Why SNL writers don't write their sketches when the show is on hiatus

Pajiba

Conan O'Brien and Bowen Yang recently questioned on Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend why Saturday Night Live's writers don't bank sketches during their breaks so that they don't have to go through the insanity of Tuesday-night all-nighters during show weeks. “I was stunned. Why didn’t we sit down and write out fantastic sketches (during breaks) that were silly and evergreen and could air at 12:45 and star anybody and put them in a file? That would have saved me so much anguish and panic,” Conan said on his podcast. “But not only did I not do it, nobody did it.” Yang, who was a writer before joining the SNL cast, responded: “My theory on why people don’t (write) in advance is that I think they need to compartmentalize so aggressively that when it’s a workweek, a show week, I’m writing, writing, writing, but when I’m off, I do not want to think about any sketch comedy.” To which Conan responded: “Maybe that’s it. Or maybe we’re lazy and we don’t think ahead.”