Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Growing up in the post-television United States of America, there are only three great milestones in a teenager’s life, says film director Jason Reitman. “There’s an age where you’re allowed to drive, there’s an age where you’re allowed to drink, and there’s an age where you’re allowed to watch Saturday Night Live ,” he says.
The third of those milestones refers to the country’s iconic sketch-comedy series – a patchwork of live set-ups, parodies and Weekend Update newsdesk segments – which has been a cultural monolith in American comedy for almost 50 years. A-list stars host it. And its political satire draws eyeballs from all over the world.
Director Jason Reitman on the set of Saturday Night. Credit: Saturday Night Live has also turned a long list of comedians into stars: Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig , Jimmy Fallon, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Harry Shearer, David Spade, Julia Louis-Dreyfus , Amy Poehler, Chris Rock, Andy Samberg, Molly Shannon and Maya Rudolph among them. “I remember those first few Saturdays that I was allowed to stay up and watch that show, and the thing that struck me the most was, I can’t believe they do this every Saturday,” Reitman says.
“It felt so special. It felt like something that should only happen once a year, like the Super Bowl or the Oscars, and I couldn’t fathom that they .