A chance encounter in the lobby of 30 Rockefeller Plaza led Jim Pitt to a 30-plus year career in late-night television, first at Saturday Night Live, then with Conan O’Brien and now at Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where serves as the show’s music producer.
In this first part of a two-part episode of Inside Late Night with Mark Malkoff, Pitt looks back at his SNL journey and his years working as a talent coordinator for the show, a role that saw him rubbing shoulders with the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Paul McCartney, Nirvana, and Michael Jordan.
It was a dream come true for Pitt, who vividly remembers watching the very first episode of Saturday Night Live while he was in high school, and becoming a die-hard fan of the show.
Click the embed below to listen now, or find Inside Late Night on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Show Transcript
Mark Malkoff: Jim Pitt, thanks for talking with us.
Jim Pitt: Hey, it’s my pleasure, Mark. I’ve been a fan of your work for a while. You know, I was a big supporter and listener, uh, to the Carson podcast. I just thought it was, it was such important work, because you and really Gilbert were the ones who were catching some of these people while they were still with us,
Oh, thanks. Yeah, it’s one of those things when I saw your name come up as a supporter, I was like, I can’t believe this, because, you know, I’ve known who you were since I was in high school and Spin Magazine did that, everyone at SNL edited that issue. So I’m like, it’s Jim Pitt. So then when you moved over to Conan, I was like, I actually was over there the first season I’m in the offices and I got to meet you and I was like “Spin Magazine guy!”
First season in Burbank, right? Yeah, I remember I remember when you popped your head in.
Yeah. Yeah, I was I was there and then I was also and I was also… I’m talking about the first, like 93-94 season. Were you guys on the 10th floor? I forget what…
We were on the 9th floor–9 West.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I was over there as well, but it was, um, just everything that you’ve done, uh, is unbelievable. You know, I, I was looking at a newspaper article that you, uh, you were interviewed in, in Connecticut where you’re from. And it said, you started watching the show. You were a junior in high school at Milford High School. What cast would have that have been?
What, SNL?
Yeah. When you started watching as a junior in high school.
The very first show. I remember watching the very first show and Carson is involved. I’ll give you a brief background. So back then, unless it was during the summer, the only time I could really watch Carson was on the Saturday repeat. So, I looked forward to them and it was the only talk shows weren’t repeated back then. You know, they kind of happened and that was it. Except for the moments that made it to the anniversary shows and whatnot. And so it was a Saturday in late September, early October, where it wasn’t on. And it was preempted by this Tom Snyder show that featured all these people I didn’t know. And it was Lorne and the original cast. And Snyder was introducing them to the world really. And they were previewing this show that was going to debut the following week. And I was, I was bummed, you know. I was sort of skeptical, but I tuned in with some high school friends, you know, was instantly sort of blown away. The thing that really got us, just aside from the whole vibe, were the commercial parodies, which, you know, we hadn’t seen a lot of those, and they really sucked you in for probably 20 seconds or so before you realized it was a joke.
It was revolutionary, all of that.
Yeah, it was.
So you’re watching this, the original cast, and then what year do you become an NBC page and you’re assigned to the Saturday Night Live, the 8H desk?
I became a page in September of 1983.
Wow. So is Eddie, Eddie Murphy is still there.
Eddie Murphy is there for his final season. In fact, that year, I believe it was that year he pre taped about half of his material, over, I think it was one night in say September or so, and they shot a lot of his stuff. I remember, and I had just started paging and it included, um, The hot tub bit, and a few others, and of course a Mr. Robinson, and sort of his greatest hits. Because he was off making movies already.
They had a full audience then for this? For the pre tape?
They did. They did. Yep. That’s my recollection is that they brought an audience in.
Yeah. I think they had to, to get the reaction. Andy Breckman was just on with us. We were talking about, he wrote some of those pre tapes for Eddie Murphy. It’s amazing to see, I mean, how famous he was. How hard was that to get the NBC Page gig. I mean, it’s really, really hard.
Well, just like the college that I went to, Boston College, I, there’s no way I would get in today.
And same with NYU. Same with NYU. I’m going to go on record.
Yeah. Yeah. So When I started paging right out of college, I graduated college in 1981 and I, that was the first job I applied for because I’d taken the tour as a kid. And of course kind of fell in love with 30 Rock and everything about it I loved, uh, so I applied, I did not get the job. And so I worked for two years at the Museum of Broadcasting as it was then called, and it’s now called the Paley Center. And one day I was on an air I was running an errand and I was walking through The lobby at 30 Rock and I saw a high school friend, guy named Bill Kenney Not the Bill Kenney of comedy fame, but, um, he was a page. Um, and I said, “Hey, Bill, you know, uh, you know, I applied, I didn’t get it.” And he said, “You know, they’re going to hire a few people. Let me talk to the boss and see if I can get you an interview.” So he did. And I got the job that time around. So I said, you know, it was just one of those life things. And one time, I don’t know how many years ago. In the age of social media, you can find everybody. I reached out and I said, “Hey, just, you know, you’ll never know how much that chance meeting meant to me. And here I am still working in the business.” So anyway, that I got the job in, in 83 and had it for as long as they would allow you to have it, which back then was about a year and a half. So I was there essentially for the 83, 84, 84, 85 seasons.
What was that like being there and taking it all? And you have, um, Dick Ebersol, of course, and then, um, a little later, the, you know, um, Lorne comes back. What do you remember from when you were a page, uh, they show the page desk sometimes backstage. What are some moments that stand out from that time period?
Well, from those two seasons. It was just sort of taking it all in, and, and being exposed to how that all worked after being such a fan for so many years, I’ll never forget that. I went, I had gone to a show address rehearsal before I got the page job sometime during that Museum of Broadcasting time. And it was, who was the host? James Coburn was the host and Lindsay Buckingham was the music guest. And I just, I’ll never forget the feeling. And I had been to Letterman also. I went to like the second or third Letterman show at NBC, Bob and Ray were the guests who are like two heroes of mine, I’ll just never forget that feeling of being on this side of the rope and seeing the pages and everyone else. And just thinking like, how do I get on that side? That’s where the magic is happening. So you asked about how was it those for, you know, when I was paging, I was, I was just sort of like, “Wow, I’m on the inside now, this is the coolest.” And. You know, paging you also, you don’t only work on that show. You know, those are amazing years for Letterman and you work in the different departments and it was just, it was the best and, and you end up making, it’s like sort of college like again, too, socially. So you meet all of these like minded people and. It was, it was awesome. And of course I ended up meeting Lorne’s team because even though he wasn’t at SNL when I was paging, I’m sure you’re familiar with The New Show, which not last long, but I was a page on the desk for that. So I got to know a couple of people, uh, Evie Murray and Jenny Pinkham from, and Christina McGinnis from his office. And, uh, So the year that Lorne came back, 85, 86, about which they’re doing an entire documentary of the five SNL documentaries that are coming out from what I understand, I interviewed to be one of his assistants. And again, I didn’t get that, but a year later. They remembered me and they called me and said, “Hey, there’s an opening at reception if you want to answer the phones.”
They were considering an assistant to Lorne for you?
Well, yes. When I, when he came back in 1985, you know, the Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr. year, I interviewed to be one of his assistants.
Did he ever have any male assistants other than maybe, um, his cousin in the early, in the seventies, um, Neil…
Neil Levy? Um, he did actually. And during the time I was there, it was definitely the,
I had no idea.
Yeah. There were a couple of sort of low person on the totem pole, uh, as we would call them, “the popcorn boy,” because more, I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you this, but Lorne, a pop, there was always a basket of popcorn on his desk. And I can actually get there emotionally. You could actually, when you smelled the popcorn popping, you knew Lorne was on his way in, you know… Um, so anyway, I, I did not get the job popping corn, but I did a year later, in October of 86, like a week before the first show, I got a call and, and I took a job, uh, answering the phones.
So you’re making $300 a week…
Yeah. (Laughs) Yeah, I went. Oh, and in the interim, a job that’s often left out of my, uh, of my narrative is I worked at WPIX Channel 11 for, for a year. Um, which as a kid who grew up in New York was actually kind of great because it’s a legendary, it was a legendary independent station. So I went from making $200 a week there to $300 at SNL. And yeah, one legendary associate producer, Audrey Dickman, called me and asked if I wanted to, uh, start.
Did you start then with Mike Shoemaker and Marci Klein? Was that, and John Zonars, was that all of you together?
John and Mike started at that time. Marci didn’t come, so this is 86. I think she started maybe 89 or so. So no, Mike and I, Mike and I went on to be, you know, we’re, we’re very good friends. Uh, I love the guy. And, uh, Zonars. Yeah. Uh, I, I believe he started in 86 as well. He might. I don’t know if John interned, maybe before that season, I’m not sure.
You and John were doing music together, eventually you worked your way up. What were your different responsibilities? Because you were booking the music, and what was John doing on the music side?
So John would really put the music on its feet. So the music guests would get booked. And then he would sort of take over and deal with all the production details and the staging and he’d be the one dealing with tour manager and getting, you know, the exchange of information and the gear and everything. And, and, you know, the, the concepts of course, got more,uh, involved over the years, um, as far as, as the performance. I mean, back then it was pretty much you come out on that stage and you do your song and that’s it, you know? Uh, so that’s what, that was John’s job. And he was, he was great. And then he got, as the years went on, he got involved, iIf there was live music in a scat, um, he would be involved in getting that. And you would see him pop up every once in a while.
Exactly.
Yeah, eventually. So I worked there for a while. I did the phones for one season and it was, of course, the first. You know, people say, when did you work there? And it’s like, well, it was the first season of Dana Carvey, uh, Jan hooks, Phil Hartman, you know, Kevin Nealon. Dennis, Nora, and Jon had been there the year before, and then. You know, year by year, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Spade, Schneider, Farley, Ellen Cleghorne, Rock.
You know, in terms of the writing 86 to 92 93. I mean, I know I’m maybe a little biased because I was growing up during that time. I still think in a lot of people think Um, I’ve heard them say the write in was the strongest on, I mean, you can’t outdo Jim Downey, Robert Smigel, Jack Handey…
George Meyer.
I mean, the Turners were…
The Turners.
Andy Breckman, the Turners, Christine Zander. I mean, it just went on and on in terms of Conan, Greg Daniels.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah, of course. How do I forget?
Pretty amazing time to be there.
It was, and you know what was funny back then? At least. And I felt this when I was paging there, every, I felt like every season there was being measured against the first five years, the legendary first cast and everything and the glory days. And, and of course they had some rough times after that and then they’re building back up. And so while it’s happening, you’d never really felt like this is an amazing time. But in retrospect, those seasons were magical. And, and that cast…
That’s what Lorne said. He said at that time, Lorne said at the time, they didn’t really know how good the cast and the writers were. The show was still, you know, not really, I mean, Lorne had done five years. There really wasn’t anything to maybe to compare it to, but this, but how good everybody. Was, um, how was that pitch to your sister telling her that you were going to miss her wedding to work at SNL?
(Laughs) You know, my family is so, you know, I love all my sisters and it was a very brief conversation and she was great and totally got it. You know, so this was 86. I’d been working for five years, trying to make my way and, and they’d been, everyone been with me through all the, you know, all the stages and you know, what are you going to do? It’s, uh, I wasn’t going to miss the show. They’ve, yeah. She, Carol was awesome.
Yeah. It was your very, very first show. You moved to the talent department is the first host that you booked Wayne Gretzky?
Yeah. So that was, so I moved to the talent department for 88. I did a very, a number of different things started out answering the phones and then I ended up casting extras and then it was the 15th anniversary show. And I was very involved in just a lot of the logistics, talent logistics, and.
What stands out about that, by the way, because that show was phenomenal. It was a primetime special, um, really funny comedy bits that, that opened up. You had Chevy do this thing from Lorne’s office. And what was that like?
It was awesome because for me, it was a taste of, you know, I was dealing with bringing all of that old, all the original cast back so many of the guest hosts, where are they all going to sit? You know, we literally had a map in the talent department, where is everyone sitting and I, so I was involved in all of that stuff. It was great. It was just cool to be part of. Of an event that, you know, sort of memorialized that era and, and celebrated the show, you know, and to be a part of it was really cool.
Everyone was there that was alive except for Eddie Murphy, who had, I don’t even want to bring it up, but he had, um, differences with another, um, cast member who said something in print about Eddie and didn’t want to go. But it seemed like everyone else.
Yeah, it was, and it was interesting to watch how they navigated. Including different people and bits in the show and all of that. Now that you bring that up, you know, that kind of comes back a little bit, making sure people were represented and yeah.
When you’re doing the extras, I don’t know if this gentleman’s ever been talked about, but if you watch the show from the seventies up until the nineties, Andy Murphy was the token elderly person.
I knew you were going to say that!
And I got to meet him a few times and, uh, I talked to him. I did you, but that guy. I don’t know if there was a backup or not, but he seemed to get into everything. Do you know anything about him? What was it like working with him? But like, seriously, you start in the 70s and up until maybe the 2000s.
I know it’s kind of, it’s kind of amazing. He was definitely on the list of people that we used a lot. Um, when I started doing it and you know, honestly It’s probably not the best casting way to go about. But like I would find people that I knew I could rely on and that knew what they were doing. So I did end up using some people You would see in that era some of the same people popping up Andy was a different case because he did have a history there And I think he would even be requested sometimes And then there was a thought, like, maybe, maybe he’s in there a little too much and then Andy got sick. So then the feeling was, I know I got it. I think in later years, you can even see he’s a little, he gets, he’s a little gone. And so I remember Lorne said, keep him working. So, which, you know, Lorne is an amazing guy in many ways. And something like that is very human, you know.
I remember going to the show a few times and I was, um, lucky to be just behind the scenes and see Andy Murphy sit down, sitting with Don Pardo, uh, together. They would sit during the show with, you know, across from like, what was the coffee maker? And there was, um…
Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah.
Where the band would wait right before they went on and stuff.
Right. Right. There’s a one, I think Conan’s first TV appearance. He’s, uh, I think Keith Richards was on and there’s a, is there a horse or something? I can’t remember. Uh, but Conan is, is trying to hold back a horse or something. And I can’t remember exactly what it was. He, he would know exactly, but, uh, I think he was right there in that same spot.
They used to do a lot of the comedy stuff. Yep. They would go by there, which was great. So Wayne Gretzky, is this somebody that you wanted? Was this somebody that Mike Myers is like getting on his knees? Please book this guy or…
No, no. Okay. So. By that time, this is a couple of seasons later and It was toward the end of the season. He was on the second to last show in 1989, spring, May of 89. Uh, we were trying to find a host for that show and they were very encouraging to me about not only trying to book a host, but, you know, if you, I expressed interest in music, so, Lorne said, you know, and, and Dinah Minot, I think was still there. And Liz Welch, uh, who were my bosses in the talent department. And it was sort of like, Hey, if you can get, let us know what she can get sort of thing. You know, he had just had his first season in LA, as you recall, from that locker room sketch. And so I just went after him and was in touch with his agent and it was back and forth a lot. And, and then finally he confirmed about a week before. It was awesome. He came in the fun thing about that show. Well, a couple of things. Lorne had this theory about athletes as hosts and why the shows are often very good, and that is that they’re used to being coached. And, and take direction well. And the Gretzky show is actually quite a funny show, even though he, you know, isn’t a real comic performer, but I also think that the writers and cast sometimes rose to the occasion to protect them a little bit. So there, there are some funny bits in that show, uh, “Waikiki Hockey.” And he did a thing with, uh, Phil as the anal retentive fishermen.
It was really good. They did the pre tape, the “Wayne’s World.”
Oh yeah. Yep.
With his wife. And the monologue destroyed.
Yeah, so, and as the sort of the boy in the talent department, and since I had booked him, I was sort of assigned to him. So, like, I was with him all week and tried to kind of walk them through everything. And to have someone like Wayne Gretzky, and later, Michael Jordan be like relying on you for to get them help get them through something was mind blowing and I’ve seen Wayne a few times over the years since then and it’s fun to reminisce about it because it was such a unique thing in his career and he nailed it. And you know he’s one of the nicest guys out there and so that was a big deal, and that was the end of that season and I got married like a week later and it was just sort of or two weeks later whatever yeah beginning of June. And it was just sort of a golden time for me because it went so well. And. And yeah, and then a year later, just staying on the athlete tip, the the Jordan week was another one that was just unbelievable, you know, I’m in the, I don’t know, you do a lot of research, so you probably know that Smigel wrote me into that Harlem Globetrotters bit.
Yeah, the first, um, yeah, the first. Black Harlem Globetrotters, and you did the pre tape at the gym.
We did, at 23rd Street Y.
Is that where it was? How often would this happen? You actually go to the airport, is it JFK, and you’re there to meet Michael Jordan.
It was Teterboro, actually, a private airport in New Jersey, and he’d come in from some golf outing, he had his golf clubs with him, and he was with his wife at the time. Yeah. And then ride into the city with them and tell them what to expect. And yeah, it was, he just won, they just won their first championship the previous June. So yeah, that was, that was something, having him there, even that point in his career, you know, he, he won a whole bunch more, you know, Championships, but it was like as Al Franken said, “It’s like having Babe Ruth here,” because that’s the way people were reacting.
There had never been a time in the show’s history, I’m guessing, where there were so many people that worked at the show, cast members and writers, that wanted him to sign stuff. And there was a rule that they weren’t supposed to when he was there, even on the dressing room, right? There was a sign.
That was the only time I’ve ever seen that they posted a sign that said no autographs because everyone, you know, everyone thinks, well, it’s just one. And it just became too much and also for another funny stories, the monologue from that show, it was all these failed and not failed, but other endorsements that he had done, you know, like a feminine hygiene product and pornography. Yeah, yeah. I can’t remember what the third one was, but, uh, we shot those on location, like out in Central Park with Julia and outside that adult bookstore video store. Yeah. You knew you only had about maybe a minute before people would start recognizing him. And then that was it, you know, we were, you were done. Uh, I think in the park we were a little more secluded so that that was okay. But like outside that store, yeah, it got, it got crazy kind of fast. But it was fun. It was like, you know, being with a Beatle.
And then when you’re at 23rd at the Y, that’s the time when I guess Lorne probably isn’t there. And that’s when everyone brings out the stuff for him to sign.
Oh, I guess. Yeah, that’s probably right. That was just sort of surreal shooting or just shooting baskets with Michael Jordan, you know, was. And of course, in the bit, he’s a showboating player, so he had to keep dunking it time after time after time. So yeah, it was, it was a lot of fun to be a part of. And I, you know, Smigel’s a dear friend and for him to write me in like that. And so I’m in the, so like every through on Wednesday, it’s like, you know, close up of Jim Pitt, you know, and the directions being read at the table. You know, so I had the Mike Shoemaker frame that for me and I have a still from that newsreel footage And uh, and that script page and it’s here somewhere.
Smigel also put you in “Carsenio.” You were an extra.
That’s right. I was I was written…. I don’t know what my type was And of course I’m in the Gretzky locker room. Um, i’m not I don’t mean of course, but I was if you look closely and in the Jordan one, of course So i’m in both of those locker rooms You It was fun being written into things.
David Mandel and Al Franken wrote you into the McDonald’s piece when Tom Arnold hosted. And it was the first time that they really did a Clinton sketch like that, where they kind of referred to, um, you know, we’re not going to tell Mrs. Clinton certain things. And they kind of took that point of view.
Yeah, that was a fun one and just different because it was all on one camera. And, you know, shot like a documentary almost, I mean, we blocked it, but usually I knew where to like, stay out of the way and stuff like that. But I was front and center. I mean, it takes away a fish. I’m not an actor. So my reactions are. Yeah, it was. Yeah. I mean, that’s just to think of that is, yeah, that gets me a little bit emotional because. He was so great and
Nice man, too. Very nice. I got to meet him a bunch of times He. never carried himself like he was famous or anything, right? Just um The same as everybody else and
I could see if you mean like down in the lobby or whatever In those situations. Yeah, he was he was great Yeah, just to be around he and Jan, like to to many people Like scenes that they had together were sort of the magical, some of the magical moments that era.
They would play everything dramatic and it would, it made things funnier and better. I couldn’t believe this. I talked to a few people that were there at the time that said how nervous Jan Hooks would get before the show, more than anybody. Did you witness that?
Probably a little bit, but I, you know, not as much as maybe one of the writers or other cast members. Yeah. Jan was amazing. You know, I don’t know that she was the most confident person in the world, you know, um, so I could definitely see that happening, but Did you, have you talked to Bonnie and Terry?
No, I really want to. And I have, I know somebody that knows them. I’ve just been too nervous to ask them, especially because I know Bonnie doesn’t do interviews, but they both just did fly on the wall with Carvey and Spade. They would write stuff for, for Dana, but I really, um, want to ask them now. I just, I just, I think I want to talk to them so badly that I’m afraid to ask, but I, I, I, I, I will just from talking to you.
No, you, you should. Yeah. Um,
But what about the, what about the Turners?
The Turners were great. They were, well, obviously they were very, so they were prolific, but also just like nice, they were like, it was like, uh, they’re normal people and not that everyone else wasn’t normal and whatever, you know. But they were just this really nice couple from Atlanta that were just so pleasant that that’s my recollection of them. I mean, everyone has their moments there. It’s, it does get pretty intense as you, as you well know. Yeah, they were, I enjoyed being around Bonnie and Terry a lot. They were, it just felt, I don’t know how much older they are than me. Probably not much, but it just felt like they were much more mature and, uh, and established.
Huge hits in terms of Third Rock, That 70s show.
Oh my God.
And Wayne’s World, which they did. And then the Brady Bunch movie I thought was really funny. I was skeptical. Um, they have, they get the credit for Tommy Boy. I have heard Fred Wolf had a heavy, uh, work on that, but in terms of where their names have appeared, it’s amazing.
When they wrote Wayne’s World, Shoemaker and I got calls on a Friday night, obviously it was a dark week, and I lived in Scarsdale at the time with my family, and they were at Mike’s apartment, and they said, can you come down, would you mind coming over and reading through the script for us, and just giving us any, you know, giving us notes, or let us then ask you questions, which I think was more the case. Uh, so, Shoe and I both, we went to different bedrooms, read the script, and then, you know, they asked us a bunch of things about it afterwards, and we sort of gave our opinions, and I’d forgotten about that until recently, so, and that, that was pretty cool.
How similar was it, when you finally saw that in Feb, I believe it was February, when it, when it came out of, um, I guess that would have been probably 92, were there big differences or was it about the same of what you read?
It was very, very close. Yeah.
Yeah, that was so exciting. What was that like with Mike Meyers and Carvey being such rock stars at the time? I mean, the movie, I mean, it did, what did 200 million globally back then. And it was just, I mean, the ratings were skyrocketing. Could you, I mean, Phil Hartman did say it was harder for him. I mean, you’re seeing these, You know, them blow up and stuff. And, you know, Phil, just to watch that, did you see any, um, anything different, maybe just with their fame with Carvey and Myers?
Well, only that when something like that happens. You see, I mean, I can’t speak to how other cast members felt about it. I’m sure they were, you know, all over the map on that, but you just see like the schedules, uh, they are catered to, I don’t mean like personal stuff, but because they’re so busy promoting Wayne’s World or making Wayne’s World, you know, you see the schedule getting moved around, their availability changes a little bit. Yeah, that’s about all I, I, I’m sure other people have, you know, better takes on that.
I’ve heard some of the people that were there said that some of the writers, they weren’t the biggest fan of Wayne’s World, but you can’t deny how over that thing was as soon because a lot of most people that I’m, I’m guessing it’s hard to get tickets.I have not been in a long, long, long time, but when I would go in, this was the strangest thing is for the cold open, the band would stop and then about 2 minutes before the lights will come on and the actors will come out and nobody in the audience normally acknowledges it or say anything. Like it was the hardest thing when I first saw the show. Yeah, it was when you started doing the music was En Vogue and Mary Stuart Masterson when, um, I’m a kid. I’m, you know, there for the dress rehearsal and Carvey comes out as John McLaughlin. It’s Farley smoking a cigarette.
Oh, my God.
And for me, I just didn’t want to get kicked out. I didn’t know if I, but I just wanted to cheer like a rock concert. I was told when they would do the Wayne’s World cold opens, I never got to see it, that they, that was like the one, one of the only times where the audience actually would react when Carvey and Myers would come out.
Oh yeah, they went nuts. It was, yeah, it was. And of course, then you saw it being, you know, ending up in the show more often. And, and then when like an Aerosmith comes on, you know, of course you’re going to do a Wayne’s World bit.
That was amazing. I mean, that was like an 11 minute sketch, which is pretty unheard of. So at what point during that season, cause you said, you know, you’re with Michael Jordan, do you transition to doing music, is it that December, because I know January is Nirvana, but are you with James Taylor in December and with..
You know, it was sort of, uh, shared. Liz Welch, who was, like I said, the head booker. Lorne, you know, a lot of stuff came through Lorne, too. He was so close.
Like, who specifically do you remember? You know, I know he is friends with probably James Taylor, maybe that came in through him, but.
Well, Paul Simon, certainly. He was also very close to Mo Austin, who was the head of Warner Brothers records. He, he’s friends with the heads of many labels, so once in a while stuff would just come through him. It’s funny, I don’t, I, I would need to go back and look to try to figure out. First artist that I booked.
I have to ask you this though, because you mentioned that sometimes Lauren was friends with these guys. So there was a band that came on when Jason Priestley hosted, it was Teenage Fan Club. And I was doing research and there was an article that came out. If it wasn’t that month that they were on, it was like maybe the month after, where some record president was saying that they were, It was a political decision where they, they had to be booked and they, they did end up selling something like 26,000 CDs, um, as a result of the show that week. But how often were you cognizant that they would actually put somebody on like that? That was a political, I don’t know if that’s true or not.
You know what? I can tell you that’s not true.
Oh, good. Okay.
Yeah. I, I did book Teenage Fan Club. And I think in the just in the wake of Nirvana it was trying to maybe capture I mean, they were not Nirvana by any means, but it was Just trying to catch that same audience and ride that wave a little bit. It was not a quid pro quo at all, even though it was Geffen.
That’s what I was. Okay. That’s good to know. So Kurt Cobain Nirvana, they come in in January of 92. What was that like working with him that week? I did read a newspaper article that you were talking about how Kurt Cobain, uh, would refuse to come out of the bathroom for a lot of, and he almost missed one of the songs. First of all, is, did that happen? And what was that week like?
Well, I have to say that John Zonars would probably be better to address some of this stuff, because he was front and center with them, you know, in the studio. I was not so much, but I don’t have any really good, except I had heard that about the bathroom and the dressing room. He almost missed his cue, you know, for the, for them to go on.
You did book them.
Yes. I did book Nirvana and it was, uh, you know, you, you never, it was just one of these things where they, so I think they were the first show back after a holiday, you know, back in January. You know, they, we started talking and maybe October and November, you could just send something was growing and growing. And so then we committed. And then between when we left for Christmas and came back in January, they had exploded and the timing just couldn’t have been better. And it was one of those, it was not the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, but it was certainly in the rock world. It was like, wow, Nirvana is on SNL this week. They also did a very famous, I think MTV concert that same week when they were In New York, so it was, yeah, it was just what a moment and what an electric performance to, yeah, it really was.
I remember Rob Morrow hosting and watching and being like, this is just, yeah, I mean, and then they, I think their album maybe went to number one right after maybe right then.
I think so. Yeah.
But the timing was, was unbelievable. Who are some of the, like the musical guests when they would arrive for Thursday or for Saturday? Would you be down on the street waiting for them when they showed up? Would you have to hang out with them when they arrived and take them up?
Personally, I rarely probably did that with music guests. John, again, John probably was doing that. I would be at rehearsal on Thursday.
Who had closed rehearsal? I know Madonna had closed rehearsal, but it was very rare that a musical guest, like McCartney was like, no, this is fine. Invite everybody.
No, McCartney’s was. Has anyone talked, told you about McCartney’s? It was pretty amazing.
I just know Tom Brokaw was there and I’ve heard Franken talk about it and stuff, but let’s talk about, but that was, that was very rare that they did said close set, correct? The music guest.
Oh, very rare. I don’t, I don’t remember one when I was there, honestly. Um, Madonna, she did do music when I was there. So maybe.
She was Harvey Keitel. It was, um, yeah.
Yes. Yeah, I, I remember, um.
January of 93.
Right. That’s the show that, um, Barbra Streisand did a walk on. Oh, for, um. With Roseanne.
Yes. Coffee talk. Coffee talk for that, but let’s talk, no, let’s, let’s talk about the McCartney rehearsal on Thursday and it’s, it’s.
McCartney week was amazing. He’s in such a rare position and he arrived, he and Linda arrived. Of course, everyone’s excited. He could not have been, I think I give him so much credit because he knows how people are feeling when they meet him and he makes it so special for them and easy for them. And I was the talent coordinator. So that was my title at the time. And I introduced myself and he’s, so like for the whole rest of the, I met Linda and she was lovely. I have another cool story from that day, but. Like the whole rest of the weekend, I’d run into him and he’d be like, you know, coordinating talent, are we? You know, he, he just remembered from that moment and it was super nice. So after rehearsal, he, and I’m trying to remember if rehearsal was at night with him, it was a rare instance where we did it at the end of the day, and I’m not sure if it was Thursday or Friday night, but they first got there on Thursday. And Sandler had an idea for Update, for a song, it was red hooded sweatshirt and wanted to know if McCartney would do something in it, if Paul and Linda would participate and I’m not sure who proposed it i guess Lorne said you know come to my office, uh to Adam, you know bring your guitar and you can play it for Paul and Linda. Somehow I was in there with them and Lorne, and watched him sing the song for Paul, audition it basically, for Paul and Linda. And of course they loved it, and they do make a cameo, I think from the audience, uh, during that.
They do.
But it was, I mean, what a moment for Adam to, you know, talk about pressure, sing a song in front of Paul McCartney.
It really was, I mean, and at that point he still, he was not “Adam Sandler.”
No, no.
I mean, it took him a little time. He was still the guy that did Updates for a lot of it. I mean, that was an Update piece. Was that the story that you were going to tell that same day or is it a different story that you were?
Well, that was one of them. That was, yeah, that’s one of them. But the rehearsal and I’ll have to go. I’ll really, I don’t know who else. Everyone says you have the memory. I feel like it was Friday night for some reason. And yeah, It was just us. The building was closed and it was everyone from the staff and crew. Paul didn’t care. And he, you know, was promoting, I think it was Flowers in the Dirt. Was that the album? Uh, so he did whatever the new song was..
Hope of Deliverance. What was it called? Hope, right?
Yes. That was it. Yeah. Yeah. So then he, um, you know, he was going to do a second and I think third song. Oh, right. He did two from the new album. Was the other one called Biker Like an Icon, was that the name of it? Something like that.
Oh goodness. I’m failing as a host. I’m not sure.
No, no, no, no. And then he was going to do a third, a Beatle, you know, a classic. So at the rehearsal, he went through the first two, and then he starts playing Beatles songs. You know, how about this one? You know, when I find myself, Let it Be. And then. You know, how about this one, you know, Lady Madonna, he probably played three or four songs and everyone is just, I remember Al Franken saying out loud, like, “I think I’m about to cry.” And that’s, that’s what it was like. It was so emotional and powerful.
That’s what Brokaw said.
Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was really special. Um, and there’s something, and there’s something I always felt about working late Friday nights in that building. Just, and, and I know that other people have spoken about the, you know, the first five years and same sort of vibe where the company’s gone home and they’ve kind of turned it over to these people and Just something sort of magical about being in that building when it’s empty, and there we are in 8H, you know, creating the next day’s show, and, uh, that was pretty cool.
And just the fact in that same month, two shows back to back, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger.
Yeah, and, and Sting, I think, was the third one that month.
Yeah, Sting was, with the third one, Bill Murray hosted in Sting.
Was that the, was that, Sting was, he was always great with comedy too, um.
Oh yeah, and he was great in the Smigel sketches, he hosted.
Billy Idol.
Oh yeah, the McLaughlin group, it was the Sinatra group, and then, um. When Sting hosted, it was the 90 to 91 season. He was really funny and just always is up for whatever. But that, were you there? Did you deal with Skid Row when they, when Sebastian Bach, uh, said the F word and Lorne apparently was like “cut their second song,” were you witness to everything that went down?
I was there and I don’t remember much about it. Honestly, you’re reminding me that even happened just because it’s, It’s not that I booked them. Uh, that was probably one of my first bookings.
They were very hot. They did a sketch with Sandler. It was like the ABC’s nursery rhymes or something.
Oh, that’s right. That’s right. Yeah. And it wasn’t, I, I forgot that. I forgot that he had said he had dropped the F bomb. Yeah. You know, those things. Happen. And then you think it’s the, uh, at the end of the world, but it’s like even the Sinead O’Connor, it’s like life went on. Yeah.
Was that the only band that, uh, the number that you remember where the band was only allowed to do one song and they canceled the second, like Rage Against the Machine, you were gone by then, you were at Conan, that was 96 of April. I believe.
Yeah.
Where they hung the flag up upside down. Oh, right. And the stagehands pulled it at the last second. Uh, they were thrown out of the building apparently.
Right. Yeah. I was, yeah, I was not there for that. I don’t recall another song being cut when I was there, honestly. I do remember when Sinead O’Connor, I mean, people forget that her history with the show was already a little bit, you know, it was a little rocky because she had canceled an appearance two seasons before when Andrew Dice Clay Was booked to host she was booked as Nora Dunn walked off as a cast member. I believe she showed up but did not or no She did not I think Dice Clay was maybe the second to last show. And Nora refused to appear, and somehow Sinead O’Connor got wind and she canceled. And then the following week was Nora’s last show. And she was there, but I don’t think she was in anything, but she was up for goodnights by my recollection, the bands that replaced, since we had last minute opening, the artists that replaced Sinead were the Spanic boys who were a father and son rock band from I believe Minnesota or Wisconsin and Julee Cruz who did the music for Twin Peaks GE had heard the Spanic Boys. He listened to the CD and it came across his desk and he said Why don’t we put these guys? I think Lorne liked the idea of just plucking some unknowns and and putting them on
Yeah, when that didn’t happen a lot. I heard you in an interview you said this is what I thought you said is that and I didn’t know this that Nora Dunn actually got in touch with Sinead O’Connor and asked her not to be…
That was my understanding at the time. I don’t know if I that was ever confirmed, but that was the sense that we got in the talent office
When you were a page, were standbys getting in because when I was camping out when I camped out a bunch of times, no, they wouldn’t let any standbys in. I was always able to make friends and get myself up to see the show and I was very, very fortunate. And this was like 30 degree weather and stuff like that. But where people getting in when you were there?
When I was a page, standbys were getting in. Yes. And who, who was the guy who was the first standby? Lou?
Louis Klein, Louis Klein in Florida, who’s married to Jamie. And I will tell them to listen to this, but Louis was there at the very first. Um, he went to the, the Friday before the, the live show, they did a dress where I guess they did a dress rehearsal Friday night with George Carlin.
Oh, he was at that show. Wow. I didn’t even know that
He was at the very, very first on Friday. And then I don’t know if he went to the dress on. On Saturday or the first show, but I know that he, um, and I don’t think they’re going to acknowledge that probably that there was a Friday dress rehearsal and then in the movie, perhaps they will, I mean,
Oh, of course,
You have 90 minutes to cram a lot of information.
Yeah, I need to, I want to rewind just briefly to my viewing of the first show, because there’s a moment that happens at the end that was actually important to me. Made me go wow. And that was during the closing credit. So of course I watched the whole 90 minutes and Don Pardo says next week, guest host, Paul Simon with musical guests Art Garfunkel. And I just, it blew my mind because they hadn’t been together for so long. And you know, I thought, I thought that was just incredible. And then from then on. It took them a while. They didn’t promote the next week in the body of the show, like they have for years since, you know, like earlier in the show, but you would have to kind of wait till the end to see what Don Pardo said about the next week’s guests.
I never thought about that.
Yeah.
Yeah. You were getting TV Guide. I know. And the first thing you, you said in, um, growing up is you would go right to. Who is going to be on? It was a such a big deal. I know one thing that happened on the first show. I heard Jane Curtin interviewed and she said between dress and live that George Carlin went to all the three ladies cast members and gave them each a rose, a single rose. And she thought that was so nice.
Sweet. Oh yeah. I mean, I also grew up in a George Carlin house. So That was a big attraction for me on that first show. And I know that when you read the history of SNL, to me, the definitive one is still Hill and Weingrad. Is that the?
It’s really good. You know, I was always one of those people, I’m like, write another one where you left off and…
Right, right, right. That was, I thought that was really good, but I’m sure we’ll see another slew of them in the next year, people kind of s*it on the fact that George Carlin was, he wasn’t necessarily part of the show. What am I trying to say?
He didn’t do sketches. He didn’t want to do sketches, but it was this new show.
Yeah, right, right.
It was complete. No one knew what this thing was going to be with the Muppets. You had Albert Brooks. I mean, the cast members were not even supposed to be the stars of the show at that point.
Yeah. So you, you had to have a familiar name, but in, in retrospect, in some tellings, They, they kind of, they’re less than, you know, thrilled that George Carlin was the first host, but I thought he was great and he did some long monologues and he, you know, kind of held it together while, you know, the, while “The Wolverines” were, uh, and all that stuff.
You know, um, George Coe in dress rehearsal was in, was in that, or in earlier drafts, George Coe was supposed to be in the Wolverines sketch, it turned out to be O’Donohue in, um, and Belushi. I was going to ask you, to your knowledge, was there anybody at Saturday Night Live, any of the bands or singers that lip synced when you were there?
Oh, you know, I don’t think so. Singing along to tracks became, or having backing tracks that beef you up, became more of a thing, I think, after I left. I’m sure it happened, but no straight lip syncs at all. And I always thought that Ashlee Simpson, I mean, her biggest sin was not having the presence of mind to stop, you know, to make a definitive decision, stop the song, Hey, let’s start that again. You know, of course. You’re a deer in the headlights in that situation. Because a week later, like Eminem was on the show and he raps along to a track of his own voice, you know, and, and I don’t know, it just, she got, She did not handle it great in the moment.
She panicked. I get it.
She panicked, which doesn’t, yeah, yeah. You’d have to be heroic to figure that moment out and act in the right way. Yeah.
What was it like on SNL and Conan with um, like when I worked, I had a bunch of, I’ve worked at a bunch of shows where you, if there was a musical guest or if there was somebody that you wanted to meet, somebody on staff that sometimes they could go and take a photo or get something signed, it would, it would, whoever it was, Your job would be like, would that be okay? Some shows were like that. Was that like that at SNL and Conan where sometimes if a music person was on that and a staff member wanted to meet them, that the musicians would do it? Or was that frowned upon? I know some shows it’s like, no, we’re not going to bother the talent no matter what.
You know, I think it was case by case and I wouldn’t say it was loose, but it was not a, fearful environment in that regard. All you had to do is go through proper channels.
Yeah.
You know, and if you came to me, if you were a coworker and you said, Hey, you know, I I’d really like to meet, I’d love to have my father would love it. If I had a picture with Tony Bennett, you know, I would ask Danny or whoever and say, what is, you know, or I’d feel it out myself. And I’d be like, you know what? It’s not a great day for that. Sorry.
It just depended.
It’s also nice to make people’s dreams come true, you know, so,
Oh my goodness. I mean, when I was there at certain shows, like The Daily Show, I was told the people on staff that they would not allow them to, for the most part to, but when I was at Colbert, most of the time, I mean, if somebody wanted to, you know, meet Neil Young or something, or get something signed by whoever, most of the time we were, if we went through, yeah, the proper channels and stuff, we were for the most part, able to do that. Like, I mean,
Right.
I only did it a few times when I read like Steve Martin. I was like, yeah, that, that, that is worthy of me asking how many of the host had say in musical guests. Like, I know Tom Arnold and Roseanne wanted Red Hot Chili Peppers and it made sense for the show. So it, that did happen. And they, you know, Roseanne’s show at the time, very hot. And I know that you did an interview saying that Bill Murray was obsessed with Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman”…
He was.
And he said “I’m only hosting if you can get Percy Sledge,” who was in Europe at the time.
No, he did get him.
He did. You mentioned in the interview that you actually had to fly him in from Europe, Percy Sledge.
Yeah. He canceled the gig and, uh, and flew up. We flew him in. Yeah. And he did When a Man Loves a Woman
And that was Murray’s. That was, I mean, Bill Murray is Bill Murray, but that was his condition to host.
Yep. I think because of the time that’s involved. It’s not that easy to, to turn on a dime and do that kind of thing, you know, because music acts, you know, they have to plan, but some hosts would definitely weigh in on, on the music guests. I wish I could think of some other examples for you.
I’m sure Aykroyd when he was on with John Goodman was the host and with Dan Aykroyd and a bunch of sketches was Tragically Hip. I mean he spent did the intro with him was the special intro was the Canadian thing and…
Yeah
I’m guessing that that might have been it and I’m not really sure with some of the other uh people but um yeah I knew that Murray and I knew Roseanne and Tom but I wasn’t I wasn’t sure.
It’s, and it’s funny how some of them go, you know, I remember a couple of cases where REM was supposed to be on with a particular host and it, and it didn’t happen and I think they ended up on with Macaulay Culkin, but
No, Macaulay Culkin was Tin Machine with David Bowie.
Oh, okay. Then it was supposed to be Macaulay Culkin and it ended up being someone else.
Yeah. Um, REM was on between, I feel like the 90 to 91 season, I think maybe.
Yeah. Well, it was around that Out of Time. Yeah. He was wearing a suit made at Michael Stipe was wearing a suit made of FedEx envelopes.
Oh, wow. Yeah, it was fun. Somebody actually on YouTube has rehearsal at SNL Thursday rehearsal with him and Kate.. I don’t know. I wish I knew.
Kate Pearson. Yes.
Yes. From the B52s and that’s up there. I was at a dress rehearsal once when The Pretenders were there with John Goodman. This was to May of 94 and Chrissie Hynde. In the middle of dress rehearsal, I’ve never seen this music was like, uh, turn down the bass or something like that where she interrupted the performance. I had never seen that. I mean, because normally they film that just in case they need this.
Sure.
Did that ever happen with any of the other musical guests where somebody, during the actual performance, would just talk to whoever, in front of the audience, do something like that?
No, no, not to my recollection at all.
I didn’t think so. I thought that was very strange. In the reruns, would they ever show the dress rehearsal version of the music? Would anybody, the management, ever request that?
Yes, that’s happened. Yeah, sometimes it’s just a better performance. You know, by the time the air show comes, they’ve done it a number of times on Thursday, they do it at five or this is what the schedule used to be. They would do it at dinnertime, uh, soundcheck on Saturday and then dress rehearsal and then the air show. So it’s pretty well rehearsed byy the time you get to air.
That’s amazing that you were there for so much talent. What stands out about Jack Handey from your time there?
Jack Handey was just a very funny kind of, which, you know, duh, sort of a normal, like you, you probably wouldn’t know if you met him on the street and his wife, Marta, they were like super nice people. Again, like the Turners, a little older than me and felt more adult, but. Jack would turn in these sketches that were just brilliant and, you know, coming out of, from a whole other place. Yeah. Jack’s, Jack’s bits were, were, were very special. Jack, George Meyer were two guys who especially, you know, Conan, Greg Daniels, you know, Robert.
Yes, when Odenkirk was there, I mean, he, I mean, he admits this, that he upset a lot of the writers. Did you, could you tell that vibe that Odenkirk wasn’t the most popular person sometimes?
Um, yeah, I mean, I, I was situated near Lorne’s office and then the person who, um, you know, dealt with the writers there. I remember some frustration. Our nickname, Evie, Evie Murray was her name, um, is her name, I’m sure, uh, she, um, her nickname for Conan, Robert, Greg, and Odenkirk were “the fetuses,” “the fetus patrol,” because they were so young.
Because they were so young. Yeah, yeah. And then Tom Hanks calls them the boiler, boiler boys or something like that.
Yeah, and, and, yeah, yeah, yeah, Hanks loved those guys.
What was your best Chris Farley story?
Well, we did the first Mother’s Day special, I was assigned to the moms. So I, I was running all over New York with them shooting. We did like a montage of them seeing New York and include it included. They were walking on the field centerfield at Yankee stadium and a bunch of other locations. And dealing with all the, yeah, all their moms and including Mrs. Farley and, uh, just Chris was so sweet with his mom. I mean, Chris was, he’s everything you’ve heard, you know, hilarious, insecure. His relationship with Spade and Rock and Sandler was great. And, um, and then it was just sad. It was also, you know, you could see where it was headed at times, you know? So I. I will. Okay. Well, there was one moment it was the end of an after party at Carmine’s way up on Broadway. Lorne was friends with Senator Chris Todd and, uh, he was there. I think the place was closing and we were all kind of being shooed out. Farley just. Went up to Chris Todd and was like, “Okay, Senator, move along. Time to go.” And I don’t know, that just made me laugh. That’s like, God, this guy. Yeah. Yeah. And then of course, you know, did one of these, you know, kind of like I’ve done something wrong.
