Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” is a great look at the first year of “Saturday Night Live.” But “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night” is a fascinating dissection of the series’ later years. Instead of chronicling the “eras” (hasn’t that already been done?), the Peacock documentary plucks out concepts and lets you see how the sausage is made.
The first episode, “Five Minutes,” shows what cast members had to do to get on the program. The results are brutal. Director Robert Alexander shows the performers watching their auditions and – like Amy Poehler – even they can’t stand them.
Within those five minutes, however, you can see the germ of something that later blossomed. Characters – something the producers ask auditioners to come with – are embryonic, but recognizable. Kristen Wiig’s Target lady, for example, was something she did years earlier.
Fred Armisen has a joke that would land anywhere. People are also reading..
. Amy Poehler, right, watches her audition for "Saturday Night Live." Peacock And then there’s Donald Glover doing his impersonation of Chris Rock and Stephen Colbert pretending to be a waiter.
Neither made it. While you can feel the tension you can also sense the determination. “It’s a really tough job,” Pete Davidson says.
But, adds Joe Piscopo, “you’ll never talk about anything else for the rest of your life.” Perhaps realizing others have detailed the “early” casts, this doesn’t dwell on anyone pre-1980. It .