Live From New York - James H. Miller [233]
Colin Quinn’s reign as “Update” anchor was relatively short-lived. When the show returned for a new season in the fall of 2000, head writer Tina Fey and cast member Jimmy Fallon took over “Update” and made it a showpiece again. It’s no longer a parody of a newscast; now it’s just a sexy pair of smart alecks sitting around and making fun of the world. One critic, leveling presumably the ultimate compliment, said that when at their most “ruthless,” Fey and Fallon “summon up the finest spirit of Belushi — the anarchic, savage Belushi, the one we all want to remember most fondly in our dreams.” Of course, Belushi was never an “Update” anchor, though he did appear occasionally with one of his commentaries, pieces that started out on a calm and reasoned note and rapidly degenerated into hilarious tirades — ending with Belushi twirling himself off his chair and vanishing behind the “Update” desk.
RALPH NADER, Host:
In general, on the weekly news “Update” they bat about .275. More than one of four is really good. But there is some redeeming value to it. When the realistic freedom of dialogue and public discourse is restricted in any society, the quality of satire increases. That’s why the best satire in the world in the latter half of the twentieth century was in the Soviet Union, like Krokodil magazine. Our satire couldn’t come close to the satire in the Soviet bloc countries, because it was the only way they could get anything across.
We’re moving into that arena now, only it isn’t the government that’s doing it. It’s the censorship of the monetized moguls who run the communications industry and the television-radio industry. I think over time, there’ve been a lot of stupid and gross things on Saturday Night Live, but it does get across some current events with its skits and its “Weekend Update.” That is just a reflection of the decay of our culture. When the culture decays and the communications media decay, then something as weak as a .275 hitter on Saturday Night Live shines.
TINA FEY, Writer, Cast Member:
I came here as a writer. I didn’t expect to be on-camera, but I had been performing at Second City doing eight shows a week and I was auditioning for other stuff outside as an actor. I never booked commercials and I never got two lines on Early Edition — nothing. So I was kind of at a crossroads and thought, “Well, maybe I should just be a writer.” I applied for this job as a writer and kind of left it open that if I got the job, that would sort of decide for me what I was going to do for the next stretch of time. After a year or two, I did start to miss performing, so I did a two-woman show with Rachel Dratch in Chicago one summer, and then we did it in New York all of last summer, and also I improvised all the time with the Upright Citizens Brigade down on Twenty-second Street. So we did our show, and I think Lorne came and saw the show last summer. Colin had said he was leaving early in the summer, and then Lorne came and saw the show, and it was Lorne’s idea for me and Jimmy to test together to do “Update.”
JIMMY FALLON, Cast Member:
Originally I didn’t even want to do “Update.” Honestly, when they asked me if I wanted to do it, I had no idea about the news or anything. I don’t read. I read USA Today; that’s the only thing I read, because it’s got colored pictures and stuff. Now I find out the news through setups we do for jokes.
I said “Update” wasn’t my bag and didn’t want to do it at all. And then Lorne kind of talked me into it. And I said, “The only way I’m going to do it is to do it with two people, because I don’t want it to be The Jimmy Fallon Thing.” So we look at the auditions — because a lot of the cast auditioned to be “Update” host — and Tina Fey’s was awesome. It was great. They were going to hire some other dude, but she was just so cute and so awesome, it was unbelievable.