‘SNL’ secrets: Past and present cast members reveal what really goes on behind the scenes

Shortly before “NBC’s Saturday Night” lit up American TV sets on Oct. 11, 1975, producer Lorne Michaels and seven unknown actors and comedians appeared on “The Tomorrow Show,” a late-night talk show with Tom Snyder, to promote their new 90-minute variety series.

“We’ve got eight and we’re hoping for two for it to really work,” Michaels deadpanned to Snyder about his new cast. “So, not all of these people will become stars.”

Sitting next to him? Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Gilda Radner, John Belushi and Laraine Newman. Despite Michaels’ tongue-in-cheek prediction, they would, in fact, go on to become not only stars, but legends as the original Not Ready For Prime Time Players on the soon-to-be renamed “Saturday Night Live.”

Now, 50 years later, the sketch comedy show has gone on to become the most Emmy-decorated television show in history, receiving countless nominations, awards and accolades. And, in 2017, those original cast members were inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

Defined by its satirical and often censor-defying comedy, along with performances by cutting-edge musicians and artists, “SNL” has been a touchstone of American pop culture for five decades. In that time, more than 160 cast members have come and gone, many of them going on to become legends in their own right.

In honor of “SNL’s” golden anniversary, TODAY.com sat down with past and present cast members to learn what really goes on behind the scenes of the late night show — from the anxiety to the exhilaration — what viewers at home might be surprised to find out, along with their take on the best character breaks and sketches that didn’t go quite as planned.

Here’s what they revealed.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Laraine Newman (1975 to 1980)

What does it feel like when you’re performing live on “SNL”?

You can only be aware of the audience that’s in the studio. There’s no sense, at least from my experience, that there’s millions of people watching.

It’s like everything I was trained to do at The Groundlings where we did sketches and were in place, in costume, doing the sketch, lights out, run off, change, get back down to your spot, lights up and do the next sketch. That’s exactly what “SNL” is.

What’s the most surprising part of what goes on behind the scenes?

What’s heroic is that the set designers, they have four days to build sets for sketches that might not even make it to air. The craft of the look of the show, the work that goes into that, the thought that goes into it. The fact that the writers get to collaborate with every aspect — wardrobe, makeup, everything — to really optimize their material. I don’t think there’s any show like that.

Is there one moment where you broke character or one sketch that didn’t go as planned that stands out in your mind?

Lorne (Michaels) did not want us to laugh, and I never got close to laughing, except when Rodney Dangerfield hosted. We were doing a takeoff on the Woody Allen movie “Manhattan” called “Manhasset.” (Dangerfield) is saying, “Tracy, don’t go to Manhasset. I tell ya, it’s rough. I got a waterbed and there was a guy at the bottom of it.”

Now, I’d heard that joke in read-through and the rehearsal and it still got me. If you watch it, you can’t tell. But I am dying. It is everything I could do not to laugh.

Nora Dunn (1985 to 1990)

What does it feel like when you’re performing live on “SNL”?

There’s something about the camera coming on — you come to life. Because right before that, you’re not. It’s like your dead, and you’re revived and it’s a “do-or-die” situation. And you go, “Well, I got here.” I always tell myself, “You got here. There’s a reason that you are here.”

I don’t think you do it. I think the other side does it. The lights do it. They go, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … boom!” It just happens. You can’t plan it.

What’s the most surprising part of what goes on behind the scenes?

When you’re watching a sketch, right behind that wall, someone’s taking their clothes off and putting on a costume and having a wig grabbed off their head and put something else on it. You have to make those quick changes.

You might be on with a guest star, the host, and you’re like, “Gotta get my clothes off!” You’re not naked, but next to naked. Every time there’s a sketch on “Saturday Night Live,” there’s all kinds of stuff going on in the background.

Is there one moment where you broke character or one sketch that didn’t go as planned that stands out in your mind?

We were not supposed to use cue cards, but we all did. But Lorne was like (imitating Michaels), “They’re there if you need them. That’s why they’re not there, because you don’t know your lines.”

So, Jon (Lovitz) and I had to do a sketch with Charlton Heston. He needed glasses, but he said he didn’t. He didn’t wear glasses, so they had to make his cue cards huge. So, we had huge stacks of cue cards and we were doing an Egyptian scene. We’re dressed up as a couple that’s having pyramids built, and the cue card guy lost control of the cards. They spread all over the floor. Lorne was standing 15 feet away and he was furious. We just beelined away from Lorne because he was going to say (imitating Michaels), “Well, someone didn’t learn their lines.” He was not happy with us.

Kevin Nealon (1986 to 1995)

What does it feel like when you’re performing live on “SNL”?

It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. It’s like sitting in a rollercoaster car, right at the beginning, just anticipating and waiting for it all to happen. And it was a rollercoaster, there were ups and downs, it was crazy.

I remember before I did my first sketch, it was “Mr. Subliminal,” and right before, Lorne Michaels comes up to me, puts his hand on my shoulder, and he said, “Are you sure this is what you want?” It was funny and it relaxed me a little bit.

But I remember the excitement of the first show. I think The Pretenders were on, and I remember finishing a sketch, then running back to get made up and I’m hearing the band playing and I’m thinking, “Oh my God,” and I got filled with such energy and excitement that, “This is it, man, this is live, this is ‘Saturday Night Live.'”

What’s the most surprising part of what goes on behind the scenes?

I think the audience doesn’t realize how small the studio is when they get there. And I don’t think they realize that we’re scrambling to figure out what sketches to cut from rehearsal, how to improve a sketch and what didn’t work and what you’re surprised that did work.

But, also, I think a lot of times they don’t realize how frightened we are about going out there.

Is there one moment where you broke character or one sketch that didn’t go as planned that stands out in your mind?

(Breaking character) was very rare for me and for a lot of people on our cast because, at the time, Lorne thought of that as being very “hacky.” Also, it was a disservice to the writer. If you put all this labor into writing a sketch and then people are breaking on it, it’s like, “Well, there goes that sketch.”

I did break with Chevy Chase on “Weekend Update” once, but that was one of the only times I ever broke in nine years.

Molly Shannon (1995 to 2001)

What does it feel like when you’re performing live on “SNL”?

It’s exhilaration. When I hosted, for example, right before you go on, you’re in the back and you’re with a stage manager and they’re like, “OK … 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 …” So, you’re like, “Ugh (clutches her stomach).”

I got advice when I hosted. Steve Higgins, a wonderful producer on the show was like, “Take your time. You don’t have to run out there. It’s OK.” So, I thought that was good advice. Set yourself on stage, take a deep breath. But, definitely, there’s nerves. I would say, an excited, kind of nervous feeling.

What’s the most surprising part of what goes on behind the scenes?

I remember years ago, when I did the show, we would all have dinner after the rehearsals, before the live show. And I remember, because we had the whole week of writing comedy sketches, rehearsing them at dinner, I felt like, “Ugh, this is time to just relax before the big comedy show live at 11:30 p.m.”

But people would still be doing comedy bits at dinner and I remember thinking I just wanted to talk seriously and not have anybody joke around, like, have like a quiet dinner before we have to go do a show. I was like, “No comedy bits at dinner, like, please, let’s just eat.”

Is there one moment where you broke character or one sketch that didn’t go as planned that stands out in your mind?

Will Ferrell and I were characters who had recently lost 100 pounds, and we were very excited about it. We did it center stage and Will Ferrell and I always had a deal that, if you bombed, if you were tanking, and people weren’t laughing, you would still have to commit as an actor, pour your heart into it even more.

While we’re performing it, there were crickets, no laughter at all. I remember during the scene, looking at Will, we were like (grimace), but we just kept performing it like the greatest dramatic actors, and we thought it was so funny. So, it entertained us that you had to bomb with grace and dignity, to just jump into bombing and be OK with it. Scoring and bombing were on equal planes — you had to respect both.

Cheri Oteri (1995 to 2000)

What does it feel like when you’re performing live on “SNL”?

I would always be in the bathroom. That’s how fearful I was. I was always very nervous. It’s sheer fear and excitement. But because you only get a chance to do it once, it’s more fear for me. But I’ve always been like that, even when I did theater. I was always in the bathroom until it was like, “10, 9, 8 …”

What’s the most surprising part of what goes on behind the scenes?

We have a two-hour draft show at 8 o’clock, then a half hour is cut out of that and you’re just … nothing’s ever settled until 11:30 p.m. You’re working to get your sketches in during the week and you don’t know if they’re going to get in. And if they do get in, they could always be cut between dress and air.

Nothing is guaranteed. So that’s kind of hard. I always say it’s a show that you audition for every week, that you already got.

Is there one moment where you broke character or one sketch that didn’t go as planned that stands out in your mind?

There was one time I broke and it was doing “Morning Latte.” It was with Jerry Seinfeld. In this sketch, Will (Ferrell) goes like this (makes hitting motion) with a book and it hits me in the head. That book hit me so hard in the head — but it didn’t hurt. It just clocked. And because of the book being a hardcover, the sound just reverberated and the audience went, “Ooohhh.”

I went back and I saw stars. I started laughing and I couldn’t stop. Will had to say my lines. Tears are coming down, I’m laughing so much. I’ve never not been able to recover from something. But because I saw stars, I couldn’t stop laughing.

But it was dress, so on air, I knew it was coming. But that was the one and only time I broke.

Ana Gasteyer (1996 to 2002)

What does it feel like when you’re performing live on “SNL”?

Those last 15 seconds right before you go live, I think it’s largely fear. It’s not fear, necessarily, about failing or anything like that, but it’s all so last-minute that it’s just your brain synthesizing what has inevitably changed in your sketch moments before you’ve started and the breakneck pace of it because it really is live.

What people don’t understand — it’s live, and it’s written that week, that minute, that day. We may have written a sketch on Tuesday night, but it got rewritten on Thursday. It got rewritten again on Friday and then rewritten before your dress.

You may have just come off another experience, may have had a failed quick change or stressed moment because commercial breaks are only two minutes. They might feel long when you’re at home, but two minutes is really, really, really fast to have to change an entire outfit and wig. So, what’s happening in those 15 seconds is kind of rooting yourself in the space of what you’re going to do.

What’s the most surprising part of what goes on behind the scenes?

You know, when you’re coming back from a commercial and you’re at home and you’re like, “Gosh, why is this taking so long? Why am I looking at this picture of Ariana Grande for so incredibly long?”

That’s because, wildly, some set has not been assembled. That’s what those bumper (photo) cards are for, to buy a little bit of time on the edges of your returns.

Is there one moment where you broke character or one sketch that didn’t go as planned that stands out in your mind?

There was a sketch we did, a Sally Jessy Raphael with Christina Ricci. She had never done live television before, so she was really spooked and kind of addled, and maybe had a little champagne. There was a bad teen sketch and I was Sally Jessy, there was a fist fight.

It looked bad at dress. Lorne, in the notes, between dress and air, was like, “Let’s work on that punch.” We didn’t have a fight coordinator, it was very unrehearsed and the depth perception was off. We got to air and (Christina) was so focused, and that fist hit my nose in such a dramatic, hilarious, painful … I mean, in the moment I remember my Sally Jessy red signature frames went flying up off my face and landed in, like, slow motion. It was insane. It was like a full-face TKO. I remember just being like, “I’ve got to maintain the impression,” because I was so nervous about my Sally Jessy impression the whole time.

Rachel Dratch (1999 to 2006)

What does it feel like when you’re performing live on “SNL”?

It’s kind of a mix. Definite excitement, nerves … fear is a factor. Doing theater before “SNL,” the fear is kind of what drives you. So, the fear is good actually. But, overall, excitement.

What’s the most surprising part of what goes on behind the scenes?

This is kind of common sense, but you don’t think of it when you’re watching at home: That in between when you’re watching a commercial, all the madness is happening because it’s live. Someone’s changing costume, hair, someone can go from being a baby to an old man in that commercial. There’s a team of people working — every person has their own hair, makeup and wardrobe person. So, there’s this huge transformation taking place or the sets are being moved.

Is there one moment where you broke character or one sketch that didn’t go as planned that stands out in your mind?

A sketch that went wrong in the best way possible was the “Debbie Downer at Disney World,” where we started laughing. That’s the one everyone seems to remember so well. People tell me they watch when they’re sad to cheer them up and that makes me so happy.

But, yes, of course, we try not to laugh on the show. But that one, knowing the camera was coming in every time after I was saying this total bummer fact, and trying to keep it together, it just shows that this show is live. If there’s any doubt, things can go wrong. And sometimes it’s very funny when they do.

Amy Poehler (2001 to 2008)

What does it feel like when you’re performing live on “SNL”?

Performing on “SNL” feels like working in a comedy emergency room. So you are rushing around sometimes, sometimes things are slow. You are around trained professionals, you have high stakes and it feels often very life or death.

What’s the most surprising part of what goes on behind the scenes?

There’s so many surprising things about “SNL” that people wouldn’t realize. It’s such a unique unicorn of a show and the way it’s put together. I think a lot of people don’t realize how tired everyone is all the time, especially during read through, because people have stayed up all night and then go in and have to perform.

I think people also don’t realize how most of your time at “SNL” is wondering when your food is going to get there. That’s about 75% of your brain space, “When is my food going to come?” So, I think a lot of people are thinking that when (viewers) are thinking that they’re thinking about sketches.

Is there one moment where you broke character or one sketch that didn’t go as planned that stands out in your mind?

My first year on “SNL,” the great John Goodman hosted and was so nice to me, even though I was a lone freshman. I remember I did a sketch with Chris Kattan and I got flipped into a dumpster — on purpose. I think I kind of passed out for a second and then woke up and I remember thinking, “I wonder if anyone’s ever passed out on ‘SNL?’ Then I thought, “How long have I been in this dumpster?” So, that was fun. That was a good entry into what was a wild ride.

Mikey Day (2013 to Present)

What does it feel like when you’re performing live on “SNL”?

It’s so week-to-week. That’s how the show works. You could have a week when you’re in everything, you could have a week where you have three lines and one thing. It all depends. So, I feel like the emotions vary depending on that week.

However, one constant is that after, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night,” and the band starts playing, that’s when the adrenaline (starts) and I’m always reminded, “Oh wow, it’s ‘SNL,'” and I always get kind of a little high off that.

What’s the most surprising part of what goes on behind the scenes?

There’s so many heroes on that show. The crew, itself, is, like, Tetris because Studio 8H isn’t that big. So, they’re constantly moving and all the equipment feels like it’s from the ’70s. This stuff has that old-school feel in terms of its size and bulk, and moving it to and fro on Saturday is pretty crazy. But they make it work somehow.

Also, the filmed pieces, they build those sets in a day — a literal day — and sometimes there’s three films being shot in one week, which is wild.

Is there one moment where you broke character or one sketch that didn’t go as planned that stands out in your mind?

Most recently, it was “Beavis and Butthead” with Ryan Gosling. It was a lot of fun. Heidi (Gardner) broke, Ryan and I were laughing, giggling like two schoolboys.

But I remember the first time I laughed and it was in an unpredictable sketch called “Dog Head Man.” It’s like geneticists who have created Dog Head Man. It was so dumb. At dress they were feeding the dog some treat or something and the dog didn’t really like it. We’re like, “Can we just give it bread?” And then it just went to town on this bread and I started laughing because Sam Rockwell and I were talking about such heavy stuff, and you just see the dog is so happy, going to town on human food.

Dog Head Man stands out as one that I remember as the first time I kind of lost it. It wasn’t too bad, but when you start to go, you’re like, “Oh no, I haven’t done this before, am I going to get in trouble?”

Heidi Gardner (2017 to present)

What does it feel like when you’re performing on “SNL,” what is going through your mind … terror? Excitement? Exhilaration? Like, “This is incredible, I can’t believe I do this?

It’s all of those things, actually. But I always just remind myself to have fun, take a few deep breaths. I’m going to do my job, the words are going to come out. That’s always the biggest fear: Am I just going to stop knowing how to read cue cards? But it happens.

What’s the most surprising part of what goes on behind the scenes?

I had never seen the show as a fan — I was a fan, but I had never gone to it. I really didn’t understand that it was all in the same studio. I thought “Weekend Update” was in a separate room, that you walked down the hall to “Weekend Update,” then you walk to a sketch, but it’s all in the studio. So, those two-minute commercial breaks really are like just complete chaos. The most organized chaos in the world. And it’s really its own art form to watch the crew navigate that.

Is there one moment where you broke character or one sketch that didn’t go as planned that stands out in your mind?

Well, obviously, “Beavis and Butthead,” but there was one last season I did with Kristen Wiig, where we were “Mad Men” type secretaries and she was supposed to fall through a desk, like sit on a desk and it breaks away. And I was supposed to fall through a wall and both of us just didn’t quite have the strength to break either one.

So, she sat on the desk and it didn’t break and then she had to hop down. I went into the wall and it didn’t break. So it was very funny to try and navigate that live.

Chloe Fineman (2019 to Present)

What does it feel like when you’re performing live on “SNL”?

Performing on “SNL” is truly a fever dream. After so many shows, I’m like, “Wait, what? I was with who? And I kissed so and so? Or, was on stage with Ariana Grande?” It really runs the gamut. It’s very surreal, I’d say.

What’s the most surprising part of what goes on behind the scenes?

I think viewers at home would be surprised to learn about the machine that happens during the live show. Anytime I’ve had friends and family come, it’s amazing to watch. The sets are running over here and we’re running here and there’s heels and this thing’s getting taken apart and put together. It happens like clockwork and, really, so much can go wrong. For some reason, it doesn’t and it’s magic. To me, that’s almost as entertaining as the show.

Is there one moment where you broke character or one sketch that didn’t go as planned that stands out in your mind?

We did a “Castaway” sketch with Jason Momoa and he was supposed to lift me up and we were supposed to pretend to, like, have our bodies move, but he’s so much bigger than me and I’m so short and little, that I really was like, “Woo!” He really thrusted me in a way that took my breath away. Honestly, that’s a favorite.