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I’m not his biggest fan, but good for him getting out when it felt like it was time to move on. B99 was great, he’s a very funny guy!
There’s a watched a show called The Dark Side of Comedy and SNL sounds like it can just chew up a comedian.
I read Tina Feys book around the time it came out and felt the same way, I actually really like her but the grind she described is insane
I remember her saying something about, a schedule built around cocaine but without the cocaine anymore.
Also not a fan but Palm Springs is an insanely fun movie
Huge fan of Christen milioti and she and Samburg both did so well in that! Underrated movie for sure.
Meanwhile Kenan will never leave.
He’s been there for 21 years, the show turns 50 next season. It’s nuts.
I really think it's just because Kenan has been doing it all of his life, and Samberg really started up after college. Not to say that there is anything wrong with that, I love Samberg, but I think it's just the Kenan feels more comfortable with it, and is more used to that particular grind.
I mean the guy can get laughs by giving a look at the right time, he's getting paid to just act how I'm imagining he acts normally and occasionally play the role of the one guy who knows way more about what's going on than the other characters.
I've heard him interviewed, and I'm pretty sure his on screen vibe is more performative that you'd think.
he's getting paid to just act how I'm imagining he acts normally
He's a comedian and he's good at his job. It's absolutely a role.
Also, Kenan isn't a writer on SNL AFAICT.
I think Andy Samberg/the Lonely Island crew was writing for both SNL proper as well producing the Digital Shorts that were nightmare production hours due to all the talent overlapping with the main SNL show. Anyone would be burnt out from that. I recall someone (I think it was Jorma Taccone maybe) mentioning like 18h production days for some of those a long time ago.
Not to discredit Kenan Thompson at all but I don't think he writes for SNL, or if he did it's very much in the distant past. His role would be a bit different from the likes of Andy, Tina, Seth etc.
I work in production in NYC. 18hr days aren’t unheard of, unfortunately. When it’s coupled with the rest of the grueling schedule, it can literally kill you. The unions have been trying to get our schedules made more logical for a long time. But the entire industry is built around this type of schedule. Gear gets rented by the day, so that entire business is modeled around that insane schedule, the spaces they rent to shoot are done by the day so getting a job done in one day is how that entire business is modeled…and we are contracted for the day and can only accept the one job/day, so our entire careers are built around this structure.
SNL, however, is a notoriously terrible job to work on. It’s known for being a massive headache, where you will work extra long hours deep into the night because they don’t start until too late in the day and because shit is getting planned and added on the fly. And they have a grueling level of quality, where you’re expected to get done in one day what would normally take days. And then you all gotta stay around to break it all right back down and get all that stuff returned to wherever they rented it from.
We can handle long days when we start early, that’s normal for us. But when they start pushing us back it really gets to be difficult. Because a lot of us get booked on a different job the next day, so you’re just losing your turnaround time for the following job. This life definitely isn’t for everyone.
I think he's got some dirt on Lorne Michaels and is just using it to maintain a steady paycheck. More power to him if so.
What's the appeal of SNL?
Everything I've heard about SNL makes it sound like an unbearably toxic workplace. And I tried watching the sketches but outside of those that got popular (Papyrus, Alien abduction, Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer, joke swaps etc) has been meh.
Brits get couple of comedians to do anagrams and sums, or tell lies,nand that's somehow funnier and more entertaining than SNL.
Used to be a talent factory for new comedians. But they lost their way i think
This is the best summary I could come up with:
After seven years, his contract was up and he decided not to return after the 2011-2012 season wrapped, officially announcing his decision weeks after the finale.
Though he dreamt of being on SNL since he was 8 years old, Samberg explained to Hart how things started to change when his longtime friends and Lonely Island collaborators, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, left when their writing contracts were up — Schaffer and Taccone both went on to direct films The Watch and MacGruber, respectively.
The trio’s The Lonely Island’s digital shorts were a viral success and became historical SNL sketches including “I’m on a Boat” and the Emmy-winning “Dick in a Box” with Justin Timberlake.
Samberg also recalled the busy schedule he had with being on the show and over time it began taking a toll on him physically and emotionally.
When doing a guest spot on Parks and Recreation at the time, he said he was able to “see that life” with Poehler telling him “It’s pretty comfortable Samberg” given there was an easier schedule.
Samberg reiterated that he had projects lined up before leaving, including another upcoming The Lonely Island album and he had filmed a movie with Adam Sandler.
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Damn. I guess they were a long time ago (and way before I saw Brooklyn Nine Nine to really be into him as a character), but I definitely couldn't have told you "dick in a box" or "I'm on a boat" were him.
That’s funny, those are the first things I think of when I hear his name
They've discovered a lot of great cast members, and there are definitely some great clips, but I'm generally not a big fan of skit comedy, so I don't really do SNL. I like longer formats with character development over time. B-99 is where I really noticed him.