That Show Hasn't Been Funny In Years: an SNL podcast on Radio Misfits

Nick delves into “Dr. Beaman’s Office: Test Results,” one of the most bizarre sketches in “Saturday Night Live” history. Written by Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, and starring Ferrell alongside Molly Shannon, Chris Parnell, Rachel Dratch, and Tim Meadows as “Dr. Poop,” this sketch is analyzed in depth. Nick plays the entire sketch for listeners, provides ins...

Nick looks back, talks about, and plays some very funny “Saturday Night Live” sketches that satirize the films and culture of the Disney empire. From hilarious takedowns of “Frozen 2” and “Mary Poppins,” to great sight gags involving the flying carpet rides in “Aladdin,” and the underwater antics in “The Little Mermaid,” nothing is off li...

Nick reminisces about one of the most iconic “Saturday Night Live” characters, motivational speaker Matt Foley, created by Bob Odenkirk and famously portrayed by Chris Farley. The episode traces the character’s origins back to 1990, inspired by Odenkirk’s childhood in Naperville, Illinois, and highlights how Farley made the role his own. It features Foley’s debut at T...

Nick revisits some of the most iconic political impressions on “Saturday Night Live” performed by guest stars rather than cast members. This episode showcases five outstanding impersonations of real-life politicians. Highlights include Tina Fey’s acclaimed portrayal of Sarah Palin, Melissa McCarthy’s uproarious take on former Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and Larry Dav...

Nick explores the memorable “Saturday Night Live” characters Kaitlin and Rick, played by Amy Poehler and Horatio Sanz. These characters, appearing seven times over three years, are celebrated for their quirky humor and endearing dynamics. Kaitlin, a lively 10-year-old, constantly navigates her fears with the help of her patient stepfather, Rick. The episode delves into the creation and...

Join Nick as he spotlights six incredibly talented and uproarious performers who, surprisingly, have never taken the reins as hosts on “Saturday Night Live.” These comedic geniuses have graced the SNL stage with guest appearances in sketches, monologues, and unexpected cameos, yet the spotlight of hosting has eluded them. Nick delves into why these stars are overdue for hosting duties,...

The Oscars and “Saturday Night Live,” believe it or not those worlds have crossed paths several times. In this episode, Nick tells you about everyone who has worked in the hallowed halls of Studio 8H, that has ever been nominated for, or won, an Academy Award. From some surprising acting nominations (yes, Dan Aykroyd has really been nominated for an acting Oscar), to nominations in cat...

Nick celebrates 20 years of Kenan Thompson, who holds the record for longest tenured SNL cast member of all time. You will hear about Thompson’s early life and career, his time performing on Nickelodeon kid’s shows, his own sit-com, movies, and his 20 seasons on “Saturday Night Live.” You’ll learn about how he almost left the show after his disastrous first season, bu...

It’s Christmas time, and in honor of the holiday, Nick plays back some of his favorite holiday themed sketches/songs/films/bits from “Saturday Night Live” years past. You hear classics like: Schweddy Balls, Christmastime For The Jews, Adam Sandler’s Chanukah Song, and, of course, D*** In A Box. Plus, hilarious Christmas commercial parodies, a visit from Drunk Uncle, and a C...

Emma Stone became a member of the “SNL 5-Timers Club” this past weekend, and in this episode, Nick talks about, and plays sketches from her most recent hosting gig, including her 5-Timers monologue (featuring cameos by Tina Fey, Candice Bergen and Lorne Michaels). Then he goes back and visits the other four times she hosted the show in 2010, 2011, 2016, and 2019, and plays sketches, vi...

Nick revisits five moments from past “Saturday Night Live” episodes that the cast and writers now see as mistakes. These include scenes with outdated or offensive language, inappropriate portrayals of real people, insensitive jokes about serious events, or simply unfunny content. The actors who regret these moments are Dana Carvey, Tina Fey, Fred Armisen, Seth Rogan, and Bill Hader. Th...

Nick chats about Conan O’Brien’s time at “Saturday Night Live.” From ’88 to ’91, Conan was on the SNL writing crew, penning or helping to pen some epic sketches like “Girl Watchers” with Jon Lovitz and Tom Hanks, and the laugh-out-loud “Mr. Short Term Memory” acts. He popped up in skits, usually playing doormen, lent his voice to bits, an...

Nick shares his 10 favorite Thanksgiving themed sketches/songs/bits from “Saturday Night Live” over the years. They include scary Thanksgiving parade floats terrorizing a family; Debbie Downer ruining everyone’s dinner with stories about war, death and feline AIDS; a group of adults sitting at the “kids’ table” acting like 9-year-olds;  a Thanksgiving table of b...

Nick looks back a pair of weird sketches that aired on “Saturday Night Live” in 1993, bombing the first time and killing the second. The sketches, featuring a hilarious Phil Hartman as the fictional editor of the real teen magazine “Sassy,” interviewing teenage heartthrobs, were meant to be satires of early 90s pop culture and hunky male celebrities, but kind of missed the...

Nick Digilio welcomes one of the founders of Chicago’s Factory Theater, Sean Abley, who is also a successful playwright, author, actor/director, and journalist who studied at Second City, and is a “Saturday Night Live” fanatic. Sean discusses how he began watching SNL at a very young age (too young, some would say), how the show influenced his own writing and performing (as a jun...

Actor Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates from “Psycho”) hosted “Saturday Night Live” just once (on March 13 th  1976, during the show’s first season), and while he did a surprisingly great job, the episode was filled with weird moments, terrible sketches, a musical guest that had a terrible night, and some insane technical problems that didn’t support the effort that...

Live TV can be a tricky and sometimes scary adventure, no one knows that more than the people who have worked on “Saturday Night Live’ throughout the years. In this episode, Nick takes a look at the rare times that the dreaded “F” Bomb has been uttered on the stage in Studio 8H for the entire nation to hear. The whole history of the “F'” Bomb incidents is covere...

Like seemingly everyone in the world, “Saturday Night Live” has a YouTube channel, and in this episode, Nick looks at the Top 10 Most Viewed SNL Clips on that channel. It’s important to note, that this list ONLY represents the SNL YouTube Channel specifically, not the internet in general. The list is sometimes predictable (with two “Celebrity Jeopardy” entries, and th...

Nick welcomes actor/writer/producer/professional wrestler Chris Margetis to the podcast to discuss his love of “Saturday Night Live,” its influence on his writing and performing, and his history of watching the show since he was 7 years-old. They talk about the sketches from childhood that Chris loved, and the latest work on the show that cracks him up. Plus, they countdown his 5 favor...

Nick looks back at one of the best, most surprising, and most subtle political sketches in SNL history:  “Black Jeopardy with Doug.” The sketch appeared on an episode of “Saturday Night Live” from October 2016 (during the intense height of the Trump/Clinton campaign) in which host Tom Hanks plays a MAGA hat-wearing Trump supporter who appears on “Black Jeopardy,&#8221...

Nick talks about Cecily Strong’s incredible Weekend Update Feature piece in which she played “Goober The Clown.” On September 1st, 2021, Texas effectively banned abortions, leading to other bans and changes in policy and law. So, in response to the ban, on the November 6th 2021 episode of SNL, Strong wrote an Update piece in which she revealed her very personal experience with ab...

Nick has a fantastic conversation with Katie Rich, an incredible writer/performer who spent 6 seasons writing on “Saturday Night Live,” exclusively working on Weekend Update. They talk about Katie’s early life growing up on the Southside of Chicago (as a Cub fan!), her days working at “iO” with people like Charna Halpern and Cecily Strong, the time she spent of stage...

Larry David is now considered a great host, and recurring star on SNL (his impression of Bernie Sanders is legendary, and his character Kevin Roberts has become a cult favorite), but that wasn’t always the case. In this episode, Nick looks back at the one season that the “Seinfeld” & “Curb Your Enthusiasm” creator spent on “Saturday Night Live,” and i...

Nick looks back at acts, sketches, films, characters and moments that were not only edgy and took some risks, but were (and still remain) completely subversive. From the start, Saturday Night Live was inherently ballsy, risky, edgy and counter-cultural. From the drug-fueled humor, to the young cast and attitude, to the progressively anti-establishment material, SNL was based on the idea of thumbin...

Nick talks about the history of Saturday Night Live’s ‘Weekend Update,’ including the name changes (it was called other things including ‘SNL Newsbreak’ for a bit), the format tinkering, and the seasons when, inexplicably, they thought it was a good idea to actually let the guest hosts anchor Update (yes, that terrible idea turned out to be a disaster). You’ll h...