I did standby for ‘Saturday Night Live’: Here’s how it went

Seeing “Saturday Night Live” live in the studio has been a dream of mine since I was 14 years old. However, it isn’t exactly easy to do.

There are a few ways to be in the studio for the taping of the show, including the lottery and the standby process. At 10 a.m., the Thursday before the show, an online form opens to request standby numbers for both dress rehearsal and the live taping that weekend. The available spots fill up within seconds, so getting through this first step successfully is difficult.

If you’re lucky enough to get through the form, you’ll receive standby numbers through email at some point that day that reflect where you’ll be placed in the standby line Friday night.

This past weekend, I got the numbers 35 and 36 for the live show with host Jon Hamm and musical guest Lizzo. More often than not, they let the first 50-80 into the show, but that isn’t always the case, so there’s no guarantee for entry regardless of what number you end up with.

Since I knew my numbers gave me a really strong chance of getting into the taping, I booked a flight to New York.

Getting numbers isn’t the final step to the process, though. For the lucky few to actually get a numbered reservation, the next step is to wait outside for five hours on Friday night. This past weekend, it was raining — a lot.

My friend and I met at Rockefeller Center around 6:30 p.m. on Friday night, grabbed a slice of pizza and some coffee and made our way to the 49th street marquee to check in for the standby line.

We brought blankets and chairs with us, which made the cold weather more tolerable, and set up our little area in line. We also befriended the people next to us.

After about an hour, NBC pages came around with chicken noodle soup for those of us waiting in line. A few hours later, we went inside to warm up and walk around Rockefeller Center.

Finally, at midnight, the pages came around and passed out our standby cards, which would act as our “tickets” for the following night if they had space for us. While we started with 35 and 36, so many people didn’t show up that my friend and I ended the night with numbers 10 and 11 for the live show.

On Saturday night, my friend and I met in Rockefeller Center about an hour before we had to check in for the show. We checked in right outside of the NBC shop just before 9:45 p.m., and they lined us up in groups of 10 according to our reservation number. They took the first group through security, which was very similar to what you go through at the airport, and we waited on the staircase. Eventually, my friend, who was number 11, joined me on the staircase.

We waited outside the studio for a while until all regular admission seats were filled, and they eventually came out and handed out wristbands to as many people as they were able to admit.

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I got a wristband.

Around 11:05 p.m., my friend and I were seated in the studio. There was absolutely no cell phone use allowed, so as soon as we were past the lobby, our phones needed to be powered off and put away.

Not long before the show started, Michael Che, host of Weekend Update, came out and gave a speech, which was followed by Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Chloe Fineman and Kenan Thompson performing a musical number to get the audience excited for the show.

They then set up for the cold open, and the show began. Seeing everything in the studio was incredible — Kieran Culkin made a cameo in the monologue, so we got to see him right before he entered. We also got to see Lorne Michaels, the executive producer, walk around the studio all night. Adam Scott and Paul Rudd were in the audience that night, too. Seeing what isn’t shown on the broadcast made everything so much better and more special.

On top of all that, it was a great episode. It had incredible cameos, the full group said “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night,” the sketches were brilliant and it was the first Weekend Update of the season to have three guests instead of two.

Seeing my favorite show live was everything I had expected and more — it was genuinely the most incredible night of my life.

After the show ended, my friend and I went to the shop to purchase our golden tickets, an item exclusive to studio audience members, and we went outside to the barricades where we got to speak with cast members Ego Nwodim and Emil Wakim.

Everything about the night was magical, and I can’t wait until I can do standby for “Saturday Night Live” again.

powers40@miamioh.edu