From Stage to Screen for “SNL50”: How Production Designers & the Editing Team Shaped 5 Decades of Comedy
As the longest-running sketch comedy show in US television history, Saturday Night Live has not only shaped generations of comedians and cultural commentary, but it’s also become an institution for live performance. Some of its most iconic moments are when cast members can’t help but laugh themselves. But behind the humor is a bustling backdrop of production design, costumes, hair, makeup, lighting, and camera work that makes the magic happen.
For SNL50: The Anniversary Special, Studio 8H turned into a living museum of sketch comedy, where its director, Liz Patrick, helmed a love letter to live television with the help of a cast and crew to make it all possible. Every beat was choreographed, every set was imagined to its full potential, and every sketch was fine-tuned for maximum entertainment.
Below, production designer Leo Yoshimura, speaking on behalf of his team, and the entire editing team, made up of film unit editors Ryan Spears, Paul Del Gesso, Christopher Salerno, and editors Daniel Garcia, Sean McIlraith, and Ryan McIlraith, relive the historic episode and share how they recreated and shaped five decades of comedy, celebrity, and musical performances into one epic live event.
The production design team: Akira “Leo” Yoshimura, production designer, N. Joseph DeTullio, production designer; Patrick Lynch, art director; Melissa Shakun, art director; Charlotte Hayes Harrison, art director; Sabrina Lederer, set decorator.
How did the team start planning for the episode?
As best as I can remember, Joe DeTullio and I started work on the 50th anniversary special in June 2024. The 49th season had just ended, and we both felt that the summer would be a good time to work on some visual ideas for the show. I think, as we discussed, the show became clearer to me that ‘simpler was best’ and what the audience would immediately recognize as Saturday Night Live was more important than historically acknowledging 50 years of scenery.
How did you decide on a visual theme for the special?
We had to add 150 more seats to our Studio 8H, which can accommodate 325 for an evening performance. Early in July, Joe and I decided to use the signature look of New York’s Grand Central Station. This had been our signature look for many years, and we realized that an audience would remember “where they were” and “what show they were watching” if we used New York’s Grand Central Station as a visual anchor.
Were there any sets you wish you could have seen again for SNL50?
In retrospect, I wish that we could have recreated two sets: the very first SNL sketch, The Wolverines, two walls with painted wallpaper, two chairs, and an old, worn rug. And one other, our first home base, a basement club in New York. All the rough brick textures, the rickety wooden stairs, and a meaningful collage of antique artifacts. And the real brick homebase platform that was positioned in the center of our studio, with an artist studio skylight above it.
What moment from the episode stood out for you?
We first learned about the musical guests before the comedy sketches. I loved the idea of Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter. Old and young. Simply done on our homebase. This was a tribute to our show, a moment of great television. ‘Homeward Bound” was their song.
Editing SNL50
How did you approach editing the archival footage to create the Physical Comedy tribute?
Editing team: The 50th Anniversary and, in particular, the Physical Comedy tribute was the culmination of not only SNL’s storied history, but it also brought together so many of those who have worked on the show both in front and behind the camera over the years.
Our post supervisor, Matt Yonks, made sure all of the episodes were digitized and at the ready, and then our post coordinator, Rachel LaBianca, with the help of assistant editor Katie Higgins, started digging through the seasons and stringing out the footage by category and cast member. From there, it became a workflow of passing pieces between editors, each one focused on a different aspect or section, then bringing it all together to make this piece.
We knew the final video probably couldn’t be much longer than four minutes, so the cut started out very long and over the days leading up to the show, we whittled it down to its final form. It was overseen by Oz Rodriguez, who served as the show’s creative director, and he was instrumental in curating the final clips, features, and putting us all to work on different aspects of the piece.
Chevy Chase and Chris Farley set the tone for physical comedy at SNL. Did the team feel it had to jump off with Chase?
The opening section with Chevy Chase was really the only possible way to start this piece. An original cast member, the first breakout star from the show, and arguably the person most known for their physicality, we felt proud that this pre-tape was the moment in the anniversary special to give him his flowers. Ryan Spears found that Cold Open from the first season, where Chevy tells Lorne he’s not going to do a fall, which was the perfect setup to ignite this high-energy edit.
Do you have a favorite moment from the clip?
The moment that is definitely our favorite, though, is the section with Molly Shannon. Watching all of the Mary Gallagher sketches from her tenure, she is literally tossing herself full blast into metal fold-up chairs, through walls, and onto tables. She is a force of nature, and while audiences typically associate SNL’s physical comedy with Chevy Chase, Chris Farley, or John Belushi, we wanted to remind audiences of one of the greatest ever to do it. She went through a lot of pain to earn your laughs!
Check out clips of SNL50 online.
Featured image: SNL50: THE ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL — Pictured: (left) Steve Martin during the monologue on February 16, 2025 — (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC)
