Wasn't That Special: 50 Years of SNL Podcast

We have said it in prior seasons - sometimes, huge political and cultural shifts push Saturday Night Live to rise to the occasion. It happened with the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the late 1990s. It happened when Sarah Palin joined the Republican presidential ticket in 2008.

And it happened again in 2016, as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton battled it out…

On Monday night, Wasn’t That Special co-host Scot Bertram joined WTMJ Radio host Sandy Maxx to recap the big SNL 50th Anniversary Special on NBC. Did it live up to expectations? What moments stood out? Who was missing?

You can find the appearance on the WTMJ page here or listen above. Christian and Scot shared some thoughts in the chat the night of the broadcast on NBC and also plan a full review of the festivities as part of the project.

On Friday night, Wasn’t That Special co-host Scot Bertram joined WTMJ Radio host Sandy Maxx to preview the big SNL 50th Anniversary Special on NBC. Who might attend, what might happen, and what’s the special sauce the powers Lorne Michaels’ success?

You can find the appearance on the WTMJ page here or listen right here.

Since its inception, Saturday Night Live has been political. But rarely has the show delved into politics more deeply than in Season 41, when President Barack Obama had one foot out of the door, Hillary Clinton was taking a presumptive victory lap, and a group of Republicans was battling to see who would challenge Clinton in 2016.

Clinton herself would s…

In this free episode, we run through the SNL 40th Anniversary Special that aired in February 2015, and list our five favorite sketches between seasons 26 and 40. (We did the same thing when SNL ran anniversary specials after seasons 15 and 25.)

Enjoy this free trip through fifteen years of SNL and please join us as a subscriber!

Wasn't That Special: 50 Years of SNL is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Season 39 came as a shock to Saturday Night Live, with classic cast members Jason Sudeikis, Fred Armisen, and Bill Hader all exiting. Executive Producer Lorne Michaels brought in six new players to replace what the show had lost, but by Season 40, four of them had been scuttled.

Season 40 saw some additions, such as new Weekend Update co-host Michael Che and previously uncredited writer Leslie Jones. But for the most part, it relied on the same core group it had for the previous two years: Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, Vanessa Bayer, Aidy Bryant, Bobby Moynihan, Kenan Thompson, and Taran Killam.

How did the show do? Find out in this free episode celebrating the 40th season. And stay tuned, as we will soon post our free episode digging into the 40th Anniversary special that ran in February of 2015.

We spent a good portion of the Season 38 show explaining to you how Saturday Night Live actually improved without the presence of Kristen Wiig. Does the trend hold in Season 39 despite the departures of Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, and Fred Armisen?

In a word, no. In a sentence, well, this is a season with a number of issues that linger and haunt episodes…

It doesn’t make any sense that Saturday Night Live would actually improve when an all-time great cast member like Kristen Wiig leaves the show. We have seen what happens when a legend leaves in the past; the show’s quality dipped, for instance, when Will Ferrell left in 2002 after Season 27 wrapped.

But after Wiig’s post-Season 37 exit, the show not only…

It hasn’t been that often that Lorne Michaels brings back an identical cast from the year before, but that’s exactly what happened after Season 36 and into Season 37. Everyone returns, even the cast members struggling for screen time - it is only in the 18th episode of the latter season that Michaels introduces a new cast member named Kate McKinnon.

Yet…

One a show called Saturday Night Live, one would expect the live sketches to be the most exciting part of each episode. Half the fun is the possibility that something completely unexpected could happen, from an actor flubbing a line to a light falling from the rafters.

But in Season 36, it’s the pre-recorded Digital Shorts that really shine. With Will Fo…