Last year was certainly the year of McKinnon, and this year, Aidy Bryant has certainly taken things to a new level. If you had to place a bet on who will become a Sandler 5 years from now, I'd go with Pete Davidson. He is going to have a long, interesting career. Read more

It went on for about 15 minutes and focused on Bill's present and future with ESPN. I promised to keep what we discussed private, but I was hoping it would have been released. Turns out, Bill Simmons is quite smart when he's talking about Bill Simmons. Read more

Bill Murray is nothing short of a national treasure. When Chevy left, people were talking about the giant hole that he was leaving; Bill came in and filled it immediately. And how many actors can pull off Caddyshack and Lost in Translation? Read more

Andy did do sketches but he clearly loved the digital shorts, and like Akiva and Jorma say in the book, it was a great way to get their ideas front and center without having to pitch them to the room. Read more

One of the constants throughout the eras has been the way the show gets put together. That hasn't changed much; as a result, it's much easier for new writers and cast members to fit into something that's so well-oiled. If they didn't nail down the production elements of the show like they have, total chaos would… Read more

I emptied out my thoughts on Lorne for a Grantland piece late this summer. He is hard to nail down, but I do think that controversy you mention surprised a lot of people at the show. It became much bigger than anyone thought. Read more

SNL has heard since season 2 that it's not as good as it used to be; you have to just stop listening to it. The show's popularity and competence looks like an EKG. There have been great years, average years, and poor years. Just like a sports team, when you lose key players, it takes a while to get back to previous… Read more

For the cast or writers, it's all about the opportunities. Obviously NBC would like to keep them, but there have been times when NBC has passed on a project and its wound up elsewhere. Read more

Not to be boring, but it's probably in the middle. There are some really talented cast members, there's just no alpha like Will Ferrell that holds them all together. Read more

Not sure about open calls, but I do know the show goes to great length to hunt down talent both in front of the camera and for writing. It's not a closed process at all. Read more

Tomato/mozzarella Read more

In every era of the show, there was at least one cast member who surprised in interviews, usually because they were far more serious or intelligent than one may have guessed. In the current cast, I was almost taken aback by Taran Killam's ability to talk for long stretches of time in complete paragraphs without any… Read more

The first draft was almost 40% longer. There was a ton of stuff that was funny or revealing; just can't fit it all in. But I would say, there were more Belushi stories that I wish had been included. Read more

I'm not sure the present gang could all pass drug tests, but it's nothing like it was before, that's for sure. As for thunder, there are bunches of fans out there. It's never 100% Read more

Absolutely not. There were too many of them, from too many eras. Read more