My SNL Experience

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My first Saturday Night Live experience lasted from Friday, February 23, 2001, to Sunday, February 25, 2001. I went to New York with my father. Even though I didn't get into the dress-rehearsal or the live show, I still waited in the standby line for tickets for seventeen (17) hours, and met the whole cast, except two cast members, and I surprisingly met three (3) other famous stars.

FRIDAY MORNING
We left my house at 9:00 a.m. on Friday morning and arrived in New York City at around 1:00 p.m. We decided to check into our hotel and leave our suitcases and belongings there. After that we decided to go to NBC studios because I wanted to get my picture taken at the NBC Photoshoot, so I could be put on the SNL stage. Well, once we were there, I got my picture, and then my father wanted to take the NBC tour. It was now 3:30 p.m., so, we decided to do that but the only opening that they had left for the tour, was at 4:45 p.m. So, we decided to walk around New York City for about one hour. But first, I wanted to get some SNL appearal. So, we headed down to the NBC store and I bought a black SNL hat, a blue SNL jacket, and a green SNL t-shirt. After that, we left NBC studios and headed out into the streets of New York. However, as soon as we walked in front of NBC, I saw five people already in line, waiting for standby tickets!! The third one in line, was the infamous Louis Klein. Louis has been to almost every live show of Saturday Night Live since the first show on October 11, 1975. So, we decided to put our stuff in the line and then go back to the hotel so I could change into my new SNL clothing and then take the NBC tour.

At around 4:30 p.m., we arrived back at NBC for the tour. The tour started on time and we went to the Dateline studio, the NBC Sports studio, and finally the Saturday Night Live studio. I thought that I would see the cast rehearsing, but the crew was painting the cafeteria set to the Mr. Peepers sketch. About three other men were assembling a bar for the boat sketch. To the far right of the stage, I saw Chris Parnell, who was drinking coffee, speaking with Rachel Dratch. After that studio, we went into another studio but I forgot the name of it. I was too excited because as we were walking down the hallway, I saw Darrell Hammond talking with a crew member. He was no more than ten feet away from me! I yelled out "Darrell!!", but obviously it wasn't loud enough because he ignored me and the crew member tapped him on the arm and pointed toward me. Darrell turned around and said "Oh, hey you guys!!" Then he smiled at me. I was in my glory!! Well, we finished the NBC tour and decided to go back outside and stand in the line. It was now around 5:00 p.m. and the line had already grown to about four more people. As we stood out in the line, Ted Danson from "Cheers" walked out of the NBC lobby and I was standing right next to his limo. He came over to me and I stepped aside and before he got into the limo, he said "Goodnight everyone." He then smiled and got into his limo. He was a really nice guy.

FRIDAY NIGHT/ SATURDAY MORNING
At around 6:30 p.m. my father and I decided to wait inside the NBC lobby. I had a marker and a little note card and I was ready to meet the cast. At around 7:45 p.m. Maya Rudolph came down to the lobby reading her limo ticket. I jumped up and shouted, "Maya! Maya! Can I please get a picture and an autograph?" out of excitement. She smiled at me and said "Sure." My father tapped me on the arm before she came over and quietly asked "Who is she?" I said "Duh! Dad, you know. She does the best Oprah impression!!" Unfortuantely, Maya heard us and said "No, I do not!! But than you that's very sweet." I smiled at her and she gave me her autograph. I then asked her for a picture and she said "Oh, no my hair." Then she laughed and said, "Where do want to take the picture? It can be anywhere in this whole lobby." I didn't know what to say, so I said "Um, I don't care. It's up to you." Then she said, "Well it's your picture. It's up to you." Now, remember, I could barely talk because I was star-struck so I just said, "It doesn't matter." Maya suggested to take it in front of the NBC lobby doors, near the sign that said "West 49th street" so I would know where I was. So, we took the picture, I thanked her and she walked off into her limo.

7:10 rolled around and Rachel Dratch came down with a man behind her who was carrying flowers. I yelled out "Happy Birthday Rachel!" because it was her birthday the day before. She smiled and I asked her for her autograph. She said that she had to make it quick because she didn't want the guy who was holding the flowers, to wait. After she signed, I said "I wrote to the whole SNL cast and you were one of the ones that wrote back to me. Thank you very much." She said "Oh, what's your name?" I told her and she said "I'm sorry, but I don't remember you." I told her goodbye and I figured that I'd get her picture on Sunday morning at 1:00 a.m. after the live show.

At around 7:15 p.m., the two buddies, Horatio Sanz and Jerry Minor walked down together. I walked up to them and asked them for an autograph. They both agreed and Jerry signed the notepad first. Horatio said "Jerry's got the worst signature." to which Jerry replied, "Watch, Horatio will sign his name with an X." I laughed at that, and I told Horatio that his new movie "Tomcats" looks histarical. He smiled at that and all three of us got a picture together.

At about 8:00 p.m., Darrell Hammond came down. I asked him for his autograph and he said "Sure." He gave me his autograph and then he dropped the cover to my marker on the floor. He said "Oh, sorry about that." I told him it was okay and as he walked away, I said to him, "Do mind if we take a picture?" He shook his head and said "Definitely not. Come here." So, I walked over to him, we posed, and my father took the picture. I thanked him and he walked off to his limo.

Now, don't quote me on this, but it was now 11:30 p.m. and Chevy Chase came down. I immediately rushed up to him and asked him for his autograph. He rudely said "What do you do, just sit here and wait for the whole cast to come down?" I said "Um, yeah." I handed him the marker and he said "Take off the cap for me." I took it off and handed him the marker. He gave me his autograph and as he walked away another fan said "Chevy, can I get a picture?" Chevy turned around and said. "You can take a picture of me but I'm not going to take one of you. You can take it of my back because I'll keep on walking away." Then he added, "I'm too old for this." and he left the lobby.

After Chevy, Chris Kattan came down. He chatted with Louis and Jamie, Louis' fiance, and as he started to walk out, I asked him for a picture and an autograph. He said, "Sure." I told him that I wrote to the whole cast and he was the first person to write back to me. He said "Really. That's cool." I thanked him and asked if they were going to be doing a Mango sketch this week and he said "No, because we did it a couple of weeks ago." We both smiled for the picture and my father took it.

At around 12:00 a.m., Chris Parnell came down. He chatted with Louis and Jamie and he smiled at me. I asked him for his autograph and a picture. He agreed to it and then he bid his farewell to everyone inside and walked out. A couple of minutes later he walked back into the lobby, embarrasingly, and said "I went out the wrong door. My limo is on the other side." He pointed towards the other exit and Jamie laughed at that.

At around 12:30, Katie Holmes came down and I promised one of my best friends that I'd get her, Katie's autograph. As Katie walked out, I ran up to her and I said "Katie! My friend is obsessed with you, can you please sign this magazine for her?" She looked at me and said "What's her name?" I told her that her name was Lindsey, and Katie signed it. When she was approached by some of the other fans, Katie's agent said "Guys, I'm sorry but she's had a sixteen hour day. She can't sign anymore autographs." As she walked out, I was so excited because I was the only one who got her autograph.

As we waited in the lobby, 1:00 a.m. rolled around and my father and I decided to get something hot to drink. We went to the nearby deli and when we came back, it was around 2:00. At 2:15 Lorne Michaels came down and I said "Lorne!! Hey, can I get an autograph?" He said "Ahh, if you make it within like five seconds." I said, "Sure." I reached into my pocket, pulled out the marker and pad and he signed his autograph. As he was signing, I said "Can I get a picture?" He nodded and I said "I'm going to work for you someday." He looked at me and smiled and said "That's cool. What's your name?" I told him and he said "Cool." Now, my father was ready to take the picture and Lorne said "OK, here we go!" My father snapped the picture and I thanked Lorne. He smiled at me and I said "See you tonight." He looked as if he had to say something, but he hesitated. Then, he smiled at me and walked out with his assistant. By this time, I was starting to get tired so I walked outside, back to my spot in line and Lorne was standing in the road, waiting for his Mercedes to pick him up. As the Mercedes pulled out in front of the building, Lorne stepped in and as he drove off, he waved to me. This was one of the highlights of my night.

It was 4:00 a.m. now and I was getting anxious to meet Tina Fey because she is my celebrity crush (lol). I love Tina Fey!!! Louis had told me that she usually comes down at around 4:30 a.m. because she and Jimmy edit "Weekend Update". Well, I waited, and waited, and at around 5:00 a.m. I realized that she wasn't going to come down and I'd just have to wait and meet her on Sunday morning.

At 9:05, an NBC paige came out of the building with 180 standby dress rehearsal tickets, and 180 tickets for the live show. My father and I decided to take the dress rehearsal tickets because no standbys have gotten into the live show this whole year. I got ticket number 6 and my father got ticket number 7. There's a picture of my ticket below.

After we got our tickets we decided to go back to the hotel and sleep!! We slept from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

SATURDAY NIGHT
We woke up at around 4:30 p.m. and decided to walk around New York and get some dinner before the show. At 6:00 p.m. we got to NBC and stood in line and waited to get into the dress rehersal show. At 8:00 p.m. an NBC paige came down and said "I'm sorry guys, but we're full. We're all set up stairs. Try again in two weeks." When I heard this, I wasn't that mad, but a little disappointed. We decided to walk around New York and do some shopping.

At 10:30 p.m. we got back to our room at the hotel and I was anxiously waiting until 1:00 a.m. rolled around so I could see the rest of the cast. At 11:00 p.m., NOTHING was on T.V., it was so boring so I decided to commit a crime and watch a little bit of "Mad TV." Or as I call it "Bad TV." Now, they did a presidential skit just like SNL always does and I thought to myself, "Whoever plays George W. Bush on Mad TV has got NOTHING on Will Ferrell. Will does such a better impression!!"

Well, the live show started at 11:30 p.m. and my father and I watched up to Dave Matthews' second song, "The Space Between". We left after that song which was at 12:45 a.m. and walked down to NBC Studios. We got there and at 1:00 a.m., Darrell came down and he recognized me and said "Hey, how ya doing?" as he walked by. I responded "Good thank you. That was a great Clinton impression you did tonight." He smiled and put his head down and walked out.

Following him, Tracy Morgan came down. Some rude person screamed out "Hey black guy!" Tracy looked up and said "That's my man right there!" He has such a good sense of humor. As Tracy walked by I asked him for his autograph and a picture and I received both.

Behind Tracy, was Rachel Dratch. I said "Hey, Rachel! I already got your autograph last night, but can I get a picture now?" She said "Yeah, sure." My father snapped the photo, I thanked Rachel and she left.

At around 1:30 a.m., Maya Rudolph came down and signed autographs. She walked by me and I said "Hey." She started to grab my marker and said, "I got your autograph last night." She looked at me and said "I remember you guys. How are you doing?" She was very nice and we chatted briefly. I asked her if Tina Fey was still upstairs and she said "Yes." I thanked her and she left.

Ana Gasteyer and her husband Charlie came down after Maya and I asked Ana for her autograph and a picture. I told her that she also was one of the cast members to write back to me and she said "You don't know how happy I am to hear that because I'm so far behind on that." She stayed next to me and we chatted, my father told her that we waited in line for 17 hours and she said "Oh, if I saw you guys out there I would have given you my tickets." I smiled at her and said "Thank you. Do you know if Tina Fey is still upstairs?" She responded "Yeah, I think she still is." I thanked her and then she walked out with Charlie.

At around 2:00 a.m., Jimmy Fallon came down. He looked very shy and as he got off the elevator, he took a deep breath. As he approached the line, he started singing "Who Let the Dogs Out". We all laughed at him and he signed autographs and took pictures. As he walked by one girl she grabbed him and kissed him for at least two minutes. She would not let go!! Finally, Jimmy pulled away and I asked him for his autograph and a picture. As he walked away, I said "Excuse me Jimmy, what did you write under your name?" He said "SNL 2001!" I responded "Ohhh, duh!" He laughed at me and I said "By the way, is Tina Fey still up there?" He responded "No, I think she already left." I was a little dissapointed but it was okay.

Jimmy left and at around 2:30 a.m., my father and I headed back to the hotel. That was the best three days in my whole life.

Just to let everyone know, Louis Klien will be getting married in April and he invited the whole cast to his wedding and reception. He also invited me!! So, I will be attending his wedding reception and I will be with the whole cast of SNL. I will also be attending SNL that weekend. Thank you for reading my whole experience and I hope that you enjoyed it.