The 'Saturday Night Live' Documentary Is Good

'SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night' on Peacock is a dadumentary series about our favorite comedy institution that drives us insane

My favorite name to say in Don Pardo voice is “NASIM PEDRAD.” Peacock

At the very start of every Saturday Night Live cold open, just for a second, you can always hear a little bit of laughter. It starts mid-laugh and has faded away by the time the sketch starts. I always wondered what that was. I learned from the new SNL documentary series SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night that it’s the studio audience reacting to the stage managers yelling “five seconds!” to air in a funny, faux-panicked voice. These documentaries are full of these kinds of small, revelatory details about everything going on off-camera. If, like me, you’re fascinated by the behind-the-scenes lore of how SNL gets made, you’ll love watching this series, which is now streaming on Peacock.

Each of the series’ four entries is about a different aspect of SNL. The first, “Five Minutes,’” is about the audition process, and features cast members reminiscing about their auditions and watching their audition footage for the first time. The second, “Written By: A Week Inside the SNL Writers Room,” embeds with the show’s writers from Monday to Saturday, giving a start-to-finish look at the making of an episode. Episode 3, “More Cowbell,” is an in-depth breakdown of the GOAT sketch. And the final installment, “The Weird Year,” is a look back at Season 11 in 1985-86, a pivotal year in SNL history. The episodes are all standalone little movies in their own right, with different directors and different styles. Jason Zeldes’ “The Weird Year” is framed as a Twilight Zone episode, with Kevin Nealon as host.

My favorite episode is Marshall Curry’s one about the writers, for its unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the making of an episode. It’s one thing to hear or read about how difficult and chaotic making the show is (SNL superfans will find they know a lot of this stuff already), but it’s another thing to actually see it. To see the stress on the writers’ faces while they wait to see if their sketch survives the literal 11th hour cut from dress rehearsal to air, and the joy and relief or disappointment when the news is handed down. You’ll feel what it feels like to make SNL, and you’ll come away with an even deeper respect for what they pull off every week.

This isn’t a picture of it, but the catering they have at the table read is impressive. Peacock

There are so many different stories executive producer Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom) and his team could have chosen, and it’s fascinating that these are the four they landed on. If anything, you’ll wish there were a few more episodes. The series could support documentaries on musical guests and the extraordinary craftspeople who build sets and design costumes and make something out of nothing in even less time than the writers. I would love to watch profiles of Akira Yoshimura, the iconically bespectacled production designer who’s been there since the very beginning, and Louie Zakarian, the makeup designer with a big personality and a vast archive of props. I would also watch a documentary on Lorne Michaels, who does not sit for interviews in any of these docs, but I’ll have to be content with the book about him that was just excerpted in The New Yorker. The only other TV producer working today with any mystique is, that’s right, Taylor Sheridan. To be clear, I’m not comparing them on anything other than I’m fascinated by how they do what they do.

I’m enjoying all this SNL ancillary material celebrating the 50th anniversary. I haven’t seen the movie Saturday Night and I probably won’t, but I’m looking forward to the 50th anniversary special next month. I’ll have my own contributions on TV Guide in the next few weeks.

We all have our own relationship to SNL. I was introduced to it via my friend Jay’s “best of” DVDs on Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, and Mike Myers. I remember watching Kenan’s first episode the night of my 14th birthday party. I have complained about how bad the political comedy is the entire time I’ve watched it, but I’ve learned to appreciate Colin Jost and Michael Che. My dad went to a dress rehearsal in the ‘70s. Chevy Chase was there, but he doesn’t remember who hosted. I’ve never been to an SNL taping. My dad is cooler than me.