Earlier on Thursday, Rolling Stone published allegations from two current and 14 former employees, including production crew and writers, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation. Rolling Stone claimed they had approached an additional 80 current and former employees, but “not a single one agreed to speak on the record or had positive things to say about working on the Tonight Show”.
According to Rolling Stone’s report, multiple sources alleged Fallon had a history of “outbursts” and lashing out at staff when under pressure; that previous senior staff on the show had bullied and belittled them; and that guests’ dressing rooms were commonly known as “cry rooms”, where employees could go let out their stress.
Nine showrunners have worked on the Tonight Show since Fallon took over from Jay Leno in 2014; a much faster turnover than comparable late night shows like Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
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Even though SNL is built around comedians and comedic actors, it is really all about the writers. Occasionally you get a Farley/Hader/Hartman where they can transcend a skit. But mostly you get folk like Kenan or Sandler who can add flourishes but really need a solid “script” to work off of.
But EVERYONE (… except MAYBE Farley) live off of the writers. People like Tina Fey and, funny enough, Conan who can make those gags t hat stick with you forever.
I am not a fan of Fallon but he has that “empty vessel” vibe to him. Give him a good writing team (… and he’ll be an asshole to them. Err) and he can fill the time in between the press pieces for actors.
Which is more or less what the Leno/Fallon style late night show is. It is a stand up segment that makes you understand why Seinfeld would open with that trash for so many years followed by mostly smiling and nodding as an actor or actress talks about their movie and plays a clip.
Personally? I always preferred the Conan/Ferguson approach. Similar structure but the comedy and riffing continues well into the interview and the actor/actress is expected to join in. Sometimes it is incredibly awkward, sometimes it makes you wonder just how much certain people knew, and sometimes it is a truly spectacular conversation that gets to the heart of the business. But I can also get how a studio might not appreciate the same Mac and Me clip being aired for the hundredth time for the movie they just spent hundreds of millions of dollars on.
And then you have people like Letterman/Colbert/Meyers who are very much in that middle ground to the extent that “everyone likes them”
I don’t disagree with anything you said, at all, but do feel the need to point out during all 3 you mentioned (Farley, Hartman and Hader) all had absolutely crazy good writers on SNL at the time as well, who were exceptional at using the talent offered. I think back to Hader doing Stefon and it was Mulany writing those, and always changing the script to make Hader break. Things like that.
Oh, Hartman and Farley very much had one of the all time great writers rooms. I very much feel that is what Adam Sandler owes his entire career to (he is a shockingly good dramatic actor, but he never would have been given a chance without the comedy background)
Hartman I feel was incredibly good at taking complete nothingburgers of a script and adding mannerisms that could elevate them. And there are some stories of him doing particularly good improv on a few sets. Hader very much “came into his own” after SNL and a lot of his best work was when he IS a writer, but similar deal and he does have some amazing moments on the show.
Farley is the one who I would actually give the nod. Basically every story is about how he would figure out something in wardrobe or do a weird mannerism to elevate everyone around him. And he made some god awful scripts hilarious. He still benefited a LOT from a solid writer’s room but, of basically all of SNL, he is probably the only one that I feel was better when he actively ignored the script.
I came to this conclusion too! always considered Will Farrell to be unfunny.
But I think he has like a “funny aura boost”. Because when he’s in a movie, it feels like the whole staff is having a lot more fun and are looser. And that makes the whole film more enjoyable.