My full story of working at Saturday Night Live!!

What's up everybody? I hope you're doing well. We're under quarantine. I'm cooking a steak in there so I'm probably gonna get up in a minute. But this is just a quick video. I thought I'd tell a story today about the time that I worked at Saturday Night Live. That's right. I worked at Saturday Night Live from, let's see, I think it was the 94-95 season and the 95-96 season. I was there for two years and and it was it was probably one of the best experiences of my life. When I was about, I must have been about 20, I was in college. I went to UMass Amherst and I was a communications major there, bullsh** major, and and I was doing really good in classes whatever but it wasn't like hard to do good in those classes. And then I was like I want to work in comedy and and that was like everything. I loved comedy so much. That was like my thing and I just loved it. I was just like I couldn't get enough of it. And I loved Saturday Night Live at the time. Saturday Night Live at the time was like Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Farley, a bunch of people. And those guys were older than me obviously but probably not that much older. They were probably in their late 20s or whatever. And I was about 21 and I was living, I was going to school at UMass and I was like I heard that there was an internship program at Saturday Night Live. So I was like I'm gonna go and I'm gonna be an intern at Saturday Night Live. And I remember when I told my parents I was like I want to go to New York. And my mother was like you're not gonna like New York. You're not gonna like it at all. And I was like huh. I was like okay. She's like it's crowded. It's dirty and the people are on top of each other. They're all crazy. And I was like all right well maybe. And so I went down and I had an internship at Saturday Night Live and so I arranged this internship. It was really funny because I was really nervous. And so my mother who was like always so supportive of me, she like took me to Marshall's and she got me a three-piece suit to wear to the interview to Saturday Night Live. So she drove me down. She drove me from Boston all the way down to New York which is about four hours. And we drove up to 30 Rock which is where they have like the Christmas tree and where they do the Today Show. You can see that on TV. And that's where Saturday Night Live is on the 16th floor. And I went in and the minute I walked in I was like oh my god I felt so stupid because people at Saturday Night Live, they don't wear three-piece suits like nobody. They literally wear like the grubbiest clothes. That's the whole point of being a comedian is so you don't have to wear a three-piece suit. That's the whole point of Saturday Night Live is that you would like literally the ethos of Saturday Night Live. It was born on like going against the system. It was a late-night show that was born out of like you know like a new kind of television show that like broke all the rules of TV. And then I go in like I'm working at like you know Morgan Stanley. And I'm like hi I'm Jason. So immediately when I got in it all hit me. I was like of course. I was like why are you so stupid? You're wearing a three-piece suit. There's no way you're gonna get this. Hold on. I gotta check out my steak. Mm-hmm. Make sure I have stuff in my mouth guys. It's a big. Back in the day when I look at the edit. I don't want to have little marks of food there. I went in. I met with a woman named Karen Nathanson who ran the like audiovisual department which was basically when they needed like clips if the writers needed to like research something. If the writers need to research something or also like they needed like a clip of something to throw to. And so yeah. So it was I went in and had the interview. Then I also went interviewed at Dateline. I went down to Dateline and I was like oh I didn't want to work at Dateline. But I was like man. But in my mind I was like well I've got to go to New York. That's how I was back then. Like I used to make decisions like that. I was like well if I don't get started live then I gotta go do Dateline. Which I didn't even want to do Dateline. I had already worked at the local news station in Boston and I didn't want to do news anymore. And I remember that was like a big thing with my parents too. I was telling them and I wanted to be a comedian. Because I remember they're like well you know if you don't get SNL. You know so we drove back. We went back to Boston. My mother was like well if you don't get SNL you might get Dateline. And that would be really great. You know a journalist that's a great job being a journalist. Being an investigative reporter. And and secretly I was like no I don't want to work at Dateline. And I remember I sat my parents down and I was like hey. I was like I I want to get the job that's because I want to be a comedian. I like sat. I remember I was in a car with them and I was like guys I have something to tell you. My father was like oh what is this? What are you gonna tell me? He must have thought I was like coming out of the closet or something. I was like I guys I'm I'm what? Yo what? Yo what? I'm wanting to be a comedian. And they were like huh? And I was like I want to be a comedian. A stand-up comedian. And they were like what? And they I swear to God they were like what? And rightfully so like I've never been funny ever around them. For me to say I wanted to be a comedian I might as well said I want to be like a rocket scientist. And and because my sister my sister was really funny. She was the funny one in the family. She was really good with the old physical comedy. And she used to make us laugh all the time. And for me to say it it was nuts. It was absolutely nuts. And they were like oh okay are you sure? It's a really hard job. It's not that easy to become a comedian. I was like no I want to go to New York. I want to get this internship. A couple days later I got a call from Saturday Night Live and they were like you got it. And I was like I could like looking back like I don't know why they hired me. Like I have no no I can't believe they hired me. I couldn't have possibly given off a good impression. And maybe it was the suit. I don't know. But I'm not sure. And I remember so then I got the got the internship. I was like oh my god oh my god. And I had no money. We had no money. There was no possible way that I could afford an apartment in New York. And I found this apartment. It was with a dancer. This guy who was like I don't know. He was in like his 40s. And he had a railroad apartment. A railroad apartment is basically an apartment that is connected. You have to walk through one bedroom to get to the second bedroom. And so I lived in there. And he was like really persnickety. And he collected magnets. And I remember I he had a bunch of cats. And so I was just like living with this random dude. But it was okay because I would walk to work. And I remember I like when I got down to SNL it was very it was like it was very hard for me to just pick up and go to New York. Because I had really really good friends in college. Like I was having the best time in college. Like you know all my friends are alcoholics and they were really fun. And and I didn't really drink that much. But I always had fun with my friends. And that's kind of like when I have my friends now at the vlog squad. That was what my friends were like at college. There was like there was like the good-looking guy. There was like the crazy guy. It was like you know it was kind of like the same archetypes that we have now. And that's why I when I found these guys it was it was like being in college again. It really was. So then yeah so then I went and I worked. And I was like I'll do whatever. I don't care. I will literally lick shoes. Whatever it takes. And so I went. Went the first day. Literally the first day. Like I was like sitting like next to Adam Sandler, David Spade. And I would just run out and get coffee. And I loved it. Like I it became what was nice about sorry I lied when I was there. Was that you become the show becomes your life. You know what I mean? So you suddenly just have this incredible purpose which I just never had before. And the people there, the only thing I could say like as I wasn't smart. I wasn't funny. The only thing I really was probably a value to them was that I loved the show and I wanted to just be around it at all times. So for instance like Tuesday nights, the show works like this. The writers, the host comes in on Monday. Whoever the host is, it's a famous person. And they all say like hello to the host. All the writers say hello to the host. And then a lot of the cast members and the writers get they write Tuesday night. And they write sketches. And so like that Tuesday night, they'll be up to like 4 or 5 in the morning. And then they would be like you should go home. And I would be like no. No I don't want to go home. Like I'll stay. I'll stay. I'll do anything. And so I think that they like that part of me. So basically that's how SNL works is host comes in on Monday. They write all day Monday. They write all day Tuesday. They stay up really late Tuesday night. And then Wednesday, you come in and I would like put the fruit platter out for everybody and put all the scripts out. And they sit around this big table. All the cast members sit around the table. And then behind the cast members are the writers. And then Lorne, who's the executive producer, who I only had a few interactions with but couldn't have been nicer when I did talk to him. And they, Lorne will sit with the host, whoever the host is. In those days, like Alec Baldwin I think was a host one one time. Like Piers Brosnan and people like that. And then they would read all the sketches on Wednesday at like noon. And then they would go to, Lorne would deliberate with the host, go in. And then all the writers would come and wait and see if their sketch got picked. And then Thursday and Friday, they start building sets. They do rewrites. Thursday and Friday, they block. So when you come in Thursday morning, they're already blocking the new sketches. And then Saturday, they block all day again. Rewrite. They do a dress rehearsal at I think it's like 8.30. And from that dress rehearsal, what started on Wednesday were 50, probably 50 or 60 sketches that are written, that are probably like six or seven or eight pages each. And you got to read through them. Those get cut down to like 13 sketches that they go, that they make sets for. And they actually block and cast and do hair and makeup. And then those 13 go to the dress rehearsal. And then at dress, they probably cut like, you And so yeah, so that was basically my year there. I remember getting certain food for Adam Sandler. I remember running errands for David Spade, stuff like that. And just kind of being around. And I was pretty, I was pretty shy. So then that season ended. And then I went back to, that was the fall of 1994. And then I went back to UMass. I finished my senior year, which was really fun that I got to do that. And I remember looking back like, that was really smart of me. Because like, I probably would have stayed. But it was good that I went back and like had like the graduation experience and stuff like that. So for any of you wondering, those, it's good to have those experiences. You know, like to be with your friends and stuff. I'm glad I did that. So then that summer, I really, really wanted to get hired at SNL. And I kept, I kept calling and calling. And then they hired me to be the receptionist for the 95-96 season, which was the year that the Sandler and Spade and Farley, they all left. I also remember talking to Chris Farley. That was really fun. He was so nice. He asked me about my family, asked about my mom. He like couldn't have been sweeter. Davis Spade was always so nice. And so then I got the job as the receptionist, which was like when you would walk off 16, all the people would come. And so then that was the job I had. I made $400 a week. I got in really early every day. I left really late. And then I remember that year was the year they hired Will Ferrell, Tracy Morgan, David Koechner, Sherry O'Terry. So they were at Norm McDonald's. So they were all new cast members. I think Norm was there the year before. And so it was a completely, kind of a pretty new cast, Jim Brewer. And so then I was new with them. And so they were all kind of going through it. And I would help them with whatever they needed. And so that was really fun. I remember Mick Jagger called on the phone once. And I talked to him. And he said, is Norm there? And I was like, ah yeah, hang on. I'm like, who's this? And even though I knew who it was, he's like, it's Mick calling. And I was like, let me get him. He's like, oh yeah, take your time. He was super nice. Who else? Tracy Morgan used to just come up and sit with me. Because he didn't know where to go. Because he was like new to the cast. And it was funny to watch like his evolution. Like he went from like being like really shy and not knowing anybody to being like the funniest person on the show after I left. The main thing that I did probably that year was that I became friends with this comedian named Norm McDonald who had the Weekend Update spot. And he was a, he's a, if you don't know Norm McDonald, he's a brilliant comedian. He's probably the best Weekend Update guy ever. Well, in my opinion. They've all been great, but Norm's my favourite. And he, along with this guy Jim Downey, who ran the show for a long time, who was there from the beginning, brilliant, super brilliant. Those guys really taught me a lot about comedy. They never actually like sat there and were like, hey, this is how you do something. But it was more like just watching them work. I remember Norm taught me something really early. He just said, he used to sit and smoke. He was um, he was really, he said once, he said, I said, well the joke should always be the furthest thing away from what you expect. And that was something that, and that was something that always stuck with me. There was also a really funny clip. I'll see if I can find it and put it in. But it's Norm McDonald and Colin Quinn being interviewed by MTV. And because Norm was like a very confident dude. And I remember the woman, Tabitha Zoran, goes to Colin Quinn. He goes, Colin Quinn was also on the show. He was new too. And he's really funny. And they go, oh, what do you think of Norm McDonald? He's the John Wayne of, everyone's calling him the John Wayne of comedy. And Colin Quinn said, yeah, John Wayne Gacy. Which I thought was one of the most brilliant like comebacks to anything I've ever heard in my life. John Wayne Gacy. If you don't know, John Wayne Gacy was a serial killer. And Colin Quinn was really funny. Colin Quinn was the funniest off-camera. You guys don't know who Colin Quinn is? Look him up. He does like amazing one-man shows that Jerry Seinfeld's directed. And he had a show on Comedy Central. Really funny comedian. One of my favorites. And also Will Ferrell. Will Ferrell would walk around in character all the time. And being the receptionist, it was me and this girl Deb Cullen. Hi Deb, if you're watching. And we've kind of just sat there. And it was really fun because it was like being the receptionist. People would come up. All of the cast would come up and try their material on you. And to see if it would work. So Will Ferrell would come up and like have like funny glasses on. And like doing like something. And you'd be like, oh my god, that was hilarious. And then the next thing you know was in the show that night. Or Jim Brewer would come up and like try to make us laugh. And I think we were we were good laughers. And I think that was a and so that was I started working with Norm a lot. So I would answer the phones during the day. And then this is a good lesson for anybody that's like trying to be something. When my job was only from 10 to 6 technically. But at 6 o'clock I would leave there and walk across the hall and go sit with Norm and work for him. And just whatever he needed. Back then you faxed jokes. David and I were together like a couple, about a year ago. And I said we were talking about getting a writer. And I said, oh yeah, maybe have somebody fax some jokes. And I said fax. He was like, did you just say fax? And I was like, yeah I did. But yeah, I mean another job I had was that on Saturday nights I would work the door at the party. So I would see every kind of star walking in. Like not just people that were on the show. Like it was like the party that everybody wanted to go to in New York. So any kind of movie star would come in. Leonardo DiCaprio would come in. Tobey Maguire came in. Even people that weren't hosting the show. And I would be at the door. And it was a pretty easy job. Because if you saw Leonardo DiCaprio, you'd be like, oh okay yeah, come on in. You know, I didn't, I don't know. They were pretty nice to me. But yeah. And so I guess the end of the story, which is really interesting, is it got to be, I finished the whole year there. And I wanted to be, I wanted to like be a writer there or something and move up. And they were like, yeah we don't know, whatever. And I got a job writing at MTV. So I took that job writing MTV because it paid like three times as much. And then I started performing. And then the next year, at the end of 96, I got an audition. And I auditioned for SNL. And I don't know how I can get a hold of that SNL tape. I don't think it's on YouTube or anything. I'll look and see. But I don't think it is. It's probably in their files. But I got, you get six minutes. I was, by then I was in LA performing, doing my thing. I want to say it's 96. It might have been 97. I know I auditioned the same year that Jimmy Falun auditioned for SNL. So whoever wants to look that up, they can look it up. And I remember they flew me to New York. They gave me a hotel room. And I was really nervous. I was really green. I went up there. I had a bunch of characters that I knew worked, that I'd already been, I'd started to do stand-up and stuff. So I was like, I know all this stuff works. So I got up, did all my characters. No one laughed. It was dead silence. Maybe like, maybe a cameraman chuckled. And then I'm up there and I said I needed to play a song. I used to do this like, this character like a Jim Morrison like lounge singer. And I said, oh I need to play a tape. And it was, gosh, why did I move so close to the airport? But I did go like, oh I need a CD, a boombox. And I remember it just froze. Like everything just froze. No one helped me. And I think they do that on purpose. They like want to see like how you handle no laughs. You know, how composed you are. How much it bothers you to be just like dying up there. And yeah, that was really awkward. So it was a good audition except for that one moment. They brought me this boombox and I did it and I did the bit. That was it. And I remember I walked out and there were some people that like weren't necessarily like so nice to me when I was there. Like some of the people that worked there. And I remember I walked out and one of the girls who like wasn't nice to me, she gave me a big hug. She was like, oh my gosh, that was so good. She's like, we're so proud of you. We can't believe you came this far. And I was like, oh cool. And then for a couple months after, maybe for a couple months, I don't know, maybe it was like six weeks or so, we were waiting. My agent kept saying, oh you're in the mix or whatever. But then I didn't get it. Yeah, that was it. That was my story for SNL. I love SNL. I still love the show. And yeah, so if you guys, hope you guys enjoyed this video. I'm gonna leave the rest of my state. And yeah, have a good one. Oh, check out my merch. Okay, bye!