SNL is well into its 49th season, and so far it’s off to a great start with hosts like Dakota Johnson and Timothée Chalamet. The show has an exciting upcoming slate of hosts as well, including Sydney Sweeney, who is promoting her new horror flick Immaculate. The process of creating an episode of Saturday Night Live is famously strenuous, with last minute changes, a time crunch on writing, and the many moving parts that go into making the sketches come alive. The NBC mainstay recently shared some photos from this week’s table read, as well as a BTS pic of Sweeney gearing up for her big hosting debut.
The big night is getting closer, meaning Sweeney is in the thick of preparing for her SNL hosting duties. When a celebrity hosts Saturday Night Live, it’s a week-long commitment. On Mondays, the host listens to some of the pitches from the writers and cast, and on Tuesdays, the writers spend the whole night crafting sketches to be read at the table read on Wednesday. You can see a photo from Instagram of Sydney Sweeney at the table reading below:
NBC posted some cute photos of the current cast of SNL from the table read as well. The first was of Ego Nwodim and Molly Kearney showing each other some love.
The next also featured Nwodim, alongside fellow cast members Marcello Hernandez and Bowen Yang.
Another photo also showed Kearney next to Andrew Dismukes at the read-through table, gearing up for the long day ahead of them:
The last photo also shows cast members Sarah Squirm and Devon Walker at the table. It seems like the cast enjoys some goodies as they start reading through the potential sketches for the week.
The read-through is one of the most essential parts of the SNL week. The cast and host go over a number of sketches that the writers prepared all day and night. They see which ones get the biggest laughs and will likely work the best in the live show. After the read-through, the host (in this case Sydney Sweeney), head writers Michael Che and Colin Jost, as well as showrunner Lorne Michaels, all get together and decide which sketches will be developed further for dress rehearsal.
Even though the cast looks happy and excited in these photos, some were likely up all night writing in preparation for the table read. In addition, the read-through is a high pressure environment for both the writers and the cast, who hope that their sketches will be picked. Sometimes their longevity as cast members is determined by the amount of sketches they get on air, so much of their fate is decided during the read.
While high pressure, this doesn’t mean the read-through isn’t a lot of fun. These are professional comedy writers, and everybody is there to laugh and assemble the best show possible. The host also gets to see what the writers have been hard at work on, and see which ones appeal to their own creative tastes. With enough luck, a sketch may end up being considered one of the best SNL sketches ever. Hosting SNL is sometimes a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the read-through is just the beginning of the fun.
You can see Sydney Sweeney warding off stage fright to host SNL this Saturday, March 2 starting at 11:30pm on NBC. Fans can also check out previous episodes of the iconic sketch show by streaming full episodes now with a Peacock Premium subscription.