‘SNL’ director Liz Patrick and production designer Keith Raywood discuss ‘SNL50,’ fast-paced production, and the close-knit family behind the scenes.
“The 50th anniversary special—as a fan, growing up watching this show and then getting to direct the 50th is a dream come true and just a huge honor that Lorne put me in this position to do such a thing, says Patrick of directing the special. “I’m in a grateful mood today. I’m just incredibly grateful and to work with so many former cast members that came back for the show and that were part of our sketches and take on just a huge undertaking, it was just so much fun.”
“People don’t get how little time we have to produce a show and that is the challenge,” says Raywood, one of three production designers on the show. “Whether it’s hair, makeup, costumes, or sets, no one says no. We never say no. It’s, what can we do in three days? That’s what I think people don’t realize. We don’t see scripts until Wednesday night. So from Wednesday night, that’s when all those departments start working.”
Patrick and Raywood share their perspectives with Awards Focus on ‘Saturday Night Live’’s 50th anniversary celebration, the weekly chaos of mounting a live show, and the enduring sense of camaraderie that has shaped the show’s culture behind the scenes. From constantly evolving scripts to overnight set builds, they reflect on what it takes to keep a legacy show innovative, responsive, and emotionally resonant five decades in.
As part of its historic 50th season, ‘Saturday Night Live’ marked the milestone with a weekend of celebratory programming in mid-February. The festivities began with ‘SNL50: The Homecoming Concert’ on Friday night at Radio City Music Hall, a one-night-only event featuring live musical performances, comedy appearances, and surprise guests drawn from the show’s legendary alumni. Two days later, the celebration continued with ‘SNL50: The Anniversary Special,’ a live, three-hour primetime broadcast from Studio 8H, bringing together past and present cast members, musical icons, and celebrity hosts to honor five decades of cultural impact and groundbreaking television.
Episodes of ‘SNL’ and ‘SNL50’ anniversary weekend programming are available to stream on Peacock.
It’s so nice to meet you today. How are you doing?
Liz Patrick: Oh, good. So nice chatting with you. Thank you for speaking to both of us. And, Keith, I haven’t seen you in a bit—we’re on summer vacay. It feels like school’s out for summer.
Keith Raywood: It is. By the way, I just saw the London Liz.
Patrick: Oh, yeah?
Raywood: Yes. So, I almost feel like I’ve been with you. (Laughs)
Patrick: There you go, there you go. Sorry, Danielle.
‘SNL’ celebrated 50 years this past season. Does it ever feel surreal to be part of a show that has been on the air for this long?
Raywood: This was my 40th season, actually. Lenny Pickett and I ended with 700—the finale was our 784th show. That’s several people’s careers put together, I think.
The answer to that, I think, is actually no. It’s not surreal, or at least in my definition of what surreal is. It’s just that, in my case, I was so young when I got there. It’s where I’ve spent my entire life, my work life, my adult life. The crazy schedule and our absurd lack of sleep hours and all the things—the way we have to do the show—it all seems quite normal to me.
Patrick: For me, I will say it is surreal. This is my fourth season, Danielle. I feel like every year I learn something new, and every year I get to put a little bit more of me into the work.
In the beginning, it was survival mode. I was capable of doing it all, but the hours are just so long. The amount of work that comes at us is just enormous. I always call it, it’s a show on steroids.
This is something I’ve dreamed of working on. I started my TV career in New York at MTV, and then I left and went out to L.A. and was out there for about 13 years, and then ‘SNL’ called. To get that call to come back to New York, this is the perfect show to do that. I am thrilled to get to work with so many talented people—from Keith Raywood, who’s on the phone with us—I enjoy working with these people and just coming together and creating. It’s been a dream come true and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity.
To me, it still feels surreal at times just to work on such an iconic show that I loved as a kid, grew up with, and loved so many of the people that worked on the show, from the cast to knowing people behind the scenes And now to be a part of it, I feel incredibly grateful, and I’m happy to be there.
When I was watching the 50th Anniversary Special earlier this year, Adam’s Song brought me to tears. How special was it to be a part of the 50th Anniversary Special?
Patrick: The 50th Anniversary Special—as a fan, growing up watching this show and then getting to direct the 50th is a dream come true and just a huge honor that Lorne put me in this position to do such a thing.
I’m in a grateful mood today. I’m just incredibly grateful and to work with so many former cast members that came back for the show and that were part of our sketches and take on just a huge undertaking, it was just so much fun. It was so much work and so hard, but so much fun and joy came out of that.
I feel like every cast member that comes back through those halls and into that studio, they know how hard it is to put that show on. There’s just so much joy, I think, when they come back, and they just have so much fun working with the current cast that’s there.
And then, getting an opportunity to work with them is been a dream come true. It’s been a lot of fun, but it’s just really cool to see them come back. It’s almost like they’re returning to their alma mater and they’ve gone on to do such great things, but this is where they got their start. It’s a really cool thing to be a part of.
Raywood: You realize on a show like that that we’re a family, and everyone feels that way. I just literally, about 15 minutes [ago], got a text from Fred Armisen saying that he was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because he did an event there. The exhibit that I designed there—they opened “The Music of SNL,” they did exhibit there now, which I did.
Fred just reached out, just to say, Hey, I was at the exhibit. It’s amazing, etc. I mean, that’s kind of how we all are with each other. Everyone knows each other, in terms of the cast. We who work there know them from the beginning of their careers. Whenever they come back, they talk to all of us who are behind the scenes, and with each other, like, we’re just extended family. I don’t know that there’s any place like that or has ever been, but it is amazing.
I love when everybody shows up and it’s like, they feel like they’re home.
Patrick: Yeah. I mean, even to your point, Keith, my first year there, Covid was still a thing and it was December 2021 and Tina Fey came in because most of our cast, or I think our entire cast was out and we still did a show. Tina came in and I got to meet Tina backstage and she was like, “Hey, how you doing? I’ve been watching. It’s looking good. You’re surviving” We all know what it takes, but also, to be welcomed to such an iconic show is nice, and like Keith said, TV family and it’s really nice.
Yeah. I remember that episode because wasn’t Paul Rudd supposed to host?
Raywood: Yes. It just suddenly—
Patrick: Snowballed.
Raywood: Everyone was gone. I was the only one in my department who remained. Didn’t Tom Hanks show up and a few guys just to make a show of it?
Patrick: Yeah. I can’t remember if it was Michael Che or Colin that—one of them was there. I think it was Colin. Yeah, we had very slim picking.
Raywood: It’s a perfect definition of the show must go on, no matter what.
Patrick: I was just thinking the same thing. Perfect definition.
Liz, in taking over directing the show from Don Roy King a few years ago, what was the biggest piece of advice that he gave you?
Raywood: Probably don’t let the design department bully you.
Patrick: (Laughs) That might have been one of them. I’m trying to think of any wise words, it’s been a few years now.
I will say when I first started, I got to observe the first two shows, just him directing, and then slowly integrate myself in and do four sketches one week and then start to expand and take on music, Weekend Update, and then some more sketches.
I think the biggest thing that I learned that first year was when to eat and sleep. Because that first week, I literally was like, Don, when do you eat? Don just motored right through and never took a break. I’m like, I’m going to need to eat something and I’m going to need to figure out when I can sleep.
It’s just learning how to apply yourself in a manner that you can manage everything because without sleeping, you’re going to fail.
But it’s just figuring out how to—I guess that wasn’t a great answer, Danielle, but that was my big thing, learning to sleep and eat. And just trust your gut, I think is also one thing Don told me. Trust your gut, enjoy the ride.
I also reached out to Beth McCarthy-Miller, and she was before Don. I had worked with her at MTV. I was one of her PAs before she left. I called her up when I got the job, and I said, “Hey, guess what I did?” She was like, “Buckle in, get ready, and have fun. And you’re gonna get to work with so many great people.” She was right.
What’s the most challenging aspect that comes with being the director of a live show?
Patrick: You have to be ready for anything. You can plan and you can plan and you can plan, but you have to be able to handle change. That is one thing that our show is.
You can take a sketch on Wednesday, and we read through it. The cast will read it and it’ll be one thing, and then as Thursday and Friday comes along, it’s already evolved into something else. We rehearse it on Thursday or Friday. It goes off, and then they go and rewrite it again.
Saturday—I say Saturday morning, but it’s probably around 12:30 or 1 PM, we begin our rehearsals of rehearsing every sketch top to bottom, and again, that sketch has changed. Managing those changes is one of the hardest parts of my job.
After that Saturday morning rehearsal, we do dress rehearsal. Before dress rehearsal, that sketch has evolved again in some capacity. Sometimes they’re minor, sometimes they’re major changes. Between dress and air, again, there are more changes.
Some of those hopefully are just to get things down to time, and it’s not creative things that have changed. But the hardest part of my job is managing the changes and then making sure it makes sense that I’m doing the correct thing. Keith, right? Keith, I now need a staircase.
Raywood: I like when you get—or I need this, can you move that door over to the other side?
Patrick: Yeah, exactly.
Raywood: But I like what you said about instinct or Don saying to you, trust your instincts. Because in every department, that’s exactly what we all have to do because there’s no time to do it or think it any other way. You cannot overthink anything. You have to go with your gut pretty much on everything and it’s all based on the script. It’s all based on writing. That’s where it all begins.
Patrick: Yes.
Raywood: And that writing change—as you said, we meet at 10:30 after the dress rehearsal, literally a 15-20 minute meeting at best. There’s going to be script changes. They may be small, as you said, they may be cut for time. But you, camera-wise, have to make change to those cuts and be ready for them.
Patrick: Right, right.
Raywood: It’s incredible what you have to do, actually.
Patrick: Aw, thank you, Keith.
Raywood: It’s why I always say to you in the hallways—I know it’s become a joke, but I always say, Hey, you’re doing great. It’s this fun thing we have.
Patrick: (Laughs) Sometimes, I need to hear it. Sometimes, it just makes me smile and keep on going.
Keith, in working on the show, what are some of the biggest challenges that come with bringing the show to life week after week from a production design perspective?
Raywood: Well, I think people don’t get how little time we have to produce a show and that is the challenge. Whether it’s hair, makeup, costumes, or sets, no one says no. We never say no. It’s what can we do in three days? That’s what I think people don’t realize.
We don’t see scripts until Wednesday night. So from Wednesday night, that’s when all those departments start working. There’s nothing to do Monday for us. We just have to hit the ground running on Wednesday night.
Production design, that meeting we have in our office with Liz and our writers—they come in, they talk about their sketches before we start drawing up the set. That’s literally the only production meeting any of us have and then we’re off and running.
You have these extraordinary—Jodi’s hair team and Tom’s costumes. Such incredible craft people work on that show with such experience. The only thing that’s the challenge for all these talented people, really, is the time.
Patrick: Yep. The time constraint.
Raywood: I think that’s the best answer I can give you because I don’t think we’ve ever been presented with something, including an exploding whale, which we had to do three times. I’ll never forget that sketch, just because it got us. The liquids reached up into the balconies. It was crazy.
Patrick: Oh my G-d.
Raywood: But we will try anything. We simply will. There is no no.
Patrick: Yeah.
The space that we have to do it in, that’s also the challenge. 8H is not a very big studio, so the choreography of moving scenery during a live show, that’s quite intense. It’s designed to be done that way. I have often been told, the most exciting thing about being in the audience at ‘SNL’ is watching how it moves.
Patrick: Yeah. It’s a show within a show itself.
‘SNL50: The Homecoming Concert’ was a pretty big event in and of itself. Can you talk about the process that went into the production design?
Raywood: I was so grateful that Lorne asked me to do that too, because, and Beth McCarthy-Miller directed it. It was called ‘The Homecoming Concert,’ and in many ways it was, because I designed the VMAs at Radio City, and Beth directed the VMAs at Radio City.
For us, we were like, it really was sort of Homecoming, and how this other part of our career came together to get to do that.
Having worked at Radio City before, I had an idea of how I wanted to do the show. I knew I needed multiple stages and because it was live, the show was going to need the ability to cut from place to place while we reset for another musical act. You had to be able to have everything going at all times. There really was very few commercial breaks for that.
The challenge was keeping it going because it was a three-hour plus show.
Patrick: It was a very impressive show, and you guys did an amazing job, Keith. I didn’t get to see all of it, because I was working on the 50th that we were doing on Sunday.
I was watching a feed from it in the control room most of the time, and I could see it. Beth did an incredible job, and you did an amazing job designing it, and yes, your turnaround to the next thing was just so impressive. Above and beyond sometimes what you see on award shows, but it was just amazing to watch.
I got to walk over for the last hour of it, and it was pretty incredible. And talk about family reunions, you probably ran into everyone you ever worked with there, I’m sure.
Raywood: It was incredible. If you looked into the audience, the most star-studded audience I’ve ever seen anywhere, beyond any award show. Everyone was having such a good time.
What we do is always work, but to be honest, it’s never really work for me. In this particular case, because I’m doing something I love, not just ‘SNL,’ but designing. I’m so grateful to have this extraordinary show that I’ve gotten to work on pretty much, as I said before, my whole professional career.
But that show, for me in particular, was just an absolute joy to work on, because you get to do music, which is one of my favorite things, and design for it, and combine that with this show that I’ve spent my life on as the theme—I was smiling the whole time, and I can’t say I do that every day I walk in day-to-day. It was great. Anyway, that’s it. I’m sorry.
Patrick: This is great.
And then to be designing the concert and the anniversary special, what was that like?
Raywood: Well, we split it up a little bit because Leo Yoshimura and Joe DeTullio, they dealt with the studio show more than I did. I spent my time mostly at Radio City.
Sabrina, who works with me, one of our scenic designers—she was coming over every day to show me what was going on and we were online picking out furniture together and things like that. I was trying to do it at the same time.
The concert was on a Friday. Instead of my usual after a show, I get to go to a party and then go to sleep for a day, I had to go to work on Saturday and pitch in and help with whatever had already been going on.
If I’m not mistaken, I think I had to redo the music set a little bit or something for Paul McCartney. But basically, for me, it was nonstop through to Sunday.
Patrick: Biting into home plate, head first.
Raywood: Yeah, that was quite the weekend, my G-d.
Keith, it’s funny you mentioned Paul McCartney. The first ‘SNL’ episode I ever watched was a Comedy Central rerun of the Alec Baldwin/Paul McCartney episode with The Chris Farley show.
Patrick: Oh, that’s awesome.
Raywood: Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember it well. It’s one of the greatest sketches, too.
Yeah. I mean that was everything I had. It’s been a pleasure chatting with the both of you and there’s another universe where maybe I’d have been on ‘SNL.’ I moved to Chicago for improv and weirdly become a film critic along the way.
Patrick: I love that. Chicago, you were very close to Second City and all of that, but that’s very cool. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. It was an absolute pleasure, and it was nice chatting with you.
Raywood: You too, Liz. And Danielle, thank you so much as well.