'Wasn't That Special' Season 40 Clips Package

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 listening process.

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Here are some of the materials we discuss throughout the Season Forty episode:

WWE Promo Shoot

An all-timer. Bobby Moynihan’s reaction shots make this one of the best sketches of the past 20 years.

Anthony Coleman Takes Another Puppet Class

The first installment of this was so perfect, it seemed like this one would be a waste of time. But they still find new things to do with the concept. And Hader, of course, is phenomenal.

Last Call With Woody Harrelson

Kate McKinnon’s Sheila Sovage is always great, and this one might be at the top of the list.

Grow-a-Guy

Mike O’Brien may have been demoted from the live cast, but he still continued to make interesting short films. This one basically predicted the Black Mirror series.

This Is How I Talk

The show let Louis C.K. get away with things no other host wanted to touch, and it frequently paid off.

How a Bill Does Not Become a Law

SNL typically treated Barack Obama with kid gloves, but here’s an example of when they went after him pretty hard. Conservatives loved this at the time, but probably loved it a bit less when Donald Trump started firing off executive orders at the beginning of his second term.

Whoops! I Married a Lesbian

Another example of cast members and hosts trying to tell us something about their real lives. (See: Elliot Page in Season 33.)

Movie Set

Another great Kenan bit.

Weekend Update: Olya Povlatsky and Jacob

This is around the time SNL began shoving its best content into Weekend Update. Take Kate McKinnon’s old Russian woman:

And Vanessa Bayer as Jacob the Bar Mitzvah boy:

Chocolate Droppa’s Listening Party

Kevin Hart’s hosting gigs weren’t always successful, but at the very end of his episode this year, the show finally found a way to capture his energy:

Why’d You Post That?

Prescient.

The Magician’s Heckler

Graveyard Song

This is 100% a precursor to David S. Pumpkins, who would show up two years later.

The Cat In The Hat and Linda

Follows the same structure as the above Hader puppet sketch, dropping adult themes into children’s programming. An effective contrast piece.

Inside SoCal: Is Art Gangster

For those of you who think we’re too hard on Kyle Mooney on the podcast: Watch this and judge for yourself.

Of course, the biggest news of the season was that it was the show’s 40th anniversary:

While reflecting on the history of the show, Lorne Michaels told reporters who he had regretted not hiring for the show:

Around the same time, The Washington Post reflected on the career of Chevy Chase, a man they deemed “too mean to succeed.”

It was this season that Rolling Stone released their full ranking of the first 145 cast members, the awfulness of which prompted us to start the podcast in the first place.

Former staff member Steven W. Thrasher reminisced about working at the show under head writer Tina Fey.

The New Yorker noted the show’s ratings had dropped to an all-time low.

TIME Magazine dug into how the “Live From New York!” line came to be.

Former writer Adam McKay penned a piece for Rolling Stone explaining what it’s like to be a writer at SNL:

The Los Angeles Times dug back through some of the criticism the show took when it first aired in 1975, including this bit from TIME Magazine:

“Sometimes [Saturday Night] is awful. Comedian Albert Brooks’ taped films were at first a regular feature, but offered only ten minutes of boredom. The Muppets are cloying grotesques. ... SN’s most endearing and human quality is its unevenness.”

Culture writer Sonny Bunch, currently at The Bulwark, wrote a piece for The Washington Post praising SNL for taking on “outrage culture:”

“We risk turning the cultural landscape into a boring, undifferentiated, gray-hued wasteland when we go searching for things to be outraged about. If I have any one wish for the year ahead, it’s that everyone will take a breath before opening a new front in the culture wars. We’ll all be a bit happier as a result.