Word: snl
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...seemed to doubt that the world would come around to seeing it his way. He got his big break on Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s as part of anew generation of comics that included Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider. They gave a creative jolt to SNL, but the baby-boomer executives at NBC were mystified by Sandler's humor. Michaels says, "The idea that somebody was trying to make people laugh and it wasn't for them or it wasn't aimed at them--that was a big revelation...
...SNL's hectic weekly schedule and live format have kept its cast and crew in a state of barely controlled mania since the first show in 1975. The pressure-cooker atmosphere helps explain why Dan Aykroyd ended up sleeping with producer Lorne Michaels' wife, not to mention with Gilda Radner, who developed an eating disorder, and Laraine Newman, who was snorting heroin. It led to Julia Sweeney and Dana Carvey weeping in their dressing rooms, and Chris Farley running around naked and defecating out of a 17th-story window. Not to mention Bill Murray and Chevy Chase throwing punches moments...
...trashy worst, this is good gossip. At its best, Live from New York is a frank, perceptive group biography of smart, ultra-verbal people loving and hating one another under intense pressure. Ralph Nader, who once hosted the show, chalks up SNL's success to the decline of civilization: "When the culture decays and the communications media decay," he remarks, "then something as weak as ... Saturday Night Live shines." Live from New York shines as well, and perhaps that's cultural decay too. But maybe it's because what happens on Saturday night is never half as interesting...
...equally passionate in their anti-Reno sentiments, except possibly the one with a sign that says, "Honk if you like cookies." "I've hated her ever since the Elian case," says Moffat, who skateboarded here. "But I think it's good she can poke fun at herself. The SNL thing was hilarious." Dancing, especially really bad dancing, really does bring the world together...
...have large gaps in their musical education, but they're fluent in American pop culture. Kids in Sweden learn English starting in the third grade, but the Almqvist brothers got a head start from Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Saturday Night Live reruns, which aired incessantly on Swedish television. SNL turned out to be a major influence. "They had both music and smart comedy," says Nicholaus. "And sometimes smart comedy is the best way to have a reference point about what's going on in real life...