‘Test Pilots And Heroin Addicts’: Jason Reitman Worked As A Writer On SNL And Tried To Explain What It’s Like

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'Test Pilots And Heroin Addicts': Jason Reitman Worked As A Writer On SNL And Tried To Explain What It's Like

As a die-hard fan of Saturday Night Live (SNL), I can confidently say that if you’ve never experienced the adrenaline rush and the sheer chaos that is SNL, you haven’t truly lived as a comedy enthusiast. It’s like being a test pilot who just discovered the secret ingredient in rocket fuel or a heroin addict who found the vein of pure laughter—it’s intoxicating!

As a gamer, nothing quite compares to the thrill of being part of the team behind Saturday Night Live. Current and past cast members often describe it with a blend of awe and war stories, as if they’ve conquered a formidable challenge together. They’ll casually mention the pressure, the overload, and the occasional demoralization, but they’ll also reminisce about the peak moments as some of their most cherished memories and achievements. It’s a unique narrative compared to how industry insiders talk about other roles, and it took Jason Reitman just a week to understand that.

It was revealed that the director, who received an Oscar nomination for both “Up In The Air” and “Juno,” shared with his agent his childhood dream of writing for a popular show. Consequently, his agent contacted Lorne Michaels, a long-time showrunner, who welcomed him to spend a week as a guest writer. Excited by this opportunity, he threw himself into the task and worked diligently on it. He wrote until late at night, feeling tense during the table read of his sketch and nervously waiting to find out if his work would be included in the show. Looking back on the experience before a screening for his upcoming movie “Saturday Night,” which is based on SNL, he likened it to being a “test pilot” or a “heroin addict.” As shared by Deadline, you can read more of his quote below…

I told (my agent) I had two dreams as a kid. I wanted to direct movies and write for Saturday Night Live. And he actually reached out to Lorne Michaels and said ‘Is there any chance you’d let him guest write for a week?’ And Lorne Michaels said, ‘Sure, he can come to space camp.’ And I did. It was one of the greatest weeks of my life. I got to write a Tuesday night overnight until like 4 in the morning and on Wednesday. I got to hear my sketch read at the table read. And then later on Wednesday, I got to live through that moment, this is real, the head writer comes out of the office and just like a high school play, pins a piece of paper on the wall and that’s how you find out if your sketch made it and is gonna go to Saturday night. And I remember this feeling, this adrenaline of Saturday night, the 90 minutes leading into the episode going live, how extraordinary it felt. It’s like a level of adrenaline usually reserved for like test pilots and heroin addicts.

All those feelings never fully left Reitman, and he spent a long time trying to figure out if he could translate them into a project. He eventually settled on Saturday Night, which chronicles the 90 minutes leading up to the show’s premiere in 1975. By all accounts, the first screening of the movie went very well, and SNL fans are stoked to able to see it when it hits theaters on October 11th.

It’s great news for everyone as SNL won’t keep us waiting much longer! The iconic series will be back for its 50th season on September 28th, and fans are already buzzing with excitement about possible surprises. We know that Maya Rudolph is set to reprise her role as Vice President Kamala Harris in recurring appearances. Moreover, a three-hour special event has been planned for the anniversary in February. While we can’t predict who else might appear or what will happen, the element of surprise is precisely what makes SNL so unique – a sentiment echoed by Reitman himself.

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2024-09-01 19:07