For all of the stories that have emerged from Saturday Night Live‘s much-ballyhooed 50th anniversary special, little has been revealed about the sketch ideas didn’t make the cut—until now.
Seth Meyers, who was part of a murderer’s row of special staff writers for the special, shared one of his pitches in a new interview with for Vulture’s Good One podcast.
“I wanted to have all the impressions of Democratic presidents come out and just thank the liberal institution of SNL,” Meyers told host Jesse David Fox. The faux presidents, he said, would deliver a tongue-in-cheek message: “Thanks to your help, we’ve won 6 of 13 elections.”
Meyers intended the sketch to speak to those who’ve critiqued the show for being harder on Republican presidents (and presidential candidates) than it is on their Democratic counterparts.
“As much as people talk about how influential it is,” Meyers reflected, “[it’s] like sub-500. If you believe it’s truly the liberal media, it’s wildly ineffective.”
Meyers’sketch idea certainly would have been doable for the anniversary show. Quite a few current and former SNL players who once tackled presidential impressions on the show were in the room for the show.
Two Jimmy Carter impersonators—Joe Piscopo and Darrell Hammond—were in attendance. Two performers who played Bill Clinton were, too: Darrell Hammond and Beck Bennett. Either Jay Pharaoh or Fred Armisen could have returned as Barack Obama—though the SNL50 in memoriam package implied Armisen’s days as Obama may best be left behind.
The list of Joe Biden impressionists on hand was especially extensive. Seven former Bidens—Kevin Nealon, Jason Sudeikis, Woody Harrelson, John Mulaney, Alex Moffat, James Austin Johnson, and Mikey Day—were all there. (As we’ve reported, illness prevented the show’s most recent Biden, Dana Carvey, from attending.
Since SNL debuted in 1975, there have been thirteen presidential elections, resulting in six Democratic terms across four different presidents, versus seven Republican terms across four presidents.
