Since its beginnings in 1975, “Saturday Night Live” has been different. The very fact that it airs late Saturday night, in a sleepy timeslot far from prime time, signals that it’s an endeavor that isn’t afraid to venture out and try new things.
“You talk about taking a risk. They scheduled the show for Saturday night,” says Jeff Shay ’87, MBA’91, professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College. “How much TV is watched on Saturday night? Saturday night is a difficult place to attract spectators.”
This season, SNL’s 50th, marks a milestone for a program that began as a rebellious upstart and over time grew into an institution. As a long-time fan of the show, Shay reflects on what has made SNL such a resilient and successful program that still has a touch of entrepreneurial spirit.
Differentiate yourself from the start
As a new type of television program, SNL was something of a startup. Instead of following the template of Johnny Carson, the legendary one Tonight’s show As a host who held court in the late evening hours Monday through Friday for years, SNL pursued cross-border and topical sketch comedy performed live.
“If they copied Johnny Carson, no one would be watching,” says Shay, who is chairman of the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, the organization that oversees the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. “You did what we teach. You have to be a differentiated product.”
For his very first show, which will be portrayed in a new film, he is now called “ Saturday eveningSNL was hosted by comedian George Carlin. That’s a meaningful decision, says Shay. Instead of choosing a safer or more traditional star, SNL went with a host known for his edgy, anti-censorship humor. “The choice of George Carlin as host signaled that this was going to be different,” says Shay.
Hire talented people
When building a business, entrepreneurs don’t necessarily want to hire people who are extremely experienced or well-known. Instead, they fill their workforce with passionate, hard-working, and talented people who they can develop over time.
That’s exactly the strategy SNL is pursuing. Many, many famous people have been in the cast throughout SNL’s 50 seasons, but they typically weren’t famous before joining the show. They really got their money’s worth as artists on SNL.
“You can’t say they would have had the careers they did without the opportunities SNL gave them,” Shay says. “You wonder where they would be without SNL.”
“You create a culture in which people are passionate about a common goal and are innovative. They push the boundaries and are not afraid to express their opinions and offer new ideas.”
Jeff Shay ’87, MBA’91, professor of entrepreneurship at Babson
Cast members who become famous and successful during their stint on SNL typically move on to other opportunities, meaning the show has to hire more passionate, hard-working, and talented people to replace them. To achieve this, the show follows a different hiring strategy often used by entrepreneurs: it looks for places that have a proven track record of producing good candidates.
For example, when entrepreneurs start a high-tech company, they might look for employees from Silicon Valley or Austin, Texas, while banking startups might look for candidates in New York City or Charlotte. “These different areas make it easier to identify candidates because there is so much specialized talent concentrated in one place,” says Shay. Similarly, SNL turns to certain comedy and improv groups like Chicago’s Second City to find artists who can handle the show’s live-off-the-air spotlight.
Create a comedy incubator
Even though cast members come and go from season to season, SNL has an enduring risk-taking culture that the cast and crew rely on. After each weekly episode, they only have a few days left to come up with new sketches and prepare for the next Saturday’s show.
“You create a culture where people are passionate about a common goal and innovating,” says Shay. “They push the envelope and are not afraid to speak their minds and offer new ideas.”
Shay says SNL is a bit like an entrepreneurial incubator where comedic ideas are developed and tested. “They spread ideas and try to gain support for those ideas so that they will be part of the next show,” he says. “SNL was the ultimate incubator or accelerator environment.”
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