This Is Exactly the Kind of Thing They Should Have Featured on ‘SNL Backstage’

A few weeks ago we griped that the recent prime-time special Saturday Night Live Backstage was thoroughly underwhelming, in large part because it recycled previously seen interviews and failed to deliver any new insight into what goes on behind the scenes.  What kind of stuff you ask?  Stuff like this:

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Wouldn’t had it been great if they talked about Galifianakis’ last hosting stint, when he shaved his beard late in the show, only to don a fake beard for the goodbyes?  Or just gave us an-depth look at your run-of-the-mill costume change.  How do they change clothes so quickly?  How do they adhere the wigs?  Do they get notes about the upcoming sketch?  Do they ever change the order of the sketches mid-show?  Wouldn’t have those all been fascinating parts of the show to learn about?  Instead we heard again what a genius Will Ferrell is (which he is, but still).

Or, take for example, the Titanic sketch that closed out Galifianakis’ show.  This sketch seemed to require an immense amount of tech and an elaborate middle-of-the-ocean set, especially for a two and a half-minute sketch at 12:55am (and, indeed, it seemed to suffer a misstep towards the end).  We would have loved to see the frantic scramble to get this kind of sketch safely to air (and to see the reaction when it doesn’t go off exactly as planned).

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So hopefully they’ll heed our advice and showcase all of this in the eventual sequel, SNL: Behind the Comedy.