Kyle Mooney revealed just how “intense” it is to work at Saturday Night Live in a new episode of the Fly on the Wall podcast with alums Dana Carvey and David Spade—so much so that writers, crew, and cast both past and present may be suffering from “PTSD,” he said Wednesday.
Mooney, who worked on SNL from 2013 to 2022 and was promoting his directorial debut Y2K, explained that despite the great opportunities and exposure that come from being a cast member, there’s a big drawback—besides the allegedly tiny paychecks.
“I’m pretty sure [it’s] Erik Kenward who said this at some point, he’s like, ‘In whatever, 20, 30, 40 years, there might be some sort of study about PTSD associated with people who worked at that show.’” Kenward, an SNL writer and producer, has been at the show since 2001.
“It’s such an intense onslaught and like—it’s definitely not good for you,” Mooney continued, “There’s no way it is.”
His time on the show included some of the most hectic years in American life and politics, which contributed to its intensity. “I was there during a pretty intense, long strung out news cycle,” he explained, “I was there [for] Obama, Trump, COVID. I guess Biden [qualifies as a stressor].”
In 2017, Mooney told The Daily Beast that he found it “frustrating” to have his sketches cut from the show—especially at the last minute. “But I also know how the show works and that a lot of the show is dictated by how the dress rehearsal audience responds to the material,” he added at the time.
And though he acknowledged on Fly on The Wall that being on the show “teaches you” and gives you “this massive platform,” still, he said, “it’s an unhealthy place to be.”
Carvey and Spade agreed, with Carvey offering his own take on the pressure: “Being unprepared and going on live” was rough during his time on the show too. “Seeing the writers trying to fit the puzzle and you go, and your friends see it or family members and critique it. It’s just different than anything else,” he said. Mooney responded that despite the prolonged and heightened stress, working at SNL showed him more of what he was capable of.
“Prior to working there, I would make stuff or write stuff when I was inspired, and that could take a couple months,” he explained. But on SNL, “You’re in a situation where you have to come up with something every week to have a chance to be on TV essentially. And for me it was surprising that I found out that I could write something that I was okay with each week. Not that it necessarily ended up on the show or that it was brilliant, but at least something I was like, this is decent enough.”
He added, “For me, that was one of the most profound things that I took from it.”
