Yahoo Lifestyle 6 “Saturday Night Live” Legends Celebrate 50 Years of Laughs and “Very” Late Nights (Exclusive)
Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Seth Meyers, Molly Shannon, Kenan Thompson and Bowen Yang sit down with PEOPLE to talk about how they got to Studio 8H, their biggest laughs on the show and how hard it was (and will be) to leave
It's early January, and six legendary comics from the most legendary sketch comedy show in television history are together in Manhattan studio. And they are celebrating the birthday of Saturday Night Live.
Once Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Seth Meyers, Molly Shannon, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang finish their photo shoot and impromptu dance party, they assemble, and two topics quickly emerge: Lorne Michaels, the creator and executive producer of SNL (Michaels’s mantra, “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready, it goes on because it’s 11:30,” is remembered) and, well, love. “We all did this because it’s the greatest job in television,” Shannon says. “Underneath it all is love.”
Related: The Season 1 Cast of Saturday Night Live: Where Are They Now?
SNL premiered on NBC in October 1975 and was boundary-breaking and FCC censor-skirting from the start. It also, without question, became a star factory, launching the careers of Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig . . . and, of course, the six sitting down with PEOPLE. Now the show is turning 50, and celebrations and retrospectives are underway: Docs SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night and NBC’s Ladies & Gentlemen . . . 50 Years of SNL Music are now streaming on Peacock; a live music event takes over Radio City Music Hall on Feb. 14, streaming live on Peacock; and SNL’s three-hour anniversary special will be live from Studio 8H on Feb. 16 on NBC and Peacock.
As the six begin chatting, the love is palpable, the laughs are well-earned, and the up-all-night, swing-hard, fail-big pressure of sketch comedy before a live studio audience — and millions of screens—is recognized as only a very rare group of people can. Here they reflect on their journeys to 30 Rock and the moments, players and characters that paved the way.
You all began, like many, as SNL fans. What cast members first inspired you?
BOWEN YANG My first exposure to the show was Molly and Will [Farrell] and [Chris] Kattan. And then graduating college, it was Kate and Leslie, Seth and then Kenan being this perfect, constant thing. It’s amazing to have the continuum in this tableau. I’m using so many obnoxious words.
KENAN THOMPSON “Continuum in this tableau.” Well said.
LESLIE JONES [Gilda Radner as] Roseanne Roseannadanna. Chevy Chase falling down the stairs. Garrett Morris. Yeah. I’m old.
KATE MCKINNON I started watching when I was 12. Watching Molly’s characters taught me what I wanted to do, which was to be this full wacky, amazing, joyful odd man out.
MOLLY SHANNON Oh my god, that’s so sweet!
Auditions for the show are famously scary — and quiet. What do you remember from yours?
SETH MEYERS I would’ve told you nobody laughs at auditions because nobody laughed at mine, but I was there for Leslie’s.
JONES I was cocky as f---. I walked in there, I was like, “Y’all in the back, move to the front. I don’t perform like that.” And then when I finished I was like, “My name is Leslie Jones. Peace.”
SHANNON I spent all my waitressing money making a five-minute VHS tape. I hired an editor and a guy to shoot it in my little dumpy apartment. I was on a payphone when they said, “Sorry, they passed on your tape.” Then I picked myself back up and worked really hard on my characters. They came back around five years later and asked for a tape again. I was like, “You have to come see my live show.”
YANG At one of my auditions, I was in a silver metallic onesie and Kate was there. She gave me a hug and was like, “You should be so proud of this audition, no matter what happens.”
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Let’s talk about hosts. Who came in surprisingly prepared?
THOMPSON Melissa McCarthy came in with a lot of ideas and she was just like, “I just want to throw this out there real quick.“ And they were all hilarious.
SHANNON I felt that way with Jim Carrey. I was like, “God, he just elevates every sketch.”
Fans love it when you break.
JONES It’s funny as hell.
YANG It’s a live show. When things go wrong, it’s an error in stimulus. You laugh because something is not landing normally.
JONES Or something is landing.
MEYERS But also sometimes we get to witness something the audience doesn’t. I guess it was the Betty White show, and Molly, you did Sally O’Malley. You were pulling your pants up, and Amy [Poehler] and I were at the Weekend Update desk. The audacity and the joy. We were so lucky to have that vantage point. That was one of my favorite moments.
THOMPSON Molly, you eat it up every single time. And my favorite is when you say, “Stretch.” Because it’s like the “kick” is intense. You’re having such a good time doing the dance of your gift.
MEYERS I turned 50 last year, and 15 different SNL people texted me that it was time to “kick and stretch.”
SHANNON This is not funny at all, but my dad was very badly injured in an automobile accident and he had to learn to walk again. The character is based on his limp. That’s me imitating my dad. She’s like, “I can’t,” but then she fools people. She’s got power. She can f--- you all.
Lorne has told cast members that it takes three to four years to get comfortable on the show.
YANG I think it takes three to four years to get over the fear of getting fired. But I’m still a wreck every Saturday.
THOMPSON Comfortable is subjective because we’re always presenting something new. We never really have a relaxed moment until after it’s done.
Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
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