What would you buy with your first big paycheck? Several former and current Saturday Night Live cast members, including Pete Davidson, Jason Sudeikis, Bowen Yang, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, revealed what they purchased after their first SNL paycheck for a recent New York Magazine Instagram video series — which you can watch below — promoting their special “Reasons to Love New York” issue. Naturally, the comedians’ candid answers were served up with lots of humor.
Davidson, who starred on the late night variety series from 2014 to 2022, played the frustratingly nonplussed character Chad, and made several memorable appearances as himself on “Weekend Update,” had the most revealing reply. “Do you guys know what they pay us?” he said. “It’s like three grand an episode, so I think I got dinner!”
Some Cast Members Kept Things Practical, While Others Splurged
James Austin Johnson, whose uncanny Trump impression kept him busy on SNL throughout the election (and will likely keep him busy for the next four years), stated, “We bought the most uncomfortable West Elm couch of all time. I swear to God, it’s like it’s made of bricks.”
Johnson wasn’t the only one to buy furniture with his hard-earned money. Cheri Oteri, a cast member from 1995 to 2000, also bought a couch — though she’s a much bigger fan of the piece than Johnson is of his. “I have gotten it reupholstered three or four times,” Oteri said. “I remember a designer coming over in tears, and he goes, ‘Oh, those arms are too high. We’re going to get rid of that couch.’ I said, ‘Oh no. No, you’re not. Not today, Satan! The couch is staying, you’re going.'”
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Other cast members revealed similarly practical purchases. Sarah Sherman, the mind behind several hilariously gory digital shorts, picked up “a nice mattress,” while Seth Meyers, who now hosts his own talk show Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC, said he went to a Crate & Barrel and bought “a really big couch,” before heading off to Best Buy for a “really big TV.”
Some did splurge a little with their first paychecks. Sarah Silverman, who appeared on SNL during its 1993-1994 season, bought a $300 cashmere sweater, while Seinfeld and Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who spent three years on the sketch comedy show in the early ’80s, purchased a pair of shoes that were outside her budget at the time. Bowen Yang also treated himself to shoes — Gucci to be exact. “The kind everyone got,” Yang states, “and the kind I wouldn’t feel super cool wearing out now.”
Rachel Dratch and Jason Sudeikis had the most honest answers, however: they paid their rent. “I mean you don’t really make enough money to make big purchases,” Sudekeis said. “So, I think New York rent was probably the biggest purchase I made after writing on SNL the first year.”
Saturday Night Live is currently airing its 50th season, with Paul Mescal, Chris Rock, and Martin Short rounding out hosting duties for the remainder of the year.
The longest-running sketch-comedy/satire show on television, premiering in 1975, Saturday Night Live is a weekly series that features new hosts for each episode, with a core cast of actors and comedians that rotate over time. Episodes feature several skits that are sometimes ad-libbed on the fly, with the hosts engaging in most of them, and also provide musical guest performances that cap off each night.
- Release Date
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October 11, 1975
- Cast
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Leslie Jones
, Aidy Bryant
, Kyle Mooney
, Alex Moffat
, Kate McKinnon
, Beck Bennett
, Kenan Thompson
, Colin Jost
, Mikey Day
, Cecily Strong
, Michael Che
, Pete Davidson
, Melissa Villaseñor - Seasons
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50
- Franchise
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snl
- Story By
-
Colin Jost
- Network
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NBC