:45 but I imagine there's been some things
11:47 that have surprised you over the years.
11:49 - The move to HD was really huge.
11:51 That was a giant, giant change.
11:55 And everything changed.
11:56 The audio changed at the time.
11:58 And we had all sorts of interesting technical problems
12:01 with that that we had to solve.
12:02 And the wardrobe and hair and makeup
12:06 had to step up their game a great deal.
12:08 And scenic did too.
12:10 It was a real big transition.
12:13 I think that was the biggest move.
12:14 And also the change in technology,
12:19 the way the show is now shown on YouTube more than it is,
12:23 and I think more people watch it online
12:25 than they watch it on the show.
12:27 We've had acts that got more traction,
12:31 got more views online than they got on the air.
12:36 And this show has sort of moved that direction.
12:39 So it's very interesting to watch.
12:42 The show has a connection to the technology of the time
12:48 and to the social trends of the time.
12:50 And all those things sort of are expressed in it.
12:53 At the same time, it's a very old version of television.
12:57 It's essentially an old variety show.
12:59 And we shoot it live.
13:00 And it's insane.
13:04 But nobody else is doing anything like it.
13:07 - No, they really aren't.
13:08 And I've seen some of my favorite musical performances
13:11 on your show, bands that I've loved over the years.
13:15 How do you split up the musical direction duties
13:17 between you and the other musical directors?
13:19 - We share responsibilities.
13:24 Eli Brueggemann does most of the cast,
13:30 working with the cast and writers
13:32 for generating sketch material.
13:34 I'm in charge of personnel with the band
13:38 and conducting the rehearsals with the band on Saturdays.
13:46 And Leon does the live show conducting of the band.
13:50 It's difficult to play saxophone
13:52 and conduct at the same time.
13:54 You don't have a limb free.
13:56 You need to be able to talk to the band.
14:00 But we collaborate.
14:04 At times, we've all done different duties.
14:08 Eli conducts the cast and the band from the floor.
14:14 We found that to be the most economical way of doing it.
14:18 So that while we're playing behind the set,
14:22 he's out in front of the microphone,
14:25 talking to us and signaling the cast.
14:28 And it's really the most effective way
14:32 we've found to do it over all the years.
14:34 It's made for a much cleaner presentation.
14:38 - No, I can imagine.
14:40 Unfortunately, season 48 got cut short by the writer's strike
14:43 and we now have an actor's strike as well.
14:46 Liz, how are you feeling?
14:48 Normally, I'd be saying,
14:48 how are you feeling going into season 49?
14:51 You must be planning and prepping,
14:52 but I imagine it's a little bit different this year.
14:54 - Yeah, it's a little bit unknown.
14:56 It was hard that we missed the last three episodes,
15:02 but I also understand why
15:04 and we want everyone to get what they deserve.
15:06 I think we were all looking forward
15:09 to the different hosts that we had,
15:10 Pete Davidson and, oh God, now I'm blanking.
15:14 - Kieran and Jennifer Coolidge.
15:17 - Jennifer Coolidge, yes, Jennifer Coolidge.
15:19 And so we were excited for that,
15:21 but I'm hoping they get another opportunity
15:24 in the season to come.
15:25 And yeah, I look whenever our season starts,
15:29 I'm looking forward to getting back in there,
15:31 getting the feet in the ground and getting us moving.
15:33 - Yeah, absolutely.
15:35 As am I, and I'm sure millions of viewers as well.
15:37 So Liz, Lenny, thank you very much
15:40 for chatting to us today at Deadline Contenders.
15:42 - Thank you for having me. - Thank you.