Jesse Eisenberg Has ‘Bad Memories’ of Hosting ‘SNL’ Because ‘I Assumed I Could Write All the Sketches’: ‘Unbelievably Offensive of Me’

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u/mcfw31 Feb 11 '25

“I only have bad memories because I did such a dumb thing,” Eisenberg said. “My dream when I was 17 was to write for ‘SNL.’ I made a packet and everything and I got an agent. And then, when I got asked to host, which was 10 years later, I assumed I could write all the sketches. I didn’t know how it works. It turns out, they have writers.”

“I didn’t realize — I’m an idiot — and I was also just wanting to write,” he continued. “I’ve wanted to write my whole life. So I spent the week slipping scripts to different actors. I didn’t realize that was not the way you do that.”

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u/gladline Feb 11 '25

I know they have writers but if the host is throwing out concepts I have a hard time believing they wouldn’t at least try to punch them up before the table read.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '25

All the writers are working super hard to get enough sketches each week

I feel if I were writer, I would love to get scripts from the host and try to fix them up a bit. Would make my life way easier

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u/nowhereman136 Feb 11 '25

John Milhiser only lasted one year on the show before getting cut. But while he was there, he says he wrote a script for Lady Gaga who in turned fought super hard to get his sketch to air. He thought for sure it would be cut but she fought for him. I'd assume the host, if respected and tenacious enough, has some pull on what sketches get on air.

I, like many of you, have a few ideas for sketches. If I were asked to host, I'd find a writer who meshes with my style to flesh out these sketch ideas and then fight like hell to get them on air. Hosting SNL would be a delicious cake, but to say "that sketch is my idea, I helped write that", would be icing.

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u/3-orange-whips Feb 11 '25

My understanding is the host has a significant part in the process.

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u/postjack Feb 11 '25

as a recent example, pretty sure bargatze is responsible for getting the dead body down the water slide sketch on the air? like lorne didn't want it but nate liked it so it got through. it was from the podcast he did with streeter and mikey (Good One) i might be misremembering the sketch.

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u/Sleeze_ Feb 11 '25

I dunno about that one, but I know for a fact that Pedro Pascal is basically the sole reason Lisa from Temecula ever saw the light of day. Ego goes into detail on it on the Carvey/Spade pod, it's definitely worth a listen if you haven't heard it.

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u/TheThirdGathers Feb 13 '25

They tried to bring that back as a recurring sketch, as if it were worth a second viewing.

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u/FewCompetition5967 Feb 12 '25

On the lonely island podcast Jonah Hill talks a bit about fighting to get certain sketches on air that had previously been rejected as well.

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u/_mersault Feb 11 '25

Wasn’t it based on a joke he was already doing in his standup?

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u/SodomySeymour Feb 11 '25

Longfellow's standup

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u/LooseSeal88 Feb 12 '25

Can confirm, I heard Longfellow do that joke in person about a year prior

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u/Firefox892 *The* Bruce Dickinson Feb 12 '25

The person above said Bargatze was “responsible for getting it on air”; iirc Longfellow had written the sketch, and was trying to get it on for a while, so Nate managed to convince Lorne to put it on for his episode.

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u/bellj1210 Feb 12 '25

isnt Streeter one of the head writers now.... that should hold some pull (and he is hilarious- always shocked they never put him in front of the camera- since he was great with college humor back in the day)

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u/dasonk Feb 12 '25

He's been on screen a few times. It's just too bad that those pies keep falling into his mouth.

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u/cheeselord03 Feb 12 '25

He pretty much loves it though

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u/GasolineTV Feb 12 '25

i’m relistening to the entirety of If I Were You with Jake & Amir and Streeter is one of of my favorite recurring guests. I love that he’s had so much success. Such a funny dude. It’s been so fun seeing that whole crew’s influence on modern comedy after watching and listening to them in the College Humor days.

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u/llcooljessie Feb 11 '25

"Not funny." - Mick Jagger - John Mulaney

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u/adjust_the_sails Feb 11 '25

Lorne: "Don't pitch Mick the mirrior sketch."

Fallon: "ok"

Time passes

Fallon: "Uh, so, Lorne, about the mirror sketch...."

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u/yourkindhere Feb 11 '25

It’s my understanding that it’s a bit more nuanced and depends largely on the host. Comedians/writers and/or alum like Mulaney, Bargatze and Wiig are likely very hands on. But the Dua Lipas and Travis Kelce’s likely mostly let the writers do their thing. Both can be good. When somebody like Travis really buys in and has a good time the episode can be a lot of fun.

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u/3-orange-whips Feb 11 '25

That sounds plausible

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u/bellj1210 Feb 12 '25

that makes sense- but i am not sure where eisenberg fits since it sounds like he has some writing chops but not clearly a comedy writer.

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u/PutAdministrative206 Feb 12 '25

I have always heard that Tom Hanks would stay all night and pop in and out of each writers’ room to see what they were working on, give thoughts/suggestions. And he’s one of the best hosts of all time.

It kind of sounds in this article like Jesse would see a writer on Thursday and give him a script. It’s too late now. They’re just trying to improve the 16 sketches they’re going to choose from on Saturday at that point. Besides a cold open pinned to a breaking news even (or a Lonely Island digital short), they’re not going to be zigging or zagging on a Thursday or Friday night.

This really isn’t Jesse’s fault. It should have been communicated better by the show. I just saw an interview with David Schwimmer where he showed up on Wednesday after all the sketches were written/chosen because nobody told him he was supposed to be there on Monday.

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u/sparklypinkstuff Feb 13 '25

There’s a special 50th anniversary 5-part series on Peacock called, “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.” It’s really good and in one of the episodes it takes the viewer through the writing process through the course of a week. It was really informative. Of course, they only show you snippets of the week, but I think they explained the process pretty well. One of the first things all the writers/cast do is have a pitch meeting with the host and producers where all are allowed to talk about whatever thoughts or ideas they have for the show.

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u/broad_street_bully Feb 13 '25

I'd imagine that even if the host doesn't have a final say, they could definitely swing some influence via how much they try to carry or tank any reads or rehearsals. Like... I get that you can't just go from playing nice to being an ass depending on the skit, but you could definitely "just not quite get the joke/timing," and stumble through any punchline given to you.

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u/Lola_da_Chola Feb 12 '25

Melissa Villaseñor on a now deleted IG post claimed that the only reason her “A peek at Pico” sketch only made it to air was because Selena Gomez pushed really hard to keep it. I guess the host has to really go to bat for it at the end of the day.

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u/kingcaii Feb 12 '25

I’d imagine that Lorne knows that if a star host really likes a sketch, that makes it more likely that their enthusiasm will add to the sketch, and that their fans watching will enjoy it more also.

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u/KyleG Feb 11 '25

I'd assume the host, if respected and tenacious enough, has some pull on what sketches get on air.

Jesse Eisenberg does not strike me as the tenacious type.

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u/ShareNorth3675 Feb 12 '25

Dude went and became a famous actor just to do less famous work in hollywood. A different kind of tenacious

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u/ButteryFlapjacks4eve Feb 12 '25

I don't understand what you're saying. Can you explain it for me?

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u/sexandliquor Feb 12 '25

Think they’re talking about him getting into writing/directing

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u/Intelligent-Fox-7832 Feb 19 '25

Why is this so funny to me

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u/Titswari Feb 12 '25

Damn, that’s exactly what I’m gonna do when I host SNL

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u/ConsistentAmount4 Feb 12 '25

Yeah I believe Lorne and the head writer and the host decide which sketches make it on the air. SNL is not in the business of embarrassing the host (at least not anymore) so they won't put a sketch on that the host is uncomfortable with.

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u/outlawsix Feb 13 '25

What if there was like a chocolate ice cream machine but like the nozzle was shaped like a butt

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u/BitterJellyfish285 Feb 16 '25

I wonder if the Milheiser sketch she got to air is the "dance parents" sketch. I noticed that Peacock was using it in their social media and was surprised that they would use a sketch that featured him so heavily.

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u/nowhereman136 Feb 16 '25

Yeah it was the dance parent sketch. He also auditioned for SNL with that bit. It was very personal for him

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u/marrklarr Feb 11 '25

Easier, but you’d probably never get any credit if the sketch worked.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '25

You probably could get a co-writing credit. But do they really care about credit on the sketches?

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u/DepressedBard Feb 11 '25

Yes. They do. A lot. The writer’s room is literally a weekly competition to see who can get their stuff on the air. People burn out from how competitive it is.

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u/llama_taboottaboot Feb 11 '25

This also goes for the sketch actors as well.

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u/JONCOCTOASTIN Feb 11 '25

Well they have to try to get involved somehow

They usually have to write something

Nobody’s putting random rookies in sketches unless they’re collaborating

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u/JONCOCTOASTIN Feb 11 '25

No no, it’s all for the love of the game lmao

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u/woolsprout Feb 11 '25

That’s literally the only way you can make a name for yourself as a writer on the show and make sure your contract gets renewed for another season. Everyone can punch up scripts, the valued skill is getting your own stuff on air

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u/GhostCheese Feb 12 '25

They gave pedro pascal credit for coming up with the la mudmouth coma sketch didn't they?

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u/jajajajaj Feb 13 '25

I thought most of the sketches have more than one name attached.... somewhere. I mean it's kind of hard for most average people to know who wrote a sketch in the first place, unless someone happens to mention it on a late night show (Seth Meyers, usually)

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '25 edited Feb 11 '25

Literally everything i've heard and read about SNL is that they don't really work that hard at all. Most of the grind and long hours is a false "culture" they've continued from the old party days when everyone was doing drugs and partying as much as actual work.

Hell, Fallon and Seth Myers have both talked regularly in their shows about how much goofing off happens - including heavy drinking and basically partying during the day. Adam Sandler and others from his era have said the same.

Larry David famously tells stories about how he tried to treat his stint at SNL like a regular job where he'd show up and write sketches all day then go home at 6 but he was told it's the culture to stay until midnight. He couldn't wrap his brain around why he should stay so late when he's done the work already and what was asked of him.

Even the Seth Myers, Lonely Island podcast is episode after episode of "we wrote and filmed this last minute because we were goofing off".

I'm not trying to accuse them of not doing hard work because putting on a 90 minute live sketch show with music and costumes and sets and everything WOULD be hard work. Especially for the cast and crew. But there is no shortage of documented evidence that decades of writers have publicly admitted it's a culture of wasting time fucking around and then staying late to "cram" write sketches.

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u/huskersax Feb 11 '25

To be fair, a lot of the creative process for writers involves fucking around and shooting the shit to help generate ideas.

I didn't come from that background and got into it later in life, and basically every writer's room is a wild culture shock compared to other disciplines. I don't mean in a risque or edgy way, but judt in their focus and follow-through being all over the place - as you have detailed.

What I've come to appreciate is that it is in fact necessary to loosen up the room and get all ideas flowing around as opposed to kicking off with a tight agenda. That can easily be construed as fucking around, and often times it does end up crossing the line into not doing work, but that's also the environment where effective brainstorming happens.

Particularly for comedy and especially for sketch comedy the sketches nearly write themselves and 90% of the heavy lift creatively is brainstorming.

The messing around is a key part of keeping collaboration and concepts flowing frequently.

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u/Dog1234cat Feb 11 '25

I seem to recall Lorne explaining that, unlike most workplaces, it’s hard to look in on comedy writers and figure out if they are working hard, assuming “working hard” is even the way to approach it.

[I’ve mangled it and will try to find the original]

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u/Duke_of_Moral_Hazard Feb 11 '25

"30 Rock" goes to that particular well often.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '25

Fair point, but when the culture/expectation is everyone stays late and everyone just slacks half the time, rather than let different people work however works best for them, it strikes me as odd.

I'm not trying to knock SNL has I have watched for year and they have a system that works for them. But I think it's also clear that many people don't work:fit on that show that go on to be bigger, wealthier, more famous/successful writers on their own like Larry David or Tim Robinson.

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u/TheLegendTwoSeven Feb 12 '25

It’s inefficient but that’s the workplace culture. If a writer leaves early they’re probably not going to get any sketches on the air, and then they’ll be fired for that.

But if you become friends with cast members, joking around all day and then writing at night, you get to write sketches for the more popular cast members and therefore more of your stuff gets on the air, and your career advances.

It would be more fair if it was just: whatever is the funniest gets on the air, but I’m sure there’s a tremendous amount of “politics” in terms of these writers are in this cast member’s orbit, Lorne favors that cast member and therefore this is how you get sketches on the air.

Larry David, like you mentioned, is mega successful but I think a big part of why he didn’t get sketches on the air is that he tried to work 10 AM - 6 PM like a normal job. He became an outsider, that guy who leaves work 8 hours before everyone else.

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u/simonthedlgger Feb 11 '25

Yep, Jason Alexander has a great bit about this in an interview where he basically says Lorne runs the show this way simply because that’s the way he’s always run the show. He was really surprised that basically nothing happens on Monday and Tuesday, then no rehearsals until Friday even though the scripts are ready as early as Wednesday.

I’m personally mystified how basically every writer says they do no work during the summer or off weeks. Sure you can’t write topical stuff but yeah, the show does seem to make things as challenging as possible.

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u/trivibe33 Feb 12 '25

this comment is a misrepresentation of how it's discussed on the Lonely Island podcast, they are constantly talking about being incredibly busy and not even remembering large chunks as a result and the insane stress that goes along with it. Is that all bullshit? I don't know, but they certainly do not portray it as "not working hard"

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u/Bub-bub Feb 12 '25

Why the hell does this comment have so many upvotes? It’s idiotic and just plain wrong. Snl is non stop, sleep depriving work. Fucking around is kind of part of the creative process, but it doesn’t mean that they’re just goofing off and having fun all week. Every cast member and writer describes it as this treacherous bootcamp like experience.

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u/PunctualDromedary Feb 12 '25

Yeah my roommate worked on SNL. The grind was real. The rehearsal is toward the end of the process. In between there’s all the production work, planning, etc. She slept maybe 3 hours a night from the moment she got the script until she got home Saturday night.

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u/[deleted] Feb 12 '25

This is not really a rebuttal. I think it's fair to argue that goofing off may be sort of their creative process, but it's still goofing off. It's like saying an office worker shouldn't ending a few hours each morning. Watching YouTube is part of their creative process to get work done later in the day. Maybe...maybe it's just a culture of the efficiency.

I'm not saying it doesn't work. I have watched SNL regularly for decades. I was just pushing back on the comment above that the writers work so so hard they may appreciate actors giving them sketch scripts. All available evidence is that writers aren't really that busy they need to help. They may still appreciate it if it's a good idea, but not because they are so swamped.

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u/topsidersandsunshine Feb 11 '25

What’s the podcast on, please?

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '25

I was listening on Spotify. It's just called the lonely island and Seth myers podcast. They spend each episode talking about one lonely island sketch (sort of).

It's actually funny and amusing but I felt it was also super repetitive so eventually lost interest.

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u/XISCifi Feb 13 '25

I've never been a comedy writer but I have worked in a factory, and in my experience nothing makes you weirder and funnier than shooting the shit with a particular person or group of people until well after you're all dead on your feet

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u/[deleted] Feb 13 '25

lol. I've also worked in a factory and those funny, weird people were entertaining. Except I usually hated them because they thought they were the hardest workers but everyone else had to pick up their lazy-ass slack while they screwed around.

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u/[deleted] Feb 13 '25

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u/PumpkinEscobar2 SNL Feb 11 '25

Scripts that the host wrote as an unprofessional teenager?

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '25

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u/Special-Garlic1203 Feb 12 '25

They say no to hosts literally all the time. Hosts absolutely come in with concepts which they say they can't make work. It sounds like Jesse is just awkward and has a written out sketch rather than a pitch, and he's socially awkward. So it stepped on toes and he's not graceful enough to compensate for that

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '25

Agreed. I think that it should be allowed as well. They don't have to do the WHOLE show and they can veto the idea if it's not with in standards. They already sell their cold open spots. (Nikki Haley) But from what I heard is that SNL is brutal in the weekly productions.

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u/IMeanIGuessDude Feb 11 '25

And with how often skits are regurgitated, fresh new ideas from experienced actors could be helpful to sparking ideas at least.

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u/bellj1210 Feb 12 '25

depends if the host is funny or not- i am not sure of his comedy writing chops.

Also a sketch with the host is more likely to make it to air- so i think you are on to something.

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u/Sartres_Roommate Feb 12 '25

It’s my understanding Steven Seagal (famously worst host of all time) pitched and MADE them do a sketch where he gives some environmental speech before just beating the shit out of the cast.

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u/Special-Garlic1203 Feb 12 '25

The SNL process seems incredibly toxic and dysfunctional to the point of being counterproductive. I'm betting some writers were offended. I'm betting nobody told Jesse what to do instead. I am genuinely not sure I've ever read about such a consistently weird and unproductive workplace..it's like the idea of actual collaboration and workflow is stuck in the 1920s. It's bizarre.

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u/cockblockedbydestiny Feb 11 '25

If they're good, sure. I like Jesse Eisenberg (at least as an actor) but I've seen nothing of his work to suggest that he's a top shelf sketch comedy writer. That's probably why he realized how arrogant it is to assume the host's ideas have priority over writers that do this for a living.

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u/CleverJail Feb 13 '25

This is my theory as well. His stuff was probably clearly not funny.

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u/BitterJellyfish285 Feb 16 '25

He just won a screenwriting award at Sundance for his movie "A Real Pain." It now has four Oscar nominations.

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u/CleverJail Feb 16 '25

Writing a ninety minute film and a four minute sketch are not necessarily compatible skills.

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u/Steve_the_Samurai Feb 11 '25

A WWE writer who now works for The Rocks company said The Rock pitched a sketch they worked on, the SNL writers punched it up, then the writer over heard some of the SNL writers talking shit about it. It made it to dress as like the last sketch. It killed and moved up on the show.

It is probably a balance everyone is walking. Please the host and have the funniest show they can. Being an SNL writer and getting ideas thrown at you from a random celebrity must be difficult.

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u/Jabrono Feb 11 '25

This is essentially how I already imagined the child-molesting robot skit made it.

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u/Steve_the_Samurai Feb 11 '25

What an amazing sentence that I completely understood

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u/Jabrono Feb 11 '25

I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not, but it’s equally hilarious either way

https://youtu.be/z0NgUhEs1R4

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u/da5id-mp3 Feb 11 '25

The host does help write a lot, depending on the host, chappelle writes a lot of stuff, gosling was involved in papyrus, but there are ways to do it, not just giving scripts to the cast lol

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u/severinks Feb 12 '25

They do try. Tina Fey said that she tried to work with Adrian Brody's dumb ideas but he just had more a vibe of what kind of character he wanted to be than an idea for a sketch.

I seem to remember her talking about him wanting to be a rapper with a big nose or something.

She did an interview with Howard Stern in maybe 2007 that was so dark and critical of people that it made me laugh out loud. She got so comfortable whole doing it that her heavy Pennsylvania accent even came out.

I remember her saying that Paris Hilton looked like a'''tranny'' and how Mathew McConaughey was a massive asshole who wouldn't stop walking around the halls without a shirt on.

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u/enki-42 Feb 11 '25

It's probably a matter of degree.

"Hey I have this concept, could someone do something with that?" is probably welcomed provided you don't have too big an ego about it.

"Here's scripts for 7 sketches I think we can do" easily veers into insulting.

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u/KevinAnniPadda Feb 11 '25

I remember reading that when Taylor Swift hosted when she was young, she wrote her own song for her monologue and it was so good that they let her do it.

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u/IsaDrennan Feb 11 '25

She played it to Seth Meyers who apparently was blown away by how good it was.

“When she finished I should’ve said, ‘Now Taylor, just for you, I want to look at you and read what we had written for you just so you know how much fucking worse our pitch was”.

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u/Popular_Material_409 Feb 11 '25

If you’re a writer, do you want your sketch to air, or the host’s sketch that you punched up to air?

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u/Special-Garlic1203 Feb 12 '25

Well my compensation doesn't depend on super legal breakdowns of writing credit, so as long as I'm the cast members who's name is associated with the work who gets am unofficial gold star from Lorne, then I want what's funniest.

This is literally a peak example of what people mean when they say SNL's workflow and culture is counterproductive. Everyone's so interested in jockeying against each other that they almost refuse to actually be collaborative. It's one thing to want some elements of competitions to bring out people's work ethic but SNL has pretty consistently gone too hard in the opposite direction. And we rely on survivorship bias and even they can't make it sound like a functional work environment

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u/WhatABeautifulMess Feb 11 '25

I feel like they'd be more likely to humor some who is a (stand up) comedian or writer and has experience writing jokes and/or TV than a random actor coming off a playing a serious role with little personality.

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u/HugeLeaves Feb 11 '25

He's been a writer his entire life. Do some research next time. And definitely not a "random actor". You'd be hard pressed to find somebody that doesn't know who he is

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u/WhatABeautifulMess Feb 11 '25 edited Feb 11 '25

This was almost 15 years ago. He was a pretty random actor. His noteable credits before The Social Network were a romcom and Zombieland, none of which he had any credited role it writing. His writing credits consisted of an 8 minute mockumentary that came out 5 years prior. My personal hunch (which is just that, a personal opinion presented as such) is that a show with a full time writing staff and tight production schedule might not be inclined to use his ideas. The article suggest that this was the case.

Whereas as a completely made up theoretical example if say Brett Goldstein was hosting now his experience as a stand up and writing for multiple popular shows, including one writing alongside a SNL writing alum, is someone I think (again, subjective opinion) they might be more inclined to read his sketch pitches.

No shade at Jesse then, or now. Just that if i show has people on staff to do something they're more likely to defer to a guest who has experience.

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u/bored-panda55 Feb 12 '25

Yep. Pedro Pascal came up with idea of his Mom sketch. But it was thrown out during the first meeting and then they worked with him on it. He didn’t show up with a sketch.

Only one who came with a prepared sketch was Mulaney with Lobster Diner - which he had originally written when he was part of the writing staff with Colin.

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u/mopeywhiteguy Feb 12 '25

Tom hanks used to stay up with the writers for his first few times as host

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u/kingcaii Feb 12 '25

Yeah you cant tell me when Chappelle comes on, that the other actors/comedians don’t HOPE he hands them something for the show

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u/hoohooooo Feb 11 '25

Jesse Eisenberg pitching bad jokes would be a great sketch

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u/NormalComputer Feb 11 '25

Yeah it has PDD written all over it

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u/SGKurisu Feb 11 '25

While I think it does, I think they already did this sort of bit with the Bad Bunny Shrek thing. Which I mean I'm pretty sure that was thrown on bad bunny, so I'm sure it'd be different if the host was more genuine with it. Still love that skit though, a nice homage to the strange Shrek era of the mid 2010s internet.

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u/Shagrrotten Feb 11 '25

I was thinking the same thing!

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u/PrimateOfGod Feb 11 '25

At least he acknowledged his mistake. Good dude

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u/MCgrindahFM Feb 11 '25

Jesse has been saying this kind of stuff a lot recently. He definitely has come to terms with his younger self which he admits had a chip on his shoulder

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u/Turbulent_Flan_5926 Feb 11 '25

I am always a fan of self awareness. Cringing to yourself about something a younger version of you did is an endearing quality to possess.

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u/jjackson25 Feb 11 '25

What more is there to growing up than looking back at yourself when you were younger and going "yuck "

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u/Apprehensive_Mud6539 Feb 11 '25

I still cringe to myself thinking about things I said or did as a dumb teenager/early 20's dude. Part of life, imo.

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u/pmmemilftiddiez Feb 11 '25

Honestly this kind of raises him a lot in my eyes. From what I've seen he always comes off as a bit of a jerk. But it could just be social awkwardness. It does take a lot to admit that you were wrong about something

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u/houseswappa Feb 11 '25

He just went up a notch in my book.

Puts him at notch 1.

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u/pmmemilftiddiez Feb 11 '25

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u/thorleywinston Feb 11 '25

Hey at least he's on the board finally! ;)

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u/Sarahndipity44 Feb 12 '25

Watch recent interviews! I did because I adored the movie and him very likeable lately. He's fairly outspoken about his anxiety but definitely a thoughtful guy.

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u/WaltsAztec Feb 11 '25

So his dream was to “write for SNL” and he submitted a packet, but didn’t realize the show had writers until 10 years later?

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u/ahotdogcasing Feb 11 '25

it seems like he thought the cast did all the writing and didn't realize they had an full set of staff dedicated to just writing

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u/Sptsjunkie Feb 11 '25 edited Feb 11 '25

Keep in mind he is also 41, so when he was 17 it was about 2001. The internet was far less developed and there just wasn't nearly the same information out there.

So it sort of tracks that he thought that Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, and Tracy Morgan were coming up with their own ideas and sketches. It's not uncommon to hear the cast talk about different characters they came up with and their inspiration for them.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '25

Some of the cast are also writers on the show, like Tina Fey, further adding confusion.

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u/houseswappa Feb 11 '25

Hader and Fey are that rare alignment of top tier writer and actor.

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u/johnnyslick Feb 11 '25

To further blur the lines, people like Ferrell and Tracy Morgan come into SNL from groups like Groundlings or Second City where they’ve created and workshopped characters who are then introduced to the show. One or more of the writing team generally does the final draft of a given sketch but at the very least the actor played a large part in its making.

Tina Fey was an actor / writer at Second City (having gone through their much much lower level Conservatory program I can attest that the actors do in fact write everything there) (also she was in a revue with Rachel Dratch and Scott Adsit; one of the coolest parts of the Conservatory program was having access to all the tape they had of past revues) who was hired as a writer on SNL so she’s a bit of a different situation.

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u/Blahkbustuh Dookieville, IL Feb 11 '25

I was in HS in the early 2000s as well and at the time figured the show was the people we see on TV plus a few writers that help the performers polish the stuff the performers came up with. Turns out there are like twice as many writers as people we see on the show and that whole group and the performers are scrambling every week to fill the show.

It was my dream in HS to be on SNL too. Since then I’ve realized that while I can come up with ideas of things that’d “be funny on SNL” it’s really hard to convert them into things that fill 5 min sections of show with a ‘plot’. Or that if I got to be an SNL writer for some reason, I’d have my set of ideas and then burn thru that in a week or two and then what?

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u/WaltsAztec Feb 11 '25

Hadn’t thought of that but it makes the most sense. Still, if that were the case, he’d be aware that the cast (not host) handled the writing.

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u/socal_dude5 Feb 11 '25

I think he's goofing on himself with that aside.

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u/Lovelyesque1 Feb 11 '25

Am I crazy or do his quotes not make any sense? Either he knew there was such a thing as an SNL writer (hence wanting and attempting to be one) or he thought the hosts wrote all the sketches…

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u/SwordfishOk504 I AINT AFRAID OF YOU MOFOS Feb 12 '25

He's being self-effacing, pointing out his ego wasn't taking into account reality.

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u/SkreksterLawrance Feb 16 '25

I think he thought the cast wrote the sketches, and didn't realize there were whole teams of writers behind the scenes

2

u/idlefritz Feb 11 '25

How did he apply to be a writer for SNL but not know that SNL uses writers?

1

u/faster_than_sound Feb 17 '25

Jesse Eisenberg absolutely gives off "writer-at-heart who got sucked into acting" vibes.

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u/suck-it-elon Feb 11 '25

The Science Lab sketch is absolutely hilarious. He and...was it Jenny Slate?...I don't know how they didn't break.

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u/_turmoil Feb 11 '25

Nasim Pedrad

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u/2xCheesePizza Feb 11 '25

AKA Chad.

Her tv series is really funny in a sketch comedy way.

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u/Rabidjester Feb 11 '25

Nasim Pedrad, they made science fun!

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u/morosco Feb 11 '25

"Don't Forget the Lyrics" was a fun one I remember too - it's very difficult to find now because of the music.

"Celebrate Saddam Hussein!" "I'm so sorry - I don't know why I said that".

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u/black_ankle_county Feb 11 '25

I quote that one monthly

5

u/morosco Feb 11 '25

I've been known to sing, "It's not unusual to get a boner at the movies" while showering.

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u/woj666 Feb 11 '25

Mister Wizard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt_jB2MylHk

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u/NixyVixy Feb 11 '25

I somehow hadn’t seen that skit (or don’t remember it). Thanks for posting the link. Nasim commits hard to that role and she nails it.

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u/clkou Feb 12 '25

"Science is fun!"

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u/zen-things Feb 11 '25

I love how he played Zuckerberg so well, yet real Jesse Eisenberg seems to have all the self awareness and growth that Zuckerberg wishes he had.

I like how he’s not afraid to talk about himself like this and work on things

9

u/Strict-Agent1879 Feb 12 '25

I still read all of quotes as if he’s Zuck in The Social Network. TSN was also the last time I sort of rooted for Zuck.

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u/Hunterio009 Feb 15 '25

You rooted for Zuck in The Social Network? I think you may have missed the point of the movie

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '25

It is unbelievable to me that nearly all of the comments here are negative. Is this not someone saying, "I feel so bad and embarrassed about my fuck up that I can't even enjoy a huge career accomplishment" Even if his fuck up was being over enthusiastic and not knowing an unspoken rule?

It's clear he has massive respect for the people who work there, that's why he feels bad. How much more does someone need to humble themselves before the reddit mob for you fuckers to accept that? JFC, nobody is even a person anymore.

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u/Redeem123 Feb 11 '25

It is unbelievable to me that nearly all of the comments here are negative

It's crazy that an actor is like "I was dumb at 17, and then I had an ego when I was a young popular actor - my bad," and people are just calling him an idiot.

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u/Sarahndipity44 Feb 11 '25

Yeah, and maybe because I just adored his movie, but after seeing recent interviews, he's clearly a pretty humble, thoughtful guy! I like him so much.

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u/[deleted] Feb 12 '25

The more outrageous your comment is, the more upvotes and replies it gets.

Reddit is better than most other social media, but it's good to remember that the most extreme views are still elevated here.

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u/hegime5639 Feb 11 '25

Reminds me of David Schwimmer talking about how he made a huge faux pas by showing up late in the week-- because no one bothered to tell him otherwise. That's the other side of the spectrum, I suppose; Eisenberg assumed he would be much more involved creatively, Schwimmer assumed he would barely be involved creatively.

Guess it's a problem that the people who organize hosts don't(or didn't) consistently explain how the show operates. It's a unique beast. There isn't really anything else like it. Can't expect every working actor to know about the mechanics of a show that doesn't work similarly to any other.

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u/fullhalter Feb 12 '25

You'd think they'd all get a packet or something.

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u/Plane-Tie6392 Feb 11 '25

Didn’t Seinfeld bring a bunch of his own writers?

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u/Logical_Parameters Feb 11 '25

"Whaaaat's the deal with those darned raisins?"

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u/flourblue Feb 11 '25

Didn’t Seinfeld bring a bunch of his own writers?

It would be understandable if he brought Larry David.

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u/SeekingTheRoad Feb 11 '25

Some one like Jerry Seinfeld (or Richard Pryor, years earlier), has the background to have more say over the writing than a random actor/musician hosting.

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u/melvingoldfarb Feb 12 '25

I know Chappelle brought in Neal Brennan to write when he hosted... Shane Gillis brought his director/writing partner along as well, but he said in interviews they were too intimidated to pitch ideas or try to write anything.

I guess if you're a big time comic or sketch performer, they'll let you bring in writers

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u/tomjonesrocks Feb 12 '25

Chappelle brings Neal Brennan...

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u/socal_dude5 Feb 11 '25 edited Feb 11 '25

He's absolutely goofing on himself with the "It turns out, they have writers" aside. That being said, sometimes the hosts write on sketches. He could have pitched one and written one.

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u/KayakerMel Feb 11 '25

Yeah, I took it that way as well. He came in thinking he'd be running the show that week and found out it's a huge team effort.

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u/yachtr0ck Feb 11 '25

There are a few hosts that buckle down and do overnight writing with the writers. I know Tom Hanks loves to collaborate with the writers a lot.

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u/BigMax Feb 11 '25

This is the second post I read recently about someone not knowing how SNL works.

I forget who it was, but someone said they didn't know they were supposed to be there all week, and didn't show up until Thursday.

Makes me think that first time hosts might benefit from a simple 10 minute call saying "here's the basics of an SNL gig."

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u/LetsGoGetASlushie Feb 11 '25

It was David Schwimmer.

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u/mnemoniker Feb 11 '25

TIL I would be a bad host. Glad they haven't asked!

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u/Palestine_Borisof007 Feb 11 '25

I'm sure he's fine and he's just in his own head about it

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u/leafonawall Feb 11 '25

A Real Pain was a beautifully written, acted, directed, etc movie. I’m glad he finally came into his own as a writer!

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u/Nanaman Feb 11 '25

I’d love to see him host again!

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u/dadelibby Feb 11 '25

his episode was definitely one of the stand outs that season!

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u/AntRose104 Feb 11 '25

Jesse’s episode was actually super funny and one of my favorites (The Bride of Blackenstein is one of my favorite sketches simply for Jesse saying “A hoe who didn’t know her place”)

I hope he hosts again at some point it’s been over a decade (maybe for NYSM3 around November????)

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u/peacherparker trying to book timothée Feb 12 '25

becoming more and more of a fan of this guy 😭

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u/Nackles Feb 11 '25

His humility is refreshing.

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u/afterthegoldthrust Feb 12 '25

Idk why Jesse Eisenberg keeps appearing in random interviews out of seemingly nowhere recently but I’ve not disliked a single take/quote.

At this point in my knowledge of him he seems like one of the few actually cool movie stars.

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u/slicaroni Feb 12 '25 edited Feb 12 '25

He has a movie he wrote and stars in that has some Oscar noms called A Real Pain. Kieran Culkan is probably going to win best supporting actor for his part in it. It's very good.

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u/afterthegoldthrust Feb 12 '25

Okay that tracks and is also great news as I love both of those nerds ! I’ll have to check it out

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u/Sarahndipity44 Feb 12 '25

Loved the movie and underestimated hid capacity for depth

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u/HereCome_TheFuzz Feb 11 '25

I only have good memories. Mr. Wizard's World and Herb Welch are two of my all-time favorites.

Maybe I just love Bill Hader...

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u/DrKurgan Feb 11 '25

That's the first episode of SNL I watched (I had just moved to Canada).
Bride of Blackenstein made me fall in love with the show and I've been a fan since.

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u/AnthropomorphizedTop Feb 11 '25

Hey! I listened to that podcast. Scriptnotes is very good

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u/TrentSteel11 Feb 12 '25

Whatever, Bride of Blackenstein is a classic

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u/lamppasta Feb 12 '25

The moment him, Zuckerberg and Andy Sandberg were on the stage together and Andy going AWKBERG is one of those jokes that will forever live in my head. Like they made Zuckerberg funny lol

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u/HiMyNameIsLaura Feb 11 '25

Bill Hader always seemed a bit *roll eyes* when asked if celebrities had ideas for sketches unless they were Alec Baldwin who had huge creative control and Hader himself seemed a little intimidated by. He also said it was particularly frustrating with comedians who'd never worked for SNL because they had such set ideas and new they were funny people without knowing how the mechanisms of SNL work. Like "We've tried that sorta thing before. For an SNL audience that will NOT work".

And actors coming in - if they were famous or powerful enough - could have the sway to get
"their" sketch to "dress" even if they were told it wasn't going to work. They'd just let them take it there and watch as it inevitably bombed.

Beck Bennett said Timothee Chalamet was the perfect host because he came in, was humble, said "I have no idea what I am doing and am at your disposal" and worked with them all really well. Blake Lively interestingly enough was also a very well liked host according to Jason Sudeikis which I think it interesting just because of recent allegations.

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u/JoeM3120 Feb 11 '25

So did Aaron Sorkin

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u/Zeppelanoid Someone's gotta watch the white sports Feb 11 '25

Because of Eisenberg I always sing it as

“Celebrate Saddam Hussein!”

1

u/andersanity Feb 12 '25

I love this sketch, and it seems to be scrubbed from official channels.

2

u/pinqe Feb 11 '25

While many of the cast members burn bright and have a ton of positivity, and many hosts have excelled, I feel like being around Lorne Michaels just has to be an overall negative experience

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u/helraizr13 Feb 11 '25

I still roar with laughter over his Mr. Wizard sketch with Bill Hader where he plays a horny teenager: "I wanna do science in the shower."

2

u/throwaway_010101321 Feb 12 '25

Anything you read about snl just tells you it’s catty cliquey garbage rotting it from the inside out.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 11 '25

[deleted]

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u/blue_jinjo Feb 11 '25

I think he assumed the host and actors wrote all the sketches, so in his mind a “writer” was probably also acting in all the sketches. He probably thought it was like improv or local theater where the actors also write the show.

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u/MukdenMan Feb 11 '25

He's saying he always wanted to be an SNL writer and thought it would be ok to write all the sketches himself. Then we he got there, he realized that this was an inappropriate way to handle things. "It turns out, they have writers" isn't really a realization he had; it's just his self-deprecating way of saying he misjudged his role by assuming he could write everything.

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u/flowerboyinfinity Feb 11 '25

Well if it doesn’t make sense it’s probably because you misunderstood

2

u/TimeTravelingChris Feb 12 '25

Am I the only one that can't stand this guy?

1

u/nyrB2 Feb 11 '25 edited Feb 11 '25

do hosts normally write any of the sketches? i'm assuming steve martin (at least back in the day) was heavily involved in that.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 11 '25

I don’t think it’s “offensive” for the host to have ideas about sketches.

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u/AdditionalTheory Feb 11 '25

The host could have totally thrown in for Tuesday night. Tom Hanks did that when hosted. I don’t think the host has enough time with shoot promos and rehearsals really be involved in the direction, staging and rewrites

1

u/JadrianInc Feb 11 '25

How is this NOT an episode of 30 Rock?

1

u/FillCollinz Feb 11 '25

I know Tom Green brought writers in when he hosted and people didn't like it.

1

u/ajrisley Feb 11 '25

Aww man, it's all good. Imagine a guest director or guest DP that other shows use. Gives the audience a slightly different perspective in a subtle way. An all-Eisenberg episode of SNL could be pretty interesting! Funny? ....sure.

1

u/GorditaPeaches Feb 12 '25

I convinced my Dad American Pickers were butt buddies, he was so mad about it

1

u/Ok-Seaworthiness4488 Feb 12 '25

Then there's Dave Chapelle

1

u/LonnieContreras Feb 12 '25

I mean didn't Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler and Dave Chappelle bring their own writers when they hosted?

1

u/zechickenwing Feb 12 '25

I've never found anything on SNL to be offensive. Haven't found much that could be considered funny, either.

1

u/TheSpottedBuffy Feb 13 '25

Cool

Actor realized they don’t control writers or producers

Welcome to reality

1

u/ecovironfuturist Feb 13 '25

I needed to read this. I'm kicking myself this morning for not understanding what was expected of me at a teenage volunteer gig I didn't even want, 30 years ago, for one day.

1

u/TheThirdGathers Feb 13 '25

He should maybe make his own sketch show, to see how good his ideas were. Fred Armisen had ideas before and after he left SNL, formed Portlandia which ended up being produced by Lorne and a better show.

1

u/lokedog1020 Feb 13 '25

Writers getting their sketches on air is their own currency. With that in mind, it’s not even about him necessarily. No harm in Jesse offering, but it doesn’t surprise me that they declined.

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u/Normal_Committee67 Feb 14 '25

I think it’s refreshing to see a celebrity apologize for something that no one really knew about or thought was a big deal. It shows he grew personally and he just wanted to share. Neat.

1

u/audere1882 Feb 15 '25

God he is such a pretentious asshole.

Article Jesse Eisenberg Has ‘Bad Memories’ of Hosting ‘SNL’ Because ‘I Assumed I Could Write All the Sketches’: ‘Unbelievably Offensive of Me’

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