Saturday Night Live is famously known for having one of the most high-pressure environments of any show on TV. The storied NBC variety show produces an hour-and-a-half-long telecast weekly, and there are plenty of moving parts. The various costumes, sets, and digital sketches are only a few of the elements to be considered. While many have talked about the "stressful" nature of the job, SNL alum John Mulaney revealed that he sees it differently, as he found a bright spot within in.
John Mulaney recently participated in a roundtable discussion with his comedy peers for The Hollywood Reporter. The comedian talked about his latest stand-up special, Baby J, and his short-lived sitcom, Mulaney, which aired on Fox for one season. While reflecting, he talked about being a writer on SNL, specifically how the environment was as protective as it was grueling, That made him ill-prepared when he worked on a regular network series. He explained:
Saturday Night Live, people talk about how high-stakes and stressful it is — it’s also the most protected environment in entertainment. We don’t get notes. I saw Jeff Zucker maybe once when he was the president of NBC. Nothing reached us, so to suddenly be the writer, producer and star of a network pilot, let alone a series, it was suddenly being the captain of a cruise ship. I was like, I have to worry about personnel, menu binders, meals for people, hours, how late everyone’s there.
This is an interesting way to look at the SNL experience. While the long hours and the high-pressure nature of the show is certainly a part of the equation, it also allows creatives the ability to work in a vacuum as well as the freedom not always offered in network TV. Being a showrunner on a network sitcom is very different and comes with more responsibilities and more bigwigs to answer to. This transition must’ve been difficult for the star to navigate.
While John Mulaney sees the positives of the SNL work style, the crazy hours and intensity put a real strain on the experience for some former cast members. Bill Hader famously had a really hard time during his tenure, as he suffered from severe anxiety. Chris Redd also opened up about worrying about his pieces being cut, and how it led to him leaving the show. It’s certainly not for everyone, but it's nice to hear how positive it was for Mulaney. And he's since gone back to host the comedy mainstay five times, which would seem to indicate that he holds a soft spot for the series.
While producing a sitcom wasn’t in the stand-up’s wheelhouse, his projects post Mulaney have proven himself as a great comedian and creative. He has had four extremely popular Netflix comedy specials and an after-school special. He has also worked on the IFC show Documentary Now! and has been a guest star on streaming shows like Crashing and Bupkis. In addition, he is an accomplished voice actor for projects like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Big Mouth. The Emmy winner is kinda killing it right now, with that network sitcom far in the rear-view. Of course, he also wasn't the first and certainly won't be the last writer to work at SNL, and one can only wonder as to whether any current staffers share his take on the working evironment.
You can check out John Mulaney’s Baby J by streaming it now with a Netflix subscription. For more information on other great comedy fare that's available on the platform, make sure to read up on funniest comedy stand-up specials that are on there.
