Saturday Night Live
The SNL coverage keeps puncturing the origin myth from the inside. Original writers and cast members describe a show that was scared, broke, and improvised: two future legends hiding behind a plant at the first meeting, a performer negotiating a hospital bed into her contract, an anchor who refused to beg for airtime and outlasted almost everyone in the room.
The Circuit: the week the tidy story kept losing
Across nine conversations this week, some of the biggest names on the podcast circuit spent their time roughing up the clean version of events, the plague that supposedly ended Rome, the aliens in the government freezer, the trophy that counts as a World Cup. What kept surfacing was a preference for the smaller, stranger, less quotable truth.
Laraine Newman on Scorsese Breakfasts, Mime Shame, and the Accidental Audition That Changed Everything
The original SNL cast member tells the story of how she got famous without knowing she was trying to.
Tina Fey on Athletes, Almonds, and Why She Can't Get Her Kids to Watch 30 Rock
The Kelce brothers haul in Tina Fey and Nate Bargatze for an episode that somehow covers manspreading at MSG, a Cleveland Guardians ownership stake, and the origin of Nashville hot chicken.
Will Ferrell Didn't Know He Wrote Elf, and Other Things Harland Williams Told Him
The Harland Highway podcast reunites two Superstar co-stars, produces a fake ancestry reveal, and somehow ends with a cappella cowbell.
Michael Che Finally Shows Up for Mike Birbiglia's Podcast, Five and a Half Years Later
Two comedians who actually trust each other spend an hour workshopping bits, diagnosing SNL, and accidentally conducting therapy.
Kristen Wiig Tells Amy Poehler She Packed Up Her Car After a Dollar-a-Minute Psychic Told Her to Move to LA
Two SNL legends talk Groundlings, ghosts, Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, and the particular horror of being asked to tell a story at a dinner party.
John Mulaney, John Mayer, Jimmy Carr, Jim Gaffigan, and Jim Downey Walk Into Conan's Podcast
Five guests, one episode, and a running lawsuit fantasy that somehow becomes the most coherent bit of the whole thing.
Adam Sandler on Happy Gilmore 2, Bobby Boucher's NFL Career, and Why He Still Gets Nervous Around Taylor Swift
The Sandman shows up on New Heights and turns a sports podcast into a forty-minute masterclass in being exactly yourself.
Billy Bush Finally Gets to Tell His Side, and It's Messier and More Sympathetic Than You Remembered
Nine years after the Access Hollywood tape, Bush walks Adam Carolla through the betrayal, the breakdown, and why he still has one corner of his heart reserved for NBC News chairman Andy Lack.
Will Ferrell Drafted Ron Burgundy as QB and Bombed His SNL Debut. He's Fine With Both.
The Anchorman star visits New Heights to talk hockey stunts, getting rejected twenty times on Anchorman, and why Lorne Michaels is constitutionally incapable of a compliment.
Anne Beatts on SNL's First Women, John Belushi's Veto Power, and the Hospital Bed She Negotiated Into Her Contract
The woman who helped invent the Nerds sketches, outlasted Belushi's war against female writers, and got a push-button hospital bed installed on the 17th floor of 30 Rock tells it straight.
Bill Hader and Ted Danson Bond Over the One Thing Funnier People Are Supposed to Hide
Two of the most decorated comedy actors alive spend ninety minutes comparing anxiety attacks, SNL nightmares, and the specific horror of bombing in front of a Sarah Palin crowd.
Adam Sandler on Bombing, Kevin Meany, and Why He Said Yes to the Netflix Special
Two hours and forty minutes of comedians talking about comedy, and almost none of it is boring.
Tina Fey on Las Culturistas: Great Americans, Mozzarella Stick Math, and the Danger of Having Opinions
The woman who wrote Mean Girls shows up, delivers a masterclass in institutional wisdom, and tells Bowen Yang his podcast career has maybe one year left.
Paul Shaffer Almost Became George Costanza's Neighbor
The Cowsills get Paul Shaffer on the phone and learn he didn't return Jerry Seinfeld's call, played Artie Fufkin in Spinal Tap, and once had to sing to Marty Allen.
Will Ferrell says Lorne Michaels told him to leave SNL only after he started to dip
Ferrell’s exit advice from Michaels sounds insane until you remember the next three movies were Old School, Elf, and Anchorman.
Chevy Chase Walked Into Bill Maher's Living Room and Refused to Leave
At 79, the original Saturday Night Live star is still the funniest guy in any room, and he knows it.
John Mulaney on Arenas, Addiction, and the SNL Writer Who Thought He Could Dress Himself
Mulaney joins Dana Carvey and David Spade to talk sobriety, Madison Square Garden, and why Mickey Rooney wanted to shoot a serial killer.
Bill Burr and Garrett Morris Reminisce About Carnegie Hall, Cocaine, and Getting Shot
Two comics from different eras swap stories on Tom Green's web show, and somehow it works.
Alan Zweibel says he and Gilda Radner hid behind a plant at the first Saturday Night Live meeting
The original SNL writer’s best story is not about cocaine, power, or genius, it’s about two future comedy legends quietly panicking behind office foliage.
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi in 1978: Two Guys Who Weren't Sure the Show Would Last Seven Episodes
A newly surfaced interview captures the Blues Brothers at 26 and 29, still sleeping on foam slabs and genuinely unsure if any of this was going to work out.
Will Ferrell Thought the Last Dab Was Just Ceremonial. It Was Not.
The comedy legend shows up without Julia Louis-Dreyfus, with an active ulcer, and still eats every wing.
Jane Curtin Never Begged for It, and That's Why She Lasted
The original SNL anchor on improv, Lorne Michaels, Gilda Radner, and the one rule she never broke.