Welcome to “Backstage With Wally,” our new column written by Chris “Wally” Feresten, a.k.a. Cue Card Wally, a.k.a. that guy who holds the cue cards on Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and beyond (his work on Late Night goes all the way back to the beginning with David Letterman). Each week, he’ll be sharing some of the most memorable stories of his career—and welcomes your questions, too. You can send your questions to [email protected].
The Incomparable Betty White
At 88 years old, Betty White was booked to host SNL after a grassroots Facebook effort by her fans. My first two thoughts were: ‘Wow, this is going to be really special’ and ‘Wow, I’m probably going to have to work extra hard to help her through this show.’ I was correct on both accounts.
I met Betty very briefly on the Wednesday before the show to ask about her eyesight and to briefly explain how the cue card process worked. As I expected, I liked her instantly. She told me she was very nervous about being able to see the cards and, well, everything about the cards.
I assured her I would make the lettering big enough for her to see, as this was a common problem for some hosts. Celebrities much younger than her had requested bigger printing because they didn’t like or couldn’t use contact lenses. We would take every sketch one by one; during rehearsal I would show her every position the sets of cards would be and she would confirm that she could see and read the cards. We did this for every sketch and when she realized she could see them just fine, I think her nerves were settled a bit and it allowed her to focus more on her performance.
We were also told that to lighten the load for Betty they were bringing back a bunch of heavy-hitting female cast members so that she wouldn’t have to be in all the sketches. That was the plan and, to me, it failed—but in a great way.
Betty was thrilled to share the stage with Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon, and Rachel Dratch—all SNL pros who were all very excited to be in sketches with Betty… not instead of.
As I said, the plan failed because Betty was in every sketch with all these talented guest stars. Which made my job harder as now we had six actors to share the four other colors that we use on the cue cards. (The guest host’s lines are always written in black in order to stand out; any other actor in a sketch’s lines are written in either red, green, blue, or brown—so if there are more than five people in a sketch, some of the actors will need to share colors.)
That is the nature of my job. Some weeks are harder than others, and honestly, I don’t mind the extra hard work if it pays off and the show is good.
If you’ve seen Betty’s episode (Episode 21 of Season 35, with Jay-Z as the musical guest), you know how it turned out. It was a tour de force for Betty and earned her her seventh Emmy Award (including two Daytime Emmys) at 88 years old!
I had been a fan of Betty’s since The Mary Tyler Moore show, Password, and from clips on the internet from The Golden Girls. But watching her perform up close—and flawlessly—at her age on live TV was an experience I will never forget.
She destroyed in every sketch and made no mistakes at all. When the show ended at 1 a.m., I walked back to my work area underneath the bleachers, collapsed from exhaustion into a chair and had this overwhelming feeling of just how special this show was, how magnificent Betty was, and how proud I was to be a small part of it.
Earlier on Saturday, I had asked Betty’s agent Jeff if she would be going to the after-party. He said probably not as she would most likely be exhausted. I completely understood but thought she might change her mind when that adrenaline hit her bloodstream during the show. I get a huge shot of adrenaline during the live show, and it usually keeps me up until 5 or 6 a.m. ( the actors get 10 times what I get). Sure enough, I got to the party and there she was, sitting at a crowded table with a drink in front of her and eating a hot dog. It was the perfect Betty White ending to the week.
Before she left, we had a nice chat and a hug. She was thankful for my help and I thanked her back for being so nice to me. It was such a special week, and one I will truly never forget. But my love of Betty only got bigger when I was watching her as a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno the following week. When she talked about the SNL experience, she mentioned me by name and said some very complimentary things.
But it didn’t stop there! The following year she released her autobiography, If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t), and wrote a chapter about her SNL experience and again talked about me and how much I helped her during the show. I was thrilled that she had done that, and it really showed me how kind she was. I’m confident that if Betty were alive today, at 102 years old, she would destroy in a sketch on the upcoming SNL 50th anniversary show.
If you would like your very own personalized cue card written and autographed by Wally, please go to cuecardsbywally.com and get all the information you will need. It’s the perfect gift for that late night comedy fan in your life.
Great memory of a great lady