What he thinks of the current (2014) cast of Saturday Night Live

They're good. I don't know them as well as I knew the previous one. But i really feel like the previous cast, that was the best group since the original group. They were my favorite group. Some really talented people that were all comedians of some kind or another. You think about Dana Carvey, Will, Hartman, all these wonderful funny guys. But the last group with Kristen Wiig and those characters, they were a bunch of actors and their stuff was just different. It's all about the writing, the writing is such a challenge and you are trying to write backwards to fit 90 minutes between dress rehearsal and the airing. And sometimes the writers don't get the whole thing figured out, it's not like ...

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A great talent. We used to call him 'the glue' because he kept all the sketches together. I think about him often. So many fav sketches with him. Tarzan, Tonto and Frankenstein...Mace...The olympian weight lifter...I'm sure I'm forgetting tons..
It was the first sketch I ever did. I got confused with stage direction, and literally did not know what color I was on the cue cards, so I just froze! Hey people, it's live TV, and the experience has made me a better performer. AND took away the fear of being in sketches!
Oh... My favorite memory is Gilda eating EVERY KNOWN candy you could buy in a candy store - she LOVED that. And she also, I have to say, was a great, great physical comedian. one of the funniest things i ever saw was a scene with her and Belushi, they had known each other before at Second City, and in this particular sketch, he's directing her and a man in a movie, and something goes wrong with the man, his lines or something, John would yell "CUT!" and he'd go talk to the guy, but if anything went wrong with Gilda, he'd slap her as hard as he could, and she'd go plunging to the wall, and she'd make it look like she was hit with a brick...She was SO good at making you believe in Gilda, as a...
The smartest SNL cast member was Adam Sandler, by far. People are going to know this - when I got hired, Adam was hired as a writer, he wasn't even hired as a cast member. And he was smart enough to write stuff for other people AND write stuff for himself at the same time. Made himself indispensable. Made himself into a star. Smartest guy I know.
He returned to host the show when I was a cast member. And I did a character that pinched girls's asses, and said "YOU LOVE IT." And he's a great fan of it and thought it was going to be a huge character. And then it didn't get past dress rehearsal. And he said, "That's showbiz."
Not being good at getting sketches didn't mean I was all of sudden a horrible stand up. My confidence was never broken. I immediately started writing at 30 rock right after SNL. Smooth transition.
The first time I heard "Pornstars!" It was the Jonah Hill episode. "One time I thought I banged Seal Team Six... but it was actually just sixteen seals. I was like, 'Thanks, America!'" I remember I made them keep that joke in there!
It's my favorite moment of the week. It's the one time I can stand in the studio and look around and think how grateful I am to work at SNL. This was one of my favorite performances of all time. And it was the first time Rihanna played this song anywhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-dW7z0QBNg

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he really hasn't changed much. he was quite evolved for a 25 year-old. He was already a very cool filmmaker and I'm very happy that he's be able to scratch that itch after all these years.
Fucking awesome. He is one of my best friends and the weird part is: We are very similar, and one of the things I admire most about him is how caring, kind, and nice he is. He really is one of the best guys I know, and would lay down on the tracks for any friend of his. I also think he is one of the few geniuses working today. He is one of the best writers, I am one of the worst, so I think we enjoy the difference in one another while still finding the other very very funny. He also accepts my lunacy, understands my madness and gives me room to do all five.
I was just on twitter talking about Roseanne because she gave mea first job, and I thought of her and Chappelle who I have both worked with, and who have both been called "Difficult" or "crazy." And that word crazy when it's applied to an entertainer can torpedo their career. One time I was on a show, and I wanted to get Burt Reynolds to play my father, and the director said "You don't want Burt Reynolds, he's crazy." I said "I don't want you to be my director. I want Burt Reynolds." So crazy just means creative. And difficult just means hardworking, and opinionated. And Roseanne was a victim to this specifically because she was a woman, which is very sad. But that's all I was saying.
I like him. I'm not sure he likes me. I think he is a genius, a gentleman, and a true absurdist. Now I respect Andy Kaufman, and there are parts of his philosophy that I even follow, but as a comedian, I didn't find him funny and found some of his stuff just self indulgent. Comedy is ultimately about the audience, not the comedian. So that is a very staunch stance to take, and one that probably makes me not as popular with certain comedians and them with me.
The smartest SNL cast member was Adam Sandler, by far. People are going to know this - when I got hired, Adam was hired as a writer, he wasn't even hired as a cast member. And he was smart enough to write stuff for other people AND write stuff for himself at the same time. Made himself indispensable. Made himself into a star. Smartest guy I know.
On the other hand, if you have someone like Bill Hicks who's just this fraud that screams at the top of his lungs and tells you that multi-national oil companies are not a good thing, then that will attract a wide, wide audience of half-smart college kids.