A podcast about Saturday Night Live looks behind the scenes of season 44

SNL fans rejoice! Today, James Andrew Miller, in partnership with Cadence13, released a new chapter of his popularly acclaimed “Origins” podcast titled, “Origins Chapter 4: Saturday Night Live: Behind the Scenes of Season 44.” Golden Globe and EMMY-Award winning actor Alec Baldwin discusses his real feelings on Trump, while producer Lorne Michaels, Weekend Update co-anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost, along with Kenan Thompson and others talk about the challenges they face putting together shows each week in the Trump-Era. In episode one of the three-episode chapter, listeners will hear about the future of Baldwin’s Trump in the new SNL season ahead which begins on September 29th.

Additional SNL interviewees in this chapter include: Chris Redd, Aidy Bryant, Heidi Gardner, Melissa Villasenor, and show producer, Lindsay Shocks. Below are some highlights from this week’s discussion, and more information to help with your coverage needs.

Highlights:

• Lorne Michaels on Trump making a return to next season of SNL:
  • James Andrew Miller: “…how do you go about the calculus of deciding whether Alec is coming back and how much to do?”
  • Lorne Michaels: “I think with Alec, I’ve known him and worked with him for so long, that needless to say I trust him. And the audience connects to him in that role. Sometimes I feel like we are still in campaign mode. But, I thought – we see each other a fair amount, so we don’t much talk about it in the offseason. And then, I think – he was at the US Open last week, and somebody asked him if he was doing Trump. And he said, ‘yea.’ And his agent Matt DelPiano texted me and said, ‘I think he’s doing Trump.’ And I went oh, ok. But, he is somebody you know you can always count on.”
  • James Andrew Miller: “Right, so it could be a game time decision.”
  • Lorne Michaels: “Oh, I think he’ll be back. I think there is probably no other actor who is looking to take that and follow Alec. And I think, for a new cast member to come in and try that would be a really tough thing to do.”
• Alex Baldwin on Trump: “Trump is insane. I think most people know, the guy – he is insane. We have a man who is president who is insane.” Clearly not being shy, “You can’t go far enough with this idiot. You can’t go far enough. You can’t go far enough.”
• Colin Jost & Michael Che on SNL keeping up in the Trump-Era:
  • Colin Jost: “It’s certainly the craziest political time I’ve been alive for so the show is going to reflect that in some way -- the nuance of how often we’ll see Trump, or how that impression evolves, or how the rating for Trump evolves. That’s going to be again that’s constantly happening week-to-week but there’s not like a one or two or a five-year plan for it. There’s just a “We’ll see what happens.” Because we’re now -- I don’t know what -- three weeks away from the premiere of the show and between now then, so much could change. There could be a Mueller investigation revelation in between those three weeks. You don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s almost, you learn over time. Sometimes you want to plan ahead when you have moments of “I really want to have a grander scheme in place here” and it always gets undone because something comes up and then something changes with Trump, or with America, and attitude shifts. You can never really get ahead of it. You have to wait and you have to be reactive.’”
  • Michael Che: No Trump, less Trump—I don’t know. Like when it’s right, it’s right. The funny thing is there is a Trump exhaustion in the country and I feel like from the show even, you know. But it’s hard to leave him out of the conversation. I always feel like the one good thing about Saturday Night Live, is it’s always been kind of the time capsule of you know, American culture since it’s been on the air and it’s kind of hard to tell the story of American culture without talking about Donald Trump at least once a week. I mean, we talk about him 40 times a day, just in life, so you know, we’re a show where we have a different type of responsibility. We don’t really just do 90 minutes of avant garde comedy but, I don’t know—it would be hard. We’d miss him I think.”

ABOUT ORIGINS

With wit, intensity, and wily irreverence, “Origins, with James Andrew Miller” takes its audience on a narrative journey marked by unpredictable moments, pivotal junctures, and strokes of luck that turn great ideas into fresh, dynamic realities. Spanning the worlds of television, motion pictures, sports, music, social media and beyond, Miller’s iconic guests share the real story behind some of the world’s most celebrated successes – from daringly brave beginnings to adventurous journeys that followed.

ABOUT JAMES ANDREW MILLER

James Andrew Miller is an award-winning journalist and co-author of the national #1 NYT bestseller “Those Guys Have All the Fun”, “Inside the World of ESPN”, and “Live From New York, An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live”, which was on the NYT list for 5 months and was named by Fortune as one of the top 75 “Smartest Books We Know.” His latest book, “Powerhouse, The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency,” also a New York Times bestseller, was called “astonishing,” by James B. Stewart. Miller’s first book, “Running In Place: Inside the Senate”, was also a bestseller. Miller has written for The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and is a frequent contributor to The Hollywood Reporter. He received his bachelor’s degree from Occidental College, and holds graduate degrees from Oxford University and Harvard Business School, all with honors.

ABOUT CADENCE13

Cadence13 is a leader in premium, on-demand audio entertainment. Our critically-acclaimed shows and personalities reflect the diverse conversations and interests happening in world today. Cadence13 shows are led by a collection of voices that matter, including Sophia Amoruso, Nick Bilton, Flula Borg, Rachel Brathen, David Dobrik, Jon Favreau, Hannah Hart, Andrew Jenks, Peter Kafka, Peter King, Ezra Klein, Brian Koppelman, Tony Kornheiser, Payne Lindsey, Jon Lovett, CJ McCollum, James Andrew Miller, Jim Norton, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Peck, Zac Stuart-Pontier, Paul Rabil, Rhett and Link, Michael Sheehan, Sherrod Small, Marc Smerling, Kara Swisher, Tommy Vietor, Adrian Wojnarowski and many more. These groundbreaking influencers and thought leaders cover business, sports, tech, politics, entertainment, news, culture and much more. Cadence13’s programming partners include Action Network, Blumhouse TV, Complex, Crooked Media, Entertainment Weekly, Girlboss Media, goop, Granity, Mythical Entertainment, People, Recode, Seven Bucks Productions, Sports Illustrated, theSkimm, Tenderfoot TV, Time Inc., UFC, UTA, Vanity Fair, The Verge, Vox Media, Yahoo Sports, and Yoga Girl, among others. The company is headquartered in New York, with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco.