Saturday Night Live picked up another victory this evening at the Emmy Awards in the variety/ sketch category. Creator Lorne Michaels accepted the award for everyone who worked on the show, and while doing so, he dropped a really classy and pretty brief speech that reminded me of why I love the show so much.
You can check out the text of the speech below…
The show that we submitted was the show that Adam Sandler did, and he came back to host 24 years after he left. In the middle of the show, he did a tribute to Chris Farley, and the crew and the cast and everyone who was in the studio – most of whom had worked there when Chris Farley and Adam Sandler were young men… It’s rare that you see a cameraman tearing up, or a boom crew crying, but it was a very, very chilling moment, and very, very powerful. And it’s those kinds of moments which are why we’re going into our 45th season.
Sometimes I struggle to explain why I love Saturday Night Live so much. Even during the best episodes of its best years, there are always sketches that miss. There are always cast members that don’t align particularly well with my own sense of humor, but in a weird way, everything that airs on Saturday Night Live feels like it counts. It's like every cast member is one perfect sketch away from entering history. We have so few things we all do as a society anymore, but yet, the best of the best from Saturday Night Live always breaks out and becomes part of the conversation.
Almost like a sports franchise, everything feels interconnected, and it makes it easy to discuss and compare different eras and different comedians. It’s incredible to think about just how many careers the show has launched, and it’s so much fun to watch them figure out their voice live. You get to see them evolve, and some of them go on to be among the biggest stars in the entire world. And some of them, like Chris Farley, come and go way too soon.
You can check out the Chris Farley tribute Lorne Michaels referenced below…
The secret to the show’s success is that it has always pivoted enough to allow its brightest minds to mine the subject matter they are comfortable with in their own ways. That’s why sometimes the show is really topical. Sometimes it’s really silly. Sometimes it’s sophisticated, sometimes sophomoric and sometimes a bit of everything. It’s whatever its talent does best. Much of that credit should go to Lorne Michaels, who hilariously, seems to have a personal sense of humor that’s way more dry than anyone mentioned above.
Here’s to hoping Saturday Night Live has many more Emmy wins and many more careers to launch in its future.
