Looking for the Heart of ‘Saturday Night Live’
It’s nearly 1 a.m. and Norm Macdonald is in the hallway backstage at NBC Studio 8H, where the Matthew Perry-hosted second show of the season is drawing to a close. Technically, Macdonald should be joining all his colleagues – Molly Shannon, Cheri Oteri, Ana Gasteyer, Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Tim Meadows, Tracy Morgan, Jim Breuer, Darrell Hammond and Colin Quinn – as well as Perry and musical guests Oasis for the curtain call. But Macdonald – a true believer in the Church of Not Giving a Fuck, where he worships forefathers like Dean Martin and, yes, Burt Reynolds – doesn’t do curtain calls. Nobody’s cheerleader, he prefers to deliver the “fake news” and flee.
Macdonald doesn’t generally attend the traditional Saturday Night Live after-party, either. “I never see the point,” he explains. “There’s all these people you know, and who wants to be with them? Then there’s all these people you don’t know – and I don’t like them, either.” Tonight, though, he’s thinking of going. He even appears to be in a good mood. This is not because his “Weekend Update” segment went well – much better than last week, when he endured the indignity of sharing his desk with Richard Jewell. (“I fuckin’ hated him,” Macdonald says. “He was creepy. What the hell did he ever do? Not bomb something?”) No, Macdonald is feeling “hot” tonight because his bookie is in the audience and Norm is up $15,000.
As befits a man who loves saying the word ‘whore’ – as in ‘crack whore’, ‘truck-stop whore’ and ‘Chinese whore’ – Macdonald engages in a little soliciting himself. Of praise, that is.
Macdonald spots Steve Martin – the former Wild and Crazy Guy himself and arguably the greatest SNL guest host ever – making his way toward the elevator after dropping by his old haunt. “Steve, this guy’s from Rolling Stone,” Macdonald calls over to Martin. “Can you tell him how much you think of me?”
“I really enjoy Norm’s subtlety and wit,” Martin says with a tried look.
“That sounds like … nothing,” Norm says.
“It’s all I can get up right now, Norm,” Martin explains.
“What if I just make something up for you?” Macdonald offers.
“Please,” Martin says, exasperated. “Tell me what to say and I’ll say it.”
“How’s, ‘He’s the funniest man alive’?”
“He’s the funniest man alive,” Martin says and quickly moves on.
Macdonald seems thrilled. “He said it! Steve Martin said that I’m the funniest man alive. You can put quotes around it now!” Next, Macdonald spots former cast member Jon Lovitz.
“Jon, can you tell this guy what you think of me?” Macdonald begs.
“I think Norm Macdonald is hilarious on ‘Weekend Update,'” Lovitz says.
“Not good enough,” Macdonald responds flatly. “Steve Martin just said I’m the funniest man alive.”
“Steve Martin said the same thing to me three years ago,” says Lovitz, breaking into Master Thespian speak.
“Wow – Steve Martin told Jon Lovitz I’m the funniest man alive, too,” says Macdonald.
The one-time Liar searches for words he can get behind. “Norm Macdonald is not only one of the funnier comedians,” Lovitz says, “he’s one of the most well-hung. He puts Milton Berle to shame.”
Backstage, cast member Jim Breuer has a different comparison: “Norm’s so brave and fearless – he’s like the John Wayne of comedy.”
“I’d like to add one word to that John Wayne thing,” says Colin Quinn. “Gacy.”
For better or worse, we live in a world that SNL helped create. SNL is no longer counterculture – it is the freakin’ culture. For the past 22 years it has been comedy’s most notable turnstile, through which have passed the good, the bad and the ugly of funny on the way to fame and less-desirable destinations. Still, the American media have a curious relationship with SNL, a passive-aggressive game of Make Me Laugh, daring each new cast to amuse us, all the while judging it against upgraded images of the show’s past. On any given Sunday morning ever since Chevy Chase left, a frustrated TV critic somewhere is penning a review to run under a ‘Saturday Night Dead’ headline. But SNL is by design a living thing, created anew for each generation, and for the few years since the disastrous 1994-95 season, it’s been living fairly large.
Though it may lack the edge it once had, SNL remains for a reason. Every once in a while something happens, and happens live. Even in the SNL equivalent of the Dark Ages – the 1980-81 season – Eddie Murphy made his first appearance. If the show’s no longer the only game in town, it can still be a weekly event. In the past few seasons, the show has rebuilt, rallied in spurts and nurtured a new, gifted, more ensemble-oriented cast, one in sync with the writing staff (headed by producers Steve Higgins and Tim Herlihy) and director Beth McCarthy. From Los Angeles’s Groundlings and Chicago’s Second City –comedy improv troupes of long standing – as well as the oh-so-glamorous world of comedy clubs, this cast has gathered its fortunes together to pump you up on Saturday nights. Whatever it lacks in star power, it makes up for with talent and boundless “I have a time slot, let’s put on a sketch show!” energy.
Still, in our comedy-cluttered culture, it’s difficult for any show to strike the chord as clearly as Saturday Night Live once did. “Now it’s so much harder for any show to be the cool show for any length of time, because there are all these other outlets that can generate shows doing an ironic take on the previous show,” says one-time SNL writer Conan O’Brien. “We’re moving toward a future where most Americans will have their own show, ironically commenting on their neighbor’s show. But very few people who have a chance to be associated with SNL say no. This was ground zero for the whole comedy boom of the ’70s.”
If Saturday Night Live doesn’t have the pure inventiveness of a program like HBO’s Mr. Show, it can still be a worthwhile reason to stay home on Saturday night. “This is a born-again show,” says NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield, and that doesn’t mean he’s moving it to Sunday morning. If the show is born-again, the current cast members – and their standout characters – are its righteous Promise Keepers.
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