SNL Behind the Scenes Stories and Secrets From Tina Fey, Amy Poehler

God love her, Cheri Oteri actually hosted housefuls on show weekends. "People would come up from Jersey or Philly and stay with me," she explained. "If I had a good show, I'd be so excited, but if I had a bad show, I couldn't let it go. I'd walk them up to the flea market on 76th Street, then I'd say I had to go to the bathroom, go back to my place, and just lay there."

Leslie Jones is serious about her role as Weekend Update's relationship expert. "I talk about stuff that's real," she said. "It's not completely men's fault—I think that women can be crazy—but the more successful a woman gets, the more single she gets. I'm 47. If I haven't found a guy by now, f— em. I want to tell women to get their asses off the couch and stop imagining that a prince is going to come save you. Make yourself happy."

The rise of online viewing is official: Even Tina Fey watches that way. "Because I have young children, I usually see the show the next day, and mostly in terms of what goes viral," she told me.

The SNL alum Taran Killam looks up to most is Curtin. "When I got on SNL I was already in a relationship with a child, like Jane was, so she was a role model for me in terms of how to exist on the show," Killam said. "She was such a committed, consistent performer who was then able to go home and separate her personal life from work."

Back in the 70s, religion was too touchy to joke about. Laraine Newman described to me a scene the writers couldn't get on the air: "We did a sketch called Jesus' High School Reunion.' It had lines like, God it's good to see you!' and Christ, you look good!' Nope. Gone."