One Saturday in 1975, a group of young comedians, led by writer-producer Lorne Michaels, blagged their way into the studios of 30 Rockefeller, New York. The plan was to make a statement with their first airing of Saturday Night Live, a new comedy sketch show designed to inject energy into the stuffy fare that populated late night slots of the time.
Nearly 50 years on, the show is still going but as Saturday Night – the new film from Juno director Jason Reitman – shows, the path to its first episode was sheer chaos. In relative real time, it charts the 90 minutes leading up to the show hitting the air: shit breaking, stuff setting on fire, rogue llamas in the Rockefeller hallways, writers tripping balls and production staff walking off set, all while Michaels tries to convince studio execs that he has the next great TV phenomenon on his hands.
Reitman enlisted Hollywood’s legends and new glitterati alike to retell that story, with Willem Dafoe and Tracy Letts rubbing shoulders with Kaia Gerber and Nicholas Braun on the cast list. Backstage at a New York screening the week of the movie’s release, Reitman and the ensemble cast posed for Polaroids and opened up about the movie’s on-set troublemakers – as well as the historic SNL stars and sketches that are burned into their brains.
Jason Reitman is the director
The Saturday Night agent of chaos was… Lamorne Morris. My dream SNL cast member to hang out with would be… Dan Aykroyd. We made a movie together already! The SNL sketch that’s burned into my brain is… Meet Your Second Wife.
Gabriel LaBelle is Lorne Michaels
My dream SNL cast member to hang out with would be… Michael O’Donoghue wasn’t an official part of the cast, but he appeared on camera a lot. I would love to see what he was like socially; how he operates in a room full of people. He wanted to watch the world burn, and did it with elegant literature! The SNL sketch that’s burned into my brain is… Meet Your Second Wife.
Cory Michael Smith is Chevy Chase
Ella Hunt is Gilda Radner
The Saturday Night agent of chaos was… Dylan [O’Brien], and we love him for it. My dream SNL cast member to hang out with would be… Gilda [Radner]. The SNL sketch that’s burned into my brain is… Wells for Boys with Julio Torres. I came to SNL late! Don’t judge me for not having a vintage pick!
Billy Bryk is Carl
The Saturday Night agent of chaos was… Gabriel. His character is trying to keep everyone on the rails, but he got his hands dirty on set! My dream SNL cast member to hang out with would be… Bill Murray. I don’t know if he’d like me! The SNL sketch that’s burned into my brain is… the Papyrus sketch.
Lamorne Morris is Garrett Morris
The Saturday Night agent of chaos was… Gabriel. He was our fearless leader. Everytime I would go out, Gabe would also be out. He was always down for a fun time! I also took Andrew to a strip club called the Clermont Lounge. He looked mortified. That young man had his life changed that night. My dream SNL cast member to hang out with would be… Eddie Murphy. I don’t wanna say we’d smoke weed together because then I’d be high and wouldn’t remember the experience. Maybe we’d go bowling. The SNL sketch that’s burned into my brain is… Death Row Follies.
Kaia Gerber is Jacqueline Carlin
My dream SNL cast member to hang out with would be… Kristen Wiig. The SNL sketch that’s burned into my brain is… the New Dad sketch, because it was the first thing we filmed and Jackie, who I play, got to be in it.
Tracy Letts is Herb Sargent
The Saturday Night agent of chaos was… I couldn’t answer that question! I was only on set for a day. My dream SNL cast member to hang out with would be… Gilda Radner. The SNL sketch that’s burned into my brain is… Bass-o-matic.
Nicholas Podany is Billy Crystal
The Saturday Night agent of chaos was… Jon Batiste. He’d be jamming and singing riffs between takes. The SNL sketch that’s burned into my brain is… anything Lonely Island or the Sarah Palin “Russia from my house!”
Nicholas Braun is Andy Kaufman
Matt Wood is John Belushi
The Saturday Night agent of chaos was…Dylan goddamn O’Brien! My dream SNL cast member to hang out with would be… Johnny boy! The SNL sketch that’s burned into my brain is… Canteen Boy. I was a boy scout!
Andrew Barth Feldman is Neil Levy
The Saturday Night agent of chaos was… I kind of have to admit I’m a pretty big one myself. But besides me, I guess Dylan O’Brien. My dream SNL cast member to hang out with would be… I really wish I’d been on the planet at the same time as Gilda Radner. The SNL sketch that’s burned into my brain is… Diner Lobster is special to me for a lot of reasons. As a musical theatre guy, that really rippled through the community.
Dylan O’Brien is Dan Aykroyd
The Saturday Night agent of chaos was… Willem Dafoe. Watch out for that man, he’s a little maniac. My dream SNL cast member to hang out with would be… Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. The SNL sketch that’s burned into my brain is… Papyrus. I love Papyrus.
Kim Matula is Jane Curtin
The Saturday Night agent of chaos was…Gabe LaBelle. You never know what’s gonna come out of his mouth.. My dream SNL cast member to hang out with would be… Kristen Wiig. The SNL sketch that’s burned into my brain is… Schweddy Balls. Forever and ever.
Interviews: Anna Jonska
Introduction: Douglas Greenwood
Photography: Philip-Daniel Ducasse
Production: Elise Lebrun