Alan Zweibel on the Early Days of ‘Saturday Night Live’

Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.8 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2024

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Larry is joined by Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Alan Zweibel to discuss his experiences working on ‘Saturday Night Live’ during its first few years on the air. Alan begins the conversation by sharing his feelings about the 50th anniversary of ‘SNL’ and detailing the anatomy of a good joke. Larry and Alan then talk about Lorne Michaels’s original concepts for the show and detail the inspiration for some of Zweibel’s favorite sketches (15:34). Next, they examine some of the iconic performers and hosts who made those first shows so special, including Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Andy Kaufman (24:36). After the break, they talk about the lasting influence of ‘SNL’s early commercial parodies and pay tribute to the great Gilda Radner (38:11). Alan ends the show by remembering some of the lessons he learned as one of the original writers at ‘SNL’ and some of the projects he has lined up for the future (49:17). Host: Larry Wilmore Guest: Alan Zweibel Producer: Chris Sutton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	In the fall of 2014, a group of hackers pulled off the biggest Hollywood heist of all time.
0:05.8	They broke into computer servers belonging to Sony Pictures and released hundreds of thousands of top secret documents.
0:12.0	The attack would cause an international incident, upend thousands of lives, and change the movie industry forever.
0:18.8	From Spotify and the Ringer podcast network, I'm Brian Raftery,
0:22.7	and this is the Hollywood hack. Listen on the big picture feed. This episode is brought to you
0:32.3	by Shopify. Looking to start a side hustle or become your own boss, do it with Shopify. Whether you're selling succulence or stilettos,
0:39.8	Shopify has the industry leading tools to help you create, control and grow your own business.
0:44.4	So get serious about selling and get Shopify today.
0:47.4	Sign up for a £1 per month trial period at Shopify.com.
0:51.1	Or lowercase.
0:53.6	That's Shopify.com.com slash special offer.
0:57.6	Tis the season for shopping. And with Rackerton, it's also the season for super cashback savings.
1:04.1	Use Rackerton to get cashback at 400 plus brands on top of seasonal Christmas sales.
1:10.4	With Rackerton, you can save money on presents for
1:12.9	everyone on your list. From toys for the little ones, kitchenware for the ultimate entertainer,
1:18.5	and electronics for yourself. Shop with Rackerton this Christmas and you'll find the perfect gift
1:23.9	with up to 15% cashback. That's less time wasted on promo codes that never work.
1:29.9	Just start your shopping at rackerton.co.uk or in the rackerton app. Do your shopping like
1:35.6	you normally would and you'll get your cashback paid out to you by PayPal or bank transfer
1:40.3	into your account. Join for free at rackerton.com..uk or download the Rackerton app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N.
1:56.5	All right, welcome back, everybody. You know, we got a little Christmas gift for you. Little Hanukkah surprise. Man, I've been looking forward to this. I talked, I saw him during the
2:07.5	strike, but I was thinking about this early on, how much I wanted to have him. I knew this 50th year
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -17 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Ringer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Ringer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.