‘Beyond Saturday Night’ docs are comedy nerd heaven

Auditions and writers are the focus of first two entries.

Starting with the launch of the current season – and, unofficially, with the debut of Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night shortly after – Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary celebration is in full swing. If you haven’t already read the countless books about the show or aren’t following Fly on the Wall or The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, there’s also a three-hour live special coming in February as well as Lorne Michaels’ biography. And that’s all preceded by several documentaries, not to mention the think pieces that we’re sure to get.

It might seem like overkill, except that Saturday Night Live is one of only a handful of shows that could truly be called an institution. It changed the face of American comedy and is still our great pop culture incubator. It’s also one of the few programs to put on a live show each week, a logistical challenge that has launched a million panic attacks.

I don’t love every episode, season or cast of Saturday Night Live. But I love SNL, the institution. I remember my parents cracking up at the Church Lady in the ‘90s and my own uncontrollable giggles uncontrollable the first time I saw Dan Aykroyd’s Julia Child on a prime-time retrospective. My list of favorite comedies is packed with the faces of SNL cast members and several of my favorite TV shows come from the pens of former 30 Rock writers. When my wife and I visited New York early in our marriage, I made her forgo a free chance to watch Jimmy Fallon work out his monologue because it might mean missing our 30 Rock tour and my chance to see Studio 8H in person. A bucket list goal of mine is to win the lottery for tickets.

So, of course I was going to check out the four Morgan Neville-produced documentaries that hit Peacock last week under the title “Beyond Saturday Night.” I intended to pace myself, but I blew through all four in the space of two days; easy to do when these are only an hour long. And even though my brain is packed with SNL trivia, I was engrossed in all of these, which range from the accessible to the deeply nerdy. And I wanted to share my thoughts on all four. I’m going to break them into two entries; you’ll get my thoughts on the first two today and my thoughts on the others on Friday morning. Enjoy!

Episode 1: Five Minutes

“Five Minutes” is the most accessible of these docs, able to be enjoyed by casual fans but with enough clips and revelations to satisfy die-hards. The title refers to the length of SNL audition, an event that is by turns life-changing and nerve-wracking. Several cast members talk about their experiences and watch clips of their auditions, with some laughing or even crying fondly and others – like Amy Poehler – asking for it to be shut off a minute in.

Fans have likely heard many of these stories before, whether it be the fact that there’s often very little laughing from Lorne Michaels or his cohorts during the audition or that the executive producer likes to play mind games with potential cast members. It’s interesting to hear how many things are consistent throughout the audition – throwing them to the wolves at five minutes, letting them sweat in the green room where they can hear the other applicants, the extreme anxiety that each person feels. It’s also fascinating how many people’s experiences differ. Some cast members endured more than one audition, others received a personal meeting with Lorne. One of the constants throughout these documentaries is how much of a high-stress environment SNL is, and that begins in this process. As one producer notes, if you can’t perform live for five minutes in the audition, you probably don’t belong.

The big draw for this episode is the opportunity to see the auditions of several famous cast members – Will Ferrell’s is particularly good; I like Bobby Moynihan, but after seeing his, I’m not sure how he got the job. There are also the usual suspects who auditioned and didn’t make it, like Jim Carrey and Donald Glover. If I had a quibble – and, again, it’s something that can be said about all of these docs – it's that it’s very heavy on newer castmates; a relative term, as Ferrell and Dana Carvey were on two and three decades ago, respectively. But aside from a few quick glimpses of Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Jane Curten, there’s very little from the original cast, which seems a missed opportunity, unless there’s something in the work to celebrate that first year that we haven’t been told about.

Episode 2: Written By

My favorite of the docs, simply because I’ve always thought that if I could go back in time and try to do it all over again, I would push myself to be an SNL writer. They’re the unsung heroes of the show, and until watching this episode, I wasn’t aware of just how far-reaching their responsibilities stretch.

The documentary follows a week in the production of one SNL episode – hosted by The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri last season – all from the writer’s perspective. If you’re slightly more than a casual fan of Saturday Night Live, you’re likely aware of the show’s weekly rhythm: the pitch session in Lorne’s office, the late nights of writing, the rush to make props and sets, the long Saturday culminating in a dress rehearsal and live show. James Franco directed a documentary that was basically the same perspective – just not centered on the writers – in 2010, and it hits several of the same beats.

But “Written By” gains a great deal of intimacy and honesty by keeping the cast members and featured players to the sidelines and focusing on names we only see in the credits. The writers seem more open than the performers might be to offer their honest assessment of life in 30 Rock, including the elation of seeing your sketch make it to air and the feeling of failure when you don’t make the cut or a sketch bombs. As one writer notes, it’s his dream job and his mental health has also never been worse.

I’ve always believed that the writers stayed confined to the writers’ room all week; despite all my SNL knowledge, I didn’t realize how far their responsibilities stretch. Yes, there’s the pitching and writing, but once a sketch is approved at the table read, that writer becomes a mini-producer and director for that sketch. They’re responsible for making sure props, sets and music are in order, and they’re the ones who have to block a sketch. And they’re writing throughout the week, up until the show goes to air, cutting lines, adding jokes and doing everything possible to make it funny (it’s noted that extremely little of SNL is improvised). Finally, they have to sit under the bleachers with Lorne during dress rehearsal and endure his digs if a sketch fails. All that and then they have to view the show from the writers’ room, eating pizza and drinking beer as they wait to see whether the cast pulls it off.

It’s no surprise that many SNL writers have gone on to successful writing, producing and directing gigs. They’re the true heroes of the show, and they don’t even get to come out for goodnights.