In a recent episode of “Saturday Night Live,” host Pete Davidson received an unexpected visit from a comedy legend. In the skit, Jimmy Fallon asks Pete what it’s like covering the White House. Pete replies, “It’s like doing standup comedy for the president.” Jimmy continues, “Doing comedy for the commander in chief must be a big responsibility. What is your relationship like with the president?” Pete responds, “Well, I don’t think we’ve ever met.” Jimmy laughs and says, “But you’ve written him a lot of comedy, haven’t you?” Pete nods and adds, “He’s been very supportive of my comedy.”
This exchange made me think: If you want to write comedy for “Saturday Night Live,” how can you get started? How can you become a contributing writer for one of America’s most prestigious comedy institutions?
I’ve been writing comedy for “SNL” since 2010 and have watched countless aspiring writers come and go. Many of them had dreams of being on the show, but none of them were given the opportunity. As the saying goes, “No one can tell you how to write comedy.” But here are a few tips to get you started.
Look For Areas Of Weakness
If you want to write comedy for “SNL,” then first and foremost you need to identify your areas of weakness. Do you lack self-awareness? Are you easily distracted? Are you too verbose? These are all questions you need to ask yourself before starting any writing project.
Your strengths are what you’re going to use to your advantage. The more you know about yourself, the better you’ll be able to find your areas of strength and leverage them.
Try Your Hand At One-Person Vignettes
The best way to learn how to write comedy for “SNL” is by writing one-person vignettes. A one-person vignette is a short story or comic scene that usually features just one character. It can be played by an actor or a stand-up comedian. The character’s motivation, reactions, and dialogue are all on you. There’s no script. You just have to come up with all of that on your own.
Writing a one-person vignette can be a very cathartic experience. It allows you to explore different aspects of yourself and your personality. Sometimes I’ll write a scene where I imagine the character’s point of view. Other times I’ll focus on the dialogue and what my character would say in that situation. It’s all about how you use the material and how you find your voice.
Look For Inspiration In Strange Places
Comedians and writers draw their inspiration from all sorts of places. Sometimes it comes from childhood, like in the case of Woody Allen. Sometimes it comes from a tragic event, like in the case of George Carlin. Sometimes it comes from a place far away, like in the case of Richard Pryor. So you never know where your inspiration may come from.
During one of my early years in New York City, I used to do a lot of comedy writing for “Saturday Night Live.” A regular assignment would give me a week to write a short story featuring just one character. One day, as I was driving home in my car, I found myself thinking about my assignment. While I was driving, I wrote the first few lines of a funny scene. When I got home, I turned on my computer and typed in the first few lines of the scene, then I stopped. I didn’t want to write the rest of the scene because it was already there. So I did something I rarely do – I deleted it.
This experience taught me something. If I was going to write comedy for “SNL,” then it needed to be fresh material. If I was going to steal someone’s idea, then it better be a good one. That piece of material that you wrote on the side is, in all likelihood, mediocre at best. But that’s your fault. You should have stolen something amazing. If you’re ever going to steal someone’s idea, then make sure that it’s something amazing.
Get Feedback
There’s no question that humor is subjective. So even though you may believe that what you wrote is hilarious, someone else may not. That’s why it’s important to get feedback. You can get this feedback in a variety of ways. One way is to read your work aloud to a room full of people. Another way is to record yourself reading your work and then play it back to yourself. Finally, you could ask trusted friends or colleagues to give you honest feedback.
If you want to write for “SNL,” then the best thing you can do for yourself is to prove that what you have written is, in fact, hilarious. The next step is to continue writing funny stuff and submitting it to “SNL.” The more you write, the more you’ll become familiar with your voice and the better you’ll be able to describe yourself at the end of the day.