![]() ![]() Image Credit: Alan Singer/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty But she's gained a whole new resonance in the age of the social-media overshare. Roseanne was always a divisive gal - for some fans, she was an early example of an SNL character who got recycled way too many times. It was so thrilling to hear people laugh.Gilda Radner's immortal frizzy-haired wiseass, snapping her gum and discussing boogers, warts and nose hair, while Jane Curtin squirms in disgust. And there was such a release from the audience. So Will Ferrell did a sketch where he wore an American flag Speedo to work, and it was just him bending down and picking things up, and shoving his crotch in people’s faces. At the time everybody was showing up to their offices wearing, like, flag shirts. I remember the second show of that season. So figuring out the comedy in all that was a struggle. These weren’t, like, jokey Nixon bad guys. All of a sudden you had these new bad guys like Osama bin Laden. It was hard to do political satire it was hard to make fun of the president. Poehler: Looking back, the tricky part was in the months to follow. Mayor, come with me.” And he took him into his office and told him to lie down. He was sitting in the front row, and the priest came over and said, “Mr. The mayor told me later that he went to a memorial service at a church that morning. I remember I was in a booth with the mayor, and it was four or five in the morning before we started leaving. Michaels: Afterward, we all went to a party, and it was the first time anybody had been out. To be starting on a weekly comedy show at a time when everybody was declaring that we would never laugh again was very strange. But it was a show, and it did go 90 minutes.Īmy Poehler, cast member: It was my first week. Jimmy Fallon was the big star, and I had to do the required making–out–with–Jimmy Fallon skit. I did one skit where I was Britney Spears and Amy was the snake wrangler. ![]() Witherspoon: We didn’t do a lot of political satire. And so the only note I gave him was, “You have to just make eye contact with me.” And he did it great, and then we went into “Live from New York.” I knew that joke would work, but Rudy, sometimes before he tells a joke he starts to smile. He was the voice of the city, and he needed to give us permission. And I did a joke with the mayor where I ask, “Can we be funny?” And then he says, “Why start now?” Which is for me the ice-breaking moment. You know, they moved among us, but they were still down there … I had been agonizing about how to open. When they came to the studio, there was a thousand-yard stare. And then we had the police chief, the fire chief, and a lot of guys from the Port Authority, none of whom had been away from ground zero. Michaels: Mayor Giuliani had done the show several times. I think he also thought it was funny to have this tiny young blonde girl tell a joke whose punch line is “fuck.” He said, “I really want you to say ‘fuck’ or something.” Because what happened to our country was profane, and he felt it deserved profanity. Lorne said it was really important that I curse in the opening monologue. ![]() There’s such an importance in what we do.” It was a huge career lesson. Lorne brought me into his office, and he was like, “People have to laugh. But I think it’s going to make all the difference in the world.” And I was like, “Okay, I’m going to do this.” The city was so quiet it was eerie. I remember Lorne called and said, “Look, I understand if you don’t want to come. We didn’t know if there were going to be more attacks or chemical warfare. Reese Witherspoon, host: My main concern was going to New York with an 18-month-old. Letterman had come back, but his was conversation. I just didn’t know how to hit the right note. Lorne Michaels, executive producer: I was determined to do a show. ![]()
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