Wasn't That Special: 50 Years of SNL Podcast

On this surprise free edition of Wasn’t That Special , we interview six-year cast member Victoria Jackson, who has plenty to say about the behind-the-scenes drama during her time on the show. Jackson talks about why, even 35 years later, Alec Baldwin can’t stop talking about her breasts. She offers an opinion on the famous Chris Farley Chippendale’s sketch, and she discusses her rivalries with fel...

If, as is commonly believed, five years is the expiration date for a star on Saturday Night Live , nobody told Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman. In Season 17, both cast members are running at full capacity, carrying the show along as the young players still find their footing on the show. Of the kids on the show, Rob Schneider shows the most potential to be a… Get full access to Wasn't That Special: 5...

By the fall of 1990, the core cast of Saturday Night Live had spent four full seasons together, and clearly Executive Producer Lorne Michaels thought it was time for new blood. Gone were Nora Dunn and Jon Lovitz, while Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Dennis Miller, Mike Myers, and Victoria Jackson were all back. But throughout the sea… Get full access to Wasn't That Special: 50...

Just before the 15th season of Saturday Night Live began, the show decided to pay tribute to itself with a special looking back at the 14 years it had been on the air. This was the first time SNL could pause and reflect, given that after both Season Five and Season Ten, the fate of the show was still up in the air. But after the legendary Season Fourteen, SNL was on firm footing and finally looked...

There was only one question coming in to Season Fifteen of Saturday Night Live : Could the show maintain the high quality that made Season Fourteen the best year in the show’s history to date? The answer? Not quite. With the entire cast back this year, the show brought back favorite characters like Hans and Franz, the Church Lady, Wayne and Garth, and Diet… Get full access to Wasn't That Special:...

If the strike-shortened thirteenth season of Saturday Night Live was merely an appetizer, Season Fourteen is the full course, stuffed with classic sketches and top-flight performances. The full cast is back this year, as well as almost the entire writing staff, which added names like Conan O’Brien, Bob Odenkirk, and Greg Daniels in Season Thirteen. Seaso… Get full access to Wasn't That Special: 50...

In previous seasons of Saturday Night Live, the female cast members have pointed out how much difficulty the male writers have had writing for them. In Season Seven, single-year cast member Christine Ebersole sang a whole song about it. But in Season Thirteen, the gap between men’s roles and women’s roles is as stark as ever. The men get meaty, attention… Get full access to Wasn't That Special: 50...

In Season Eleven, Lorne Michaels tried something new with Saturday Night Live : he brought in a cast full of movie stars who hadn’t previously performed sketch comedy. And the results showed. Michaels famously ended the season with a sketch that trapped the cast and writers in a burning room, with only Jon Lovitz escaping the fire. As Season Twelve begins, we find that Nora Dunn and Dennis Miller...

The eleventh season of Saturday Night Live started entirely from scratch, save the return of the show’s original creator, Lorne Michaels. With producer Dick Ebersol and big-name cast members like Billy Crystal, Martin Short, and Christopher Guest out the door, Michaels brought in a number of Hollywood stars with almost no sketch comedy experience. And their presence was met with a torrent of negat...

In this episode, available for free to all listeners , we discuss Season Ten, the season of Saturday Night Live in which Executive Producer Dick Ebersol brought in a slew of high-priced, proven talent to give the show a boost. Those new cast members included Billy Crystal, who effectively became Eddie Murphy’s replacement in Season Nine, hosting two of the final five shows and showing up as a spec...

Replacing Eddie Murphy is no enviable task, but in Season Nine of Saturday Night Live , producer Dick Ebersol attempted to do just that. Before the season, it was clear that Eddie - now the biggest comedy name in the world - wouldn’t be able to make all the shows. So Ebersol and Murphy struck a deal - Eddie would tape a number of sketches before the season started and the show would run them as if...

In many ways, Season Eight (1982-83) is the natural progression from Season Seven. Eddie Murphy continues to grow, eventually taking over the show to the point at which he actually hosts the show while being a cast member. (This is almost entirely the result of a mix-up in which Nick Nolte, Murphy’s co-star in 48 Hours was supposed to host but pulled out. Nonetheless, the choice of Murphy to host...

Season Seven is a transitional one for the show - after the Season Six debacle and the firing of just about everyone involved, it had to show that it could still be funny enough to warrant a spot in NBC’s lineup. And the pressure was on Dick Ebersol to make a product that carried the momentum of the final show of the previous season, his first show as a producer. In are newcomers Christine Ebersol...

While an atrocious season of SNL makes for painful viewing, it also happens to make for a fun, lively episode of “Wasn’t That Special.” This week’s show picks up where the last one left off: Both producer Lorne Michaels and the original cast are gone, with Jean Doumanian taking the reins and picking an entirely new set of cast members. The show immediately goes in the tank, reaching previously uni...

Season Five was a watershed moment for SNL ; at the beginning of the season, the cast said goodbye to original cast members John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, and at the end of the season, the remaining founding players left (including Bill Murray, who joined in Season Two.) On this episode, we discuss what the loss of Aykroyd and Belushi meant for Bill Murray, who was forced to play the male lead in f...

In this free episode with Season 17 SNL cast member Siobhan Fallon Hogan, we discuss her time as a cast member, including the prank she played on Michael Jordan, her ability to spot Succession star Kieran Culkin’s talent at age nine, the in-jokes she used to share with Chris Farley, her recurring role on Seinfeld, and the sketch on SNL she refused to do. Fallon Hogan also discusses her new film Sh...

To the regular SNL viewer, it appears everything is humming along just fine in Season Four: The entire cast is back, ratings are up, and they are attracting A-list stars like the Rolling Stones to host. But the behind-the-scenes story is very different. The previous summer, Animal House became a runaway hit, making John Belushi a household name. This not only gave Belushi the impression he may hav...

Have you ever wondered if you could host Saturday Night Live ? Well, Season Three of the show tried to answer that question, as the show held an “Anyone Can Host” contest, selecting from over a hundred thousand postcards members of the public had sent in. On the Season Three episode of Wasn’t That Special , Christian and Scot discuss whether the contest was actually successful. They also get into...

On the Season Two episode of Wasn’t That Special , the first one available only to paid subscribers, we discuss Chevy Chase’s exit from Saturday Night Live , how effortlessly Bill Murray slipped into his slot, and dispel the myth that the show suddenly belonged to John Belushi once Chevy bolted. The show also includes an in-depth discussion of Belushi’s career, from his early days in Wheaton, Ill....

In our first season recap episode, we cover the legendary season one, which many believe to be Saturday Night Live’s finest year. During the season, the Not Ready for Prime Time Players struggled to find the right format, the Muppets made everyone uncomfortable, and Albert Brooks and Lorne Michaels entered a power struggle over the show’s filmed bits. In the meantime, Chevy Chase took over the sho...

In this inaugural Wasn't That Special episode, we answer all your questions: What is this show? Who are we? Why is this podcast necessary? How did Saturday Night Live even come to be? Your hosts Christian and Scot discuss the roots of SNL - where the Not Ready for Prime Time Players came from, how NBC ended up greenlighting the show, and how revolutionary the show was given the context of what was...