‘Saturday Night’ is a feverish account of the minutes before the famed sketch comedy show made its first live broadcast.
Variety shows used to be very popular on television. Short comedy skits were easier to produce than full sitcoms and they allowed for a wider range of storytelling, as well as an opportunity to showcase other talents. In addition to the main cast, there were often comedic and musical guests that filled some of the time, gave the cast a break and wasn’t required to be scripted. However, filming in front of a live studio audience is not the same as going to air live. Saturday Night chronicles the 90 minutes before television’s longest variety and sketch comedy show broadcasted its first episode on October 11, 1975.
Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) had a vision and studio politics gave him one shot to make it happen. Recruiting a cast of hungry young comedians — Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien), John Belushi (Matt Wood), Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Jane Curtin (Kim Matula), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn) and Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt) — and a wealth of additional performers, Michaels was sure he had a hit on his hands… if they could get to air. The period before they go live is unbelievably chaotic as Michaels runs around trying to put out dozens of little fires, including llama delivery, lost comedian, AWOL light operator, cast conflicts, too tight costume changes, excessive programming and the list goes on. In the meantime, his wife and writing partner, Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott), is tasked with wrangling the ever-temperamental Belushi who refuses to sign his contract, while NBC’s studio executive David Tebet (Willem Dafoe) still has the ability to shut it all down and play a Johnny Carson rerun instead.
To call this the wild west of television would be an understatement. It’s not just a matter of everything going wrong, but of them not being ready so close to showtime. They’re still laying bricks for the mainstage seconds before camera and Belushi’s whereabouts aren’t even known when they start the first sketch. Co-writer and director Jason Reitman deftly manages to capture the frantic energy, which emanates from the screen as every character is abuzz with excitement and anxiety. As showrunner, everyone looks to Michaels for clarification, validation and/or assistance, which he valiantly tries to provide… to everybody… almost at once. If step trackers existed then, he might’ve set a record.
Oddly, while all the behind-the-scenes commotion and clashes are riveting, the attempts to recreate some of the sketches prepared for the debut episode fall flat. Whether it’s all the pauses during the performances or the fact that they’re trying to reconstruct inimitable chemistry, there’s something missing and it disrupts the narrative flow. Then it returns to the frenzy and all is well again. That said, they casted actors who look remarkably like the people they are representing at that stage in their lives, which goes a long way in making the film feel authentic. They also do well to replicate their personalities, which range from over-confident diva to skeptic to optimist to jackass. J.K. Simmons takes the cake for the last personality, portraying “Mr. Television,” Milton Berle.
In the end, we all know Saturday Night Live went to air, making history and lasting 49 seasons and counting. But even their great writers couldn’t have scripted that night as the reality exceeded anyone’s imagination for potential catastrophe.
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott and Willem Dafoe
