Conan O’Brien credits Adam Sandler with bringing fun and joy back to ‘Saturday Night Live’ (SNL) when he joined the comedy show in 1990. On a recent episode of ‘Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,’ Conan discussed the highly competitive environment of the show with fellow SNL alum Andy Samberg.
Samberg noted that Conan, who served as an SNL writer from 1988 to 1991, was among the last of the “intense and gritty” generation on the show. He then inquired if the set environment was competitive. The TV host responded, “I was in that state of mind, and I think, you know, [Robert] Smigel and [Bob] Odenkirk and Greg Daniels were like, ‘It’s life or death.'” He reflected, “And it feels like that’s kind of how everyone feels.”
Adam Sandler’s Infectious Energy and Conan’s Regret
Conan then recalled how Adam revitalized the writers’ room. Sandler would burst into the room with endless ideas, radiating energy and excitement about his work. “He was like, ‘This is so much fun to be at SNL. Oh, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it. Yippee!’ And he had that, ‘I’m going to do Opera Man. I’m going to do this. I’m going to do that. This is great, guys!'”
For his part, Conan recalled thinking, “This is a possibility? You can like this?” Conan O’Brien went on to tell Andy that he “robbed myself of some fun that I could have had,” confessing that he could have stayed at SNL longer if he hadn’t made it a “grind for myself.”
