While they may not be household names like Gilda Radner, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, or Maya Rudolph, odds are if you’re a fan of the early day of SNL, you’ve laughed at their jokes and been entertained by their creative sketches. The early days of SNL, and the first year in particular, featured only three female writers; Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Anne Beatts, and Rosie Shuster. And it’s true, for most those names won’t ring a bell, but they’re largely responsible for making Saturday Night Live the comedy institution it continues to be to this very day, and they’re nothing short of comedy royalty.
As if writing for SNL wasn’t enough to secure her spot as comedy royalty, Miller also wrote for The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the award-winning Lily Tomlin television special, Lily. Among her many SNL contributions, she helped create the Festrunk Brothers (a.k.a. “two wild and crazy guys”) and some of Gilda Radner’s most popular characters. Not to be outdone, Beatts wrote for National Lampoon Magazine in addition to her SNL tenure, which is one of the most respected publications in the world of American comedy. Alongside Shuster, Miller and Beatts helped paved the way for plenty more female writers on the SNL payroll, writers like Tina Fey who would eventually go on to become the show’s first female head writer in 1999, and who is currently one of the biggest names in comedy, male or female.
Looking for some comedic content? Visit our online library at Flyeread for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices.
No comments:
Post a Comment