Here’s How ‘SNL’ Cast Members Find Out About Upcoming Celebrity Hosts
Mailbag! It was that time again for Seth Meyers and the Lonely Island gang as they threw open their SNL recap podcast to listener questions. One curious fan wanted to know: “When and how does the cast find out when upcoming hosts get booked? Mass email? Break room? Bulletin board? Are there varying levels of excitement amongst the cast when you do find out? Or is it just business as usual for everyone?”
Disappointingly, there are no grand announcements in the 30 Rock town square with herald trumpets blaring. “Usually, it’s when you’re just in Lorne’s office to ask him a question,” revealed Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer. “You happen to glance up at the board and see that a new card is up there for the future. And you go, ‘Oh shit!’”
“It really is like that,” agreed Meyers. “It’s not that there’s a main room that it gets posted in. When you find your way into Lorne’s office, you get the news.”
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Andy Samberg thinks that the nonchalant reveal is intentional. Visiting Michaels to kiss the ring (no doubt after waiting for hours in the hall outside his office) is the best way to get the inside dope.
“No one tells you. No one announces it. It’s just none of your business,” Schaffer explained (even though cast members and writers will have to develop material for whoever is scribbled on the card). “And then if you just happen to be in there, you might clock it.”
Jorma Taccone wanted to make sure they didn’t downplay the moment when you see Michael Keaton, Maya Rudolph or Steve Martin written on the card. “It is quite exciting,” he confessed.
If word doesn’t get around the office, writers and cast members are in Michaels’ office every Monday for the pitch meeting — that’s everyone’s chance to check out the board for themselves. SNL producer Steve Higgins also might have cards up in his office, but Michaels will always be first to know.
Fans of the show find out in pretty much the same way. A week or two before the live shows, SNL’s official social media outlets share pictures of cards on a bulletin board announcing hosts and musical guests.
Those announcements can come just a week or two before the show airs. Based on that timing, it sounds like SNL followers get the news at nearly the same time as Kenan Thompson.
