First on LateNighter: Seth Meyers will host an SNL Writers Week in the lead up to Saturday Night Live‘s 50th anniversary weekend, welcoming legendary writers from the show to Late Night each night next week.
Paula Pell, James Anderson, Emily Spivey, and Harper Steele are all names that will be familiar to longtime SNL fans for their work on the show. Each have also previously appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers to promote their post-SNL projects.
Paula Pell is probably best known to most as one of the stars of Girls5eva, created by fellow SNL writiing alum Meredith Scardino and produced by Tina Fey, but she’s also an SNL writing icon, having created more than her fair share of memorable characters during her 15-plus years on the show, including Debbie Downer, The Culps, Justin Timberlake’s Omeletteville mascot, and the Spartan Cheerleaders.
James Anderson wrote for SNL for 20 years, from 2000-2020. You can thank him for Kristen Wiig’s Gilly sketches, “Gays in Space,” and for co-creating “The Californians” with Fred Armisen. He also co-created and co-starred in the web series Hudson Valley Ballers with Pell, and has guest starred in 30 Rock, The Mapleworth Murders, The Other Two and Bless the Harts.
Emily Spivey wrote for SNL from 2001 to 2010, where she was a frequent collaborator with Amy Poehler. After leaving SNL, she created the sitcoms Up All Night and Bless the Harts, and co-wrote and appeared in the feature film Wine Country alongside fellow SNL alums Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, Paula Pell, and Ana Gasteyer.
Harper Steele wrote for Saturday Night Live for 13 years starting in 1995, and served as the show’s co-head writer from 2004-2008. In that time, she penned countless classic sketches, including “The Ladies Man” (with Tim Meadows), Astronaut Jones (with Tracy Morgan), and “Oops I Crapped My Pants.” She’s enjoyed a long creative partnership with Will Ferrell, with whom she co-starred in the recent documentary Will & Harper, which sees the newly transitioned Steele travel cross country with her old friend Ferrell.
Most of Meyers’ other guests next week also have Saturday Night Live in their lineage, with Bill Murray guesting Tuesday, Jon Hamm on Wednesday, and Tom Hanks on Thursday. In fact, only two of Meyers’ announced guests for next week haven’t yet appeared on SNL: fellow Academy Award nominees for best acting Colman Domingo (Sing Sing) and Mikey Madison (Anora). Perhaps the Lorne Michaels-produced show is telegraphing a future announcement?
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