Tim Meadows: Today's SNL stars are more prepared for the show than ever

The Daily Beast

Meadows, whose 1991-2000 run on Saturday Night Live coincided with starkly different eras, says: "The only difference now, I think, is the people who go to SNL are more prepared for what SNL is and what they do there, whereas when we came to SNL, I had never shot a video short and put it online—because there was no internet. So when (Andy) Sandberg and the Lonely Island guys came to SNL they were already pretty professional in what they were doing, and it’s the same for a lot of those people. Kenan (Thompson) is great—I love him, and he makes me laugh—and one of the reasons why he’s so good is because when he was 12 or 14 he had his own sketch-comedy show, so he’s been very aware of this whole thing. He learned how to play for the camera, play for the audience, and learned what this thing was all about. When I was 12 or 14, I was in junior high watching SNL at home and had no idea what it was all about."