This Former 'SNL' Writer Says Adam Sandler Made 'Grimy' Show More 'Fun'

I’m directing the biggest project I’ve ever worked on next month. We’ll be shooting in a big theater in Connecticut for a week, there’s a legitimate budget, and it’s all very exciting. Everyone involved wants it to go well, and part of that will be maintaining the vibes. We need to ensure that everyone feels heard, appreciated, and not too stressed. There will be stress no matter what, but you want to mitigate it as much as possible. So, when hiring crew and actors, we made sure to pick people who are qualified and who we want to hang out with for a week.

Collaboration is essential on a set, and getting along with folks makes that a lot easier. You don’t need someone freaking out about getting things done. Moods are already heightened, everyone will be tense and tired, and the last thing they need is someone emanating stress every time they enter a room. I say that as someone whose work isn’t going up in front of millions of people live on a Saturday night. It’s safe to assume that the stakes there are even higher. Don’t believe me?! Ask gargantuan redhead Conan O’Brien!

O’Brien was a writer on SNL for three years and has been dining out on it ever since! Well, that and his Simpsons gig or his late-night shows or his podcast or whatever. If you ask your average human who Conan O’Brien is, they’ll likely respond, “The former Saturday Night Live writer who popped up in Tom Hanks’ Five Timers sketch?” Well, the former writer recently spoke to Andy Samberg about a song he crafted for SNL’s 50th anniversary. It was about how anxious everyone is who makes the show, something Conan agreed with (while joking that it should remain secret).

“I felt like there was a gun against my head all the time. It’s designed that way,” he explained to Samberg, who recalled hearing that Conan’s era of the show was “a little more competitive and kind of grimy.” O’Brien supported those rumors quickly. “It was definitely that when I was there,” he noted. “And then I have to credit Sandler.” No, not deceased American art critic Irving Sandler, though I can see why your mind would go there. Conan was talking about former SNL star Adam Sandler.

“I don’t know if I have anything this week. It’s late. I don’t think I can write comedy,” Conan recalled. “I was in that state of mind, and I think [Robert] Smigel and [Bob] Odenkirk and Greg Daniels were like, it’s life or death, and it feels like that’s kind of how everyone feels.” But, he found a saving grace in a new cast member. “And then this guy named Adam Sandler showed up one day, and he’s like, ‘Babadoo,’ and he kept talking about, ‘Let’s go get a milkshake.’ And I just thought, ‘What?’ And he was like, ‘This is so much fun to be at SNL. I love it.’ ”

You need that guy around! Someone needs to remind everyone that they’re doing something that’s supposed to be fun. It’s great, even if it doesn’t feel real. “He was really happy. And you’re just like, ‘How is this a possibility? You can like this?’ ” O’Brien told Samberg. Conan went on to do some other stuff (I think), and he clearly brought that mentality with him. Hopefully, the people working for him don’t feel the crushing stress he once did.