Everyone, I'm Rebecca and welcome to watch Mojo.

Today we're gonna be talking about a late night television institution Saturday Night Live.

We get the molds put on during dress rehearsal, so it's very important that they fit to her face right away.

And that's the whole point of doing.

The life cast is just like I really need to do it.

It's gonna fit perfectly.

Have you ever wondered how this venerable and influential sketch comedy show gets off the ground each week?

Well, it's a lot more work than you might imagine, leaving everyone involved with nary a moment to spare from Monday morning all the way to Saturday night, 11 30 PM Jack, I put on a live show every week.

Unless there's wrestling Monday.

The script is due on Monday.

Monday.

I guess I won't be able to go to the gym this weekend.

It takes six out of seven days to get an episode of Saturday Night Live.

Ready to air on Monday morning is the all important pitch meeting in Showrunner Lorne Michaels office, where ideas for 30 to 40 sketches air tossed around and skeletons laid out for approval.

It's not so fun being hands on these bloodsuckers, is it?

Host for that week is included in the meeting, and the writers are tasked with making that host look as good as possible, highlighting their strong points.

In fact, the host often dictates the tone of that episode and can nix pitches if they don't feel they can execute them well or if they just aren't comfortable with the content.

I got here on Monday, and people in the crew came up to me in the studio and said, Welcome home and it just made me feel so bad that I didn't remember their names.

The meeting takes at least two hours, and by the end of it all, a rough idea for that week's show was laid out in writing and posted on Michael's office wall.

With the 1st 3 days Monday, Wednesday were upon the 17 for that's for the writing is on Tuesday way Tuesday for SNL writers.

Tuesday serves as the longest day of the work week, as this is when the sketches for that week's show get their first draft about Tuesday.

Well, Tuesday's no good for me.

I got to get fitted for a new to pay Someone just doesn't quite give me the coverage.

I was hoping writing is actually all that takes place on this day.

And if you think that's just an eight hour day, then think again.

It isn't uncommon for writers to pull all nighters to get these sketches off the ground with the entire process sometimes bleeding into the following morning.

I'm sorry, but we're gonna have to work all night tonight till we get caught up.

Don't feel too sorry for the SNL staff, however, as thes writers are often performers or comedians themselves and are well versed in how to write comedy for the stage and screen.

Some are hired from prestigious and well respected stand up troops, such as the Second City or the ground links, and go on to enjoy thriving careers of their own after they leave the writer's room.

Examples include Conan O'Brien, Tina Fey and Adam McKay, the latter of whom cofounded the website Funny or die alongside fellow SNL alum Will Ferrell, You Pearl, I'm gonna pay you, I working three jobs right now, So the real challenge behind the writing day isn't lack of ideas or talent but Maurine the time crunch and how little wiggle room the SNL writers have to get these sketches ironed out in time.

This might explain why the show often goes for topical humor of the day as a quick and easy way of getting a sketch in the can.

I guess that's why they call me Mitt.

Baseball.

Mitt Romney and Barack A Llama aren't saying anything Wednesday.

What's the hump day schedule look like?

Oh, it's not Wednesday lives.

It's Thursday.

I read somewhere it's Tuesday.

Once these sketches are written out, there's a live reading of all of them during a five PM meeting on Wednesday night.

Wednesday we have our table read starts around between four and five.

In the afternoon, we'll start the table, read this round table, get together features the cast writers and producers, while other staff such as hair and makeup, might also attend to bring together any visual cues that might be integral to a gag.

Additionally, the SNL music director might also be invited to the meeting to play music on the piano or guitar, ironing out beats and timing for each sketch.

Liz, I'm going to be a general alert day today.

No, Wednesday is a very important rehearsal day.

This table read could include up to 50 people, depending on the complexity of the sketches.

And the meeting doesn't end until every potential sketch has been performed.

After this, the meeting moves to Lorne Michaels office, where the show is streamlined and put into a logical order.

The flow of the episode is decided at this point, as the host, head, writer and show producers work together to figure out which sketches air gonna be performed and which get tossed aside.

Once this is finished, the writers and casket invited in to see what's been decided.

What a week, huh, Lemon?

It's Wednesday, Thursday, and then we moved down here on Thursday.

Of course, not every sketch makes the cut, and even the ones that have been approved undergo some serious tinkering on Thursdays, where scheduled sketches continue to be worked on and ready for Showtime.

Further cuts air made toe ideas that just don't work, and the sketches that do survive into Friday are usually good to go.

Thursday, I'm going to a bris.

I'm kind of nervous.

I hope it doesn't hurt as much as my 1st 1 Thursday is also the day when hair and makeup for the sketches get tested out, and any sets that are needed are built for the show at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Fun fact.

None of thes sets convey over nine feet tall in order to fit inside the elevator at 30 Rockefeller Plaza stories, I could tell about this jokes for the Weekend Update segment, a collaborative effort by the two anchors alongside a small group of writers get table read and edited for air.

Finally, anything that could be pre taped for the show, such as digital shorts or parody sketches, start their production here, which continues into Friday.

We're not doing the pre tape tonight because I'm leaving at six.

What's going on with you while you have been so where?

I don't know what you're talking about.

Not doing your job Friday.

Hey, guys, it's Friday.

Why don't you follow me?

Around the SNL makeup lab, things were getting down to the wire by Friday, and there's still plenty of work to be done, mainly with yet more re writes and edits for the Saturday sketches.

What if there was a talking dog?

I like to see that incorporated into your rewrite.

Friday is also the day when the scripts are reviewed by network censors and hours of rehearsal or logged in by the cast to get each sketch ready for a live audience.

Have you seen this memo from standards?

Kenneth is being a real ding bat, which is now the harshest word we're allowed to say.

Speaking of live, those after mentioned pretaped segments continue their production on this day, although it's not out of the question for some of these bits to be shot on show day as well.

Finally, any sets that have been built get shipped over to the building and get set up for the live show on Saturday night.

It gets fairly intense Friday night late because you're locking in the show and changes is still coming in.

And then the host very often is filming till five in the morning.

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Is Liz back here?

No.

Which cat do you want Jenna to carry its show time?

Well, almost.

There's still a lot of rehearsing to be done, and this continues from Friday into Saturday, as the cast kneels down their work on the sketches.

Adjustments that still need to take place gets moved out here from costuming and wigs, right down to script ideas that may see further edits.

I don't know if your research covered this, but we do a dress rehearsal and then a live show.

Believe it or not, SNL is actually live twice as there's a dress rehearsal performed for a test audience at 8 p.m. Any sketches or jokes that don't make this audience laugh or cut or edited until the show is knocked down to a neat 90 minutes.

Sketches are edited right down to Showtime When SNL goes live at 11 29 PM and 30 seconds.

Thes show kicks off and runs 92 minutes, ending at 102 a.

M.

Thanks to Nicki Minaj.

After this, it's time for a group Exhale, Hardy Backslaps and that iconic SNL send off tune tow, launch cast and crew out into a New York City night for all the after parties, only to get ready to do it all again 24 hours later.

I've always wanted to go to an SNL afterparty, but seriously, did you know how much work goes into SNL each week?

It's bananas.

You'll probably be a lot kinder to them next time there's a rerun and you're like these lazy bums, they get a week off all the time.

Yeah, because they usually work six days a week.

Anyway, come tell me what you think in the comments, or come talk to me on my YouTube channel or on Twitter or Instagram at Rebecca Britain.

Also, please watch this other video.