It’s one thing to see “Saturday Night Live” being filmed in the neighborhood and quite another to end up being filmed for “Saturday Night Live.” Live from New York, here’s Joshua D. Fischer, who does The Regulars for Bedford + Bowery, on how a coffee at Blind Barber in Williamsburg ended up being his SNL debut.
My friend Sam and I were sitting at a two-top by the window. I noticed a camera across the street behind me. And then in front of me, I realized a dude, who was sitting at the bar with his back facing me, was hiding a tiny GoPro cam on a shelf. That’s when I noticed another dude standing in front of our table and the one next to it. He was kind of eyeing things. So I asked him if he was doing a shoot.
He said he wasn’t because he owned the place, but somebody else was. I’m a nosy reporter, so I ask who’s doing the shoot, and he tells me straight up it’s Saturday Night Live. I’m a fan of the show, always have been, so that’s why I easily recognized Kyle Mooney when he sat at the table next to us and began eating a take-out burger he brought with him. I figured he was having some quick food before the shoot. So I didn’t want to interrupt him. But then Beck Bennett walks in and takes Mooney’s burger from his hand and starts a vocal confrontation.
Me and Sam both play it cool and watch the thing unfold because we both just heard the owner tell us Saturday Night Live was shooting something here. Mooney and Bennett walk out and the writer and director walk in. They both thank us, and then the writer takes a seat next to us. I know he’s the writer, because, again, I’m the type to ask questions. He lets us know that they’re shooting this thing for SNL that’s sorta like that show What Would You Do? or whatever it’s called, and he appreciates us being in it. He says he’ll have us sign release forms and he’ll hook us up with fifty bucks each(!) And then he says they’re going to run it again, and this time could we, well, actually react? (Our bad.)
So they run it again, and we basically don’t react again because it turns out neither of us can take direction. We each got our fifty bucks, and I bought a bag of great coffee beans at the bar. I thought they’d ultimately edit us out if it ever aired. This was a few weeks ago. I was surprised to see they kept our scene. And we both ended up having speaking parts. At the end of our bit, you see me shake their hands and tell them, “Good luck to you guys.” Everybody was super nice.
It’s always been a secret dream of mine to get on Saturday Night Live. Now I can say I actually did it.