Some of the masterminds behind NBC’s Saturday Night Live Season 51 brought the laughs all the way from Studio 8H to the DGA Theater to break down the process behind keeping the iconic sketch comedy engine running after more than five decades for Deadline Contenders TV.
Repertory player Marcello Hernández and featured player Ashley Padilla had the audience in stitches as they discussed some of their most iconic sketches of the season, including Hernández’s Sebastian Maniscalco impression and Padilla’s mom confessions bit.
Pulling out the Maniscalco impression on stage, Hernández ribbed moderator Peter White, joking: “We got a British guy. He looks at Ashley Padilla and he goes, ‘You’re not bad.’ I mean the blatant disrespect.”
It was, of course, a compliment, after Padilla admitted she’d gone into Season 51 feeling unsure about her comedic chops.
“I was worried,” she said, explaining that since she’d not gotten much screen time during the milestone 50th season, she thought her opportunities might remain scarce again this season.
That couldn’t be further from reality, though, since Padilla has now logged more screen time than any other cast member — featured or repertory — this season. Several of her sketches are among the best of the season, and she’s risen from a supporting member of the SNL cast to one of the show’s most integral players.
“I think I was nervous that I was bad, and I went in feeling just a little like, ‘I hope I get something on’,” she said. “Then that first Bad Bunny episode, I was only in one thing. So I’m sitting in my dressing room like, ‘I hope I’m good.’ Then it kind of worked. Then the next episode I was in a little more…so it gradually started to build. But I was a bit nervous going into the season.”
She continued: “It was a ride, and it just taught me to be patient. It’s going to be what it is, and you can’t force anything. So I kind of sat back and was like, ‘We’ll see what happens, and I’m just gonna write what I think is funny, and hopefully they don’t hate me.’ That really was the method.”
Hernández, on the other hand, says he went into the season just happy to be there.
“I go into every season remembering that I used to sell medicine on the phone,” he said. “So it’s kind of all gravy to me a little bit. I feel lucky. I feel very lucky. My mom is a very scary woman, and she doesn’t let me complain or get nervous or anything like that. So I just kind of take it one day at a time and try to work hard so that I don’t regret [anything] later.”
The two comedians were also joined on stage by SNL director Liz Patrick, who told the audience that coming off the behemoth task of pulling off Season 50, she looked forward to the experimentation that the 51st edition would bring.
“After the 50th anniversary show, I was like, ‘Oh, nothing will ever be that hard again, nothing.’ I think we all walked into 51, or at least I did, just excited and ready to try new things,” she said.
The panel ended as only an SNL panel could, with one last zinger from Hernández. After White, who is also Deadline’s executive editor of TV, singled out Padilla for a compliment, the jokester chimed in: “British guy in cowboy boots. Never seen that before. What, am I being mean? Is it too far?”
Check back Monday for the panel video.
