In February 2020, just before the pandemic lockdown, a comedian reflects on becoming a New Yorker. Shortly after his birthday, as COVID-19 struck, he found himself confined to his studio apartment and faced with the uncertainty of returning to work on SNL. The show transitioned to at-home episodes, challenging the cast to create sketches remotely without traditional support systems, such as writing meetings and table reads. This experience highlighted their creativity and adaptability during a time of crisis, transforming the way they approached comedy production.
After my birthday dinner, thrown by Heidi Gardner and attended by other SNL-ers, I was walking back to my studio apartment in Midtown, and as I got closer to my place, I looked up and saw the New Yorker sign in red lights shining in the city skyline.
For anyone who knows New York City geography, it's not the most ideal place to be on a regular day, let alone during the height of a pandemic.
We figured out rather quickly that at-home episodes were exactly what they sounded like. They wouldn't be live episodes but we'd be shooting sketches on our personal electronic devices and directed via Zoom.
Neither I, nor my castmates, really understood what this meant or how it would look, but we rose to the occasion.
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