Wasn't That Special: 50 Years of SNL

15/08/2024

The Season 28 Bonus Materials post is now up for our Executive Producer subscribers! Stop by and see a free preview of every episode from the season here:

As the Wasn’t That Special co-hosts watch each season of Saturday Night Live, they compare notes on each episode, chatting back and forth about both popular and long-forgotten sketches.

05/08/2024

The Season 28 episode of WTS is now up and ready for your listening pleasure. With Will Ferrell gone, how does the show make up for his absence? Find out here:

In Season 27, Saturday Night Live viewers occasionally got a glimpse of what the show would look like when one of its all-time great cast members bolted.

04/08/2024

The Season 27 Clips Package is now up for our Executive Producer subscribers! Have a look at a free preview here:

As always, for those who have signed up for the podcast at the Executive Producer level, we send out notable video and newspaper clips that aided us in preparing for the episode.

24/07/2024

The Season 27 Bonus Materials post is now UP for our Executive Producer subscribers. It's Will Ferrell's final season on the show, so get in on the action now! Free preview here:

As the Wasn’t That Special co-hosts watch each season of Saturday Night Live, they compare notes on each episode, chatting back and forth about both popular and long-forgotten sketches. Some of the topics they discuss make it to the final podcast; others are left on the cutting-room floor.

15/07/2024

The Season 27 (2001-02) episode is now up! Will Ferrell exits, Amy Poehler joins the cast, and Tina Fey brings Weekend Update roaring back. Listen to it all here:

When Will Ferrell joined Saturday Night Live in 1995, the show was on the ropes. Adam Sandler and Chris Farley had been fired and SNL was on the brink of cancelation. But then Lorne Michaels brought on Ferrell and fellow Los Angeles-based Groundlings Cheri Oteri and Chris Kattan and suddenly the sho...

11/07/2024

The Season 26 Clips Package is now UP for our Executive Producer subscribers! Take a look at a sneak preview here:

As always, for those who have signed up for the podcast at the Executive Producer level, we send out notable video and newspaper clips that aided us in preparing for the episode. Below are some of the Saturday Night Live sketches and media clips we reference throughout the episode, to enhance the li...

09/07/2024

The Season 26 Bonus Materials post is now UP for our Executive Producer subscribers! Come have a look at this free preview:

As the Wasn’t That Special co-hosts watch each season of Saturday Night Live, they compare notes on each episode, chatting back and forth about both popular and long-forgotten sketches. Some of the topics they discuss make it to the final podcast; others are left on the cutting-room floor.

25/06/2024

Wondering what the best episodes from the first 25 seasons of are? We have you covered with this free post that sums up all of our grades from the show's first quarter-century. Plus, season rankings!

Now that we are halfway through our quest to watch all 50 seasons of Saturday Night Live, it’s time to pause and look back at what we’ve found. As you may have heard us discuss on the podcast, we watch every episode, grading every sketch and Weekend Update installment. We then tally up all the n...

24/06/2024

If you are afflicted with a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell, the Season 25 Bonus Materials post is now UP. Come check out a free preview here:

As the Wasn’t That Special co-hosts watch each season of Saturday Night Live, they compare notes on each episode, chatting back and forth about both popular and long-forgotten sketches. Some of the topics they discuss make it to the final podcast; others are left on the cutting-room floor.

20/06/2024

We have a new FREE episode up, where we recap the 25th Anniversary Special and pick our favorite sketches and episodes from the previous decade. Listen for free here:

When Saturday Night Live celebrated its 15th anniversary in 1989, it was the first time the show could stop, take a breath, and brag about its accomplishments. After the fifth season, it looked as if the show was headed for certain cancelation. After the tenth season,

16/06/2024

The Season 24 Bonus Clips post is now up for our Executive Producer subscribers. Come see what all the fuss is about:

As always, for those who have signed up for the podcast at the Executive Producer level, we send out notable video and newspaper clips that aided us in preparing for the episode. Below are some of the Saturday Night Live sketches and media clips we reference throughout the episode, to enhance the li...

15/06/2024

The Season 24 Bonus Notes page is now up! See all of our notes that didn't make the podcast, from every episode of the season. Free preview here:

As the Wasn’t That Special co-hosts watch each season of Saturday Night Live, they compare notes on each episode, chatting back and forth about both popular and long-forgotten sketches. Some of the topics they discuss make it to the final podcast; others are left on the cutting-room floor.

03/06/2024

The Season 24 episode of Wasn't That Special is now up! This season on SNL, Monica Lewinsky shows she's a good sport and America learns to love Schweddy Balls. Listen to a free sample here:

There are celebrity cameos on Saturday Night Live, and then there is the cameo that occurred on the show on May 8 of 1999, which may have been the most surprising of all. When a dark-haired woman appeared in the middle of a sketch about Bill Clinton’s activities after he left the White House, the ...

21/05/2024

Was Norm Macdonald fired from Weekend Update primarily for making O.J. Simpson jokes? We addressed the question and many more Norm-related matters on the new episode of
Wasn't That Special: 50 Years of SNL -->

20/05/2024

The Season 23 episode is now up! Lot going on this season, including Farley coming back to host, the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal breaking, and Will Ferrell finally taking the reins. Listen to a free preview here:

Saturday Night Live has always been dependent in some ways on the cultural and political events surrounding the show, but never was that more true than in Season 23. Midway through the season, the show roared to life with news that President Bill Clinton had engaged in an affair with White House int...

20/05/2024

The Season 22 Bonus Materials post is now UP for our Executive Producer-level subscribers. Check out a free preview here:

As the Wasn’t That Special co-hosts watch each season of Saturday Night Live, they compare notes on each episode, chatting back and forth about both popular and long-forgotten sketches. Some of the topics they discuss make it to the final podcast; others are left on the cutting-room floor.

10/05/2024

The Season 21 clips package post is now up for our executive producer subscribers! Check out a free preview here:

As always, for those who have signed up for the podcast at the Executive Producer level, we send out notable video and newspaper clips that aided us in preparing for the episode. Below are some of the Saturday Night Live sketches and media clips we reference throughout the episode, to enhance the li...

06/05/2024

The Season 22 episode is now UP! On screen, the show played it safe, relying heavily on recurring characters and former cast members as hosts. But behind the scenes, plenty of drama was brewing:

Do you like recurring characters on Saturday Night Live? Do you like seeing those characters over and over again, episode after episode? Then SNL Season 22 is for you, my friend. If Season 21 was a return to many of the traditional devices that made SNL work in past years (recurring characters, cele...

26/04/2024

The Season 21 Bonus Materials post is now up! When everyone counted the show out, it was rehabilitated by a young L.A.-based comedian named Will Ferrell. Read all about our journey through the season here:

As the Wasn’t That Special co-hosts watch each season of Saturday Night Live, they compare notes on each episode, chatting back and forth about both popular and long-forgotten sketches. Some of the topics they discuss make it to the final podcast; others are left on the cutting-room floor.

24/04/2024

Our Executive Producers always have access to this content, but Season 20 is free-for-all! Take a look at the clips from S20 and some of what was written about the show at the time.

As always, for those who have signed up for the podcast at the Executive Producer level, we send out notable video and newspaper clips that aided us in preparing for the episode. Below are some of the Saturday Night Live sketches and media clips we reference throughout the episode, to enhance the li...

22/04/2024

The Season 21 episode of Wasn't That Special is now UP! After the debacle from the previous two seasons, it seemed like the show was cooked. Enter an unknown L.A.-based comedian named...Will Ferrell.

After the disastrous Season 20, there is no way Saturday Night Live could return to its former glory, is there? Is there? As it turns out, there was a way. The show’s regeneration was found in a group of former Groundlings, most notably an unknown Irvine, California-based comedian named John Willi...

19/04/2024

The Season 20 bonus materials post is now UP! This is typically just sent to all out of high-level subscribers, but everyone gets to read this one for free. (Too bad the season couldn't be better.)

As the Wasn’t That Special co-hosts watch each season of Saturday Night Live, they compare notes on each episode, chatting back and forth about both popular and long-forgotten sketches. Some of the topics they discuss make it to the final podcast; others are left on the cutting-room floor.

08/04/2024

Free episode alert! In this week's podcast, we discuss the travesty that was Season 20 (1994-95): What went wrong both on screen and behind the scenes. This one is full of piping hot takes, so listen here:

Remember Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s? Chris Farley! Adam Sandler! David Spade! How could it miss? Well, Season 20 is how it could miss. Beset by competing personal agendas, terrible press, and a plagiarism scandal, the show was ripped apart in 1994 and 1995, with all the behind-the-scenes...

25/03/2024

The Season 19 episode of Wasn't That Special is now UP! Look, we can't sugarcoat it - losing Dana Carvey and Robert Smigel makes for a...uh..."challenging" season, but we pick through the rubble and find the best stuff for you:

For the intro to the Season Nineteen episode of Wasn’t That Special, we turn to a famous video of former Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi: Indeed, Coach Lombardi. What the hell is going on at SNL? For one, we know what isn’t going on. Dana Carvey left the show midway through last seas...

21/03/2024

Be forewarned: If you don't read the Season Eighteen Bonus Materials post you will soon be residing in a van down by the river. See a free sneak preview here:

As the Wasn’t That Special co-hosts watch each season of Saturday Night Live, they compare notes on each episode, chatting back and forth about both popular and long-forgotten sketches. Some of the topics they discuss make it to the final podcast; others are left on the cutting-room floor.

15/03/2024

It took a little extra time, but the Season 17 clips package is now UP for our Executive Producer-level subscribers. See a preview here!

As always, for those who have signed up for the podcast at the Executive Producer level, we send out notable video and newspaper clips that aided us in preparing for the episode. Below are some of the Saturday Night Live sketches and media clips we reference throughout the episode, to enhance the li...

11/03/2024

The Season 18 episode of WTS is now UP! We cover Chris Farley's rehab stints, Sinead O'Connor's picture-tearing habits, and Dana Carvey's exit from the show. It's all here!

During Season 18 of Saturday Night Live, it is clear the classic run that began in Season 12 with the likes of Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, and others is gone. Halfway through the season, Carvey departs, leaving only Myers, Hartman, and Kevin Nealon from the late-1980’s ...

04/03/2024

The Season Seventeen Bonus Materials post is now UP for our Executive Producer subscribers! Free preview here:

Editor’s note: Sorry for the late delivery of this one - we were busy interviewing Victoria Jackson. … As the Wasn’t That Special co-hosts watch each season of Saturday Night Live, they compare notes on each episode, chatting back and forth about both popular and long-forgotten sketches. Some ...

01/03/2024

On a new surprise podcast, we interview former SNL cast member Victoria Jackson, and she spills the tea on a lot of the behind-the-scenes drama on the show during her six-year tenure. Watch the full interview here and subscribe at wasntthatspecial.com https://youtu.be/lDALHgaxcbk

Former Saturday Night Live cast member joins Christian Schneider and Scot Bertram on the "Wasn't That Special" podcast.

27/02/2024

It was incredible to see in real time the way Saturday Night Live treated George H.W. Bush in Season 17. In the span of three weeks, he went from unbeatable incumbent causing Democrat opponents to cower in fear to a sure loser weighed down by a disastrous economy. We talked about it on the new episode. Link below -->