https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgTJqv93JVg

Originally From: https://myspace.com/discovetrending/2014/04/14/all-that-oral-history-season-one/

How ‘All That’ Became the ‘SNL’ for the Next Generation

By Steven J. Horowitz and Jill Menze • April 14, 2014
Twenty years ago, Nickelodeon took a chance by airing a one-off special that stretched into 10 seasons of sketch comedy. To commemorate the milestone, the show's executives, actors and guest musicians reflect on the first season of what would become an iconic series.
"Now it's just an introduction, before we blow your mind / The show is All That, and yes we do this all the, time." So went one of the opening lines of All That's unshakeable theme song, as delivered by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes alongside TLC group members Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas and Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins. It was an introduction on Nickelodeon, a cable TV station that was taking a chance with one of its first sketch comedy shows, that set the precedent for a series that, over the next 10 seasons, would shift the course of television history.
Since its debut as a one-off special on April 16, 1994, All That continued on to become one of the only sketch comedy shows aimed at a younger generation. Series like Saturday Night Live and In Living Color found an audience in adults, but there weren't any shows that solved the riddle of what kids should be watching on Saturday nights.
In turn, All That became more than just a weekly ritual—it was a destination for kids, a virtual hangout dotted with familiar faces and recurring characters including Ear Boy, Miss Fingerly and Superdude. Created by Brian Robbins and Michael Tollin, the show first aired with a core cast—Angelique Bates, Alisa Reyes, Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, Katrina Johnson, Josh Server and Lori Beth Denberg—that rotated in the years to come. Before the show closed up shop on October 22, 2005, it served as a breeding ground for future stars including Nick Cannon, Amanda Bynes and Thompson, who has been on Saturday Night Live since 2003.
Following the show's debut, it was picked up for a full season that began in December 1994 and became a staple on SNICK, a two-hour block of programming that also included Are You Afraid of the Dark? and The Secret World of Alex Mack. All That was a hit: It spawned the spinoff series Kenan & Kel, and later helped usher Nickelodeon into feature films with Good Burger, which starred Thompson and Mitchell as characters from the show.
But beyond that, All That was crucial in introducing kids to hip-hop and R&B, booking acts that parents would often consider too risqué for the preteen set. The first season featured an all-star roster of musicians who acted in and performed on the show including Brandy, Usher, Aaliyah, Da Brat, Coolio and much more. Throughout the years, its stage hosted A Tribe Called Quest, Destiny's Child, Britney Spears and N*SYNC. It became a conduit for musicians hoping to crack the youth market, and reciprocally educated viewers on the music that was soundtracking the nation.
Though it stopped producing new episodes almost a decade ago, All That left shoes behind that are yet to be filled. It takes a network to produce a lasting show, but it takes creativity and talent to cement its legacy. In honor of All That's 20th anniversary, a comprehensive oral history of the show's first season featuring the cast, executives and musicians who made the series come alive.

THE PLAYERS

Angelique Bates (Cast Member): Known famously for her Steve Urkel impression, Angelique Bates opened the door for young black women in sketch comedy.
Chauncey Black of Blackstreet (Musical Guest): The namesake behind New York’s Blackstreet, Chauncey Black helped lead the R&B group to early ‘90s success with hits like “Before I Let You Go” and “No Diggity.”
Coolio (Musical Guest): The Compton rapper was riding on the success of his breakout single “Fantastic Voyage” in 1994. After Nickelodeon liked his appearance on All That so much, they kept him around to record the theme song to All That spin-off Kenan & Kel.
Da Brat (Musical Guest): The Chicago-bred rapper has released four studio albums, two of which went platinum, including her 1994 debut Funkdafied. With numerous hits and standout features under her belt, Brat appeared on the second episode of All That as an actress and performer, and later returned for two episodes in seasons two and four.
Lori Beth Denberg (Cast Member): As part of the original cast, Lori Beth Denberg appeared on four seasons of All That as well as Figure It Out and The Steve Harvey Show. In addition to acting, Lori Beth is an ordained minister and officiates weddings.
Katrina Johnson (Cast Member): An original cast member, Katrina Johnson stayed on the show for two-and-a-half seasons. While her acting roles have been few since her appearance on All That, she is currently a host on UnCensored Radio.
Kel Mitchell (Cast Member): A five-season veteran of All That, Kel Mitchell parlayed his success on the show into the breakout series Kenan & Kel and film Good Burger. He has since appeared on Sam & Cat and starred in the 2011 movie Dance Fu, which he also co-wrote and co-produced.
Alisa Reyes (Cast Member): During her three seasons on All That, Alisa Reyes made a lasting impression with her characters Kiki the Island Girl and Tinsel Teeth. Since then, she's continued acting with appearances on Six Feet Under and Boston Public, and is currently writing a children's book in honor of her mother.
Brian Robbins (Co-CreatoExecutive Producer): With a résumé dotted with acting roles prior to All That, Brian Robbins later worked on television shows including Smallville, One Tree Hill and Sonny With a Chance, as well as films including Varsity Blues, Hardball and Good Burger.
Dan Schneider (Executive Producer): After finding major success writing and producing All That, Dan Schneider has maintained a high-profile name in kids programming for shows such as Drake & Josh, Zoey 101 and iCarly.
Josh Server (Cast Member): The only cast member to remain on the show for all original six seasons, Josh Server went on to act on Drake & Josh and Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. He recently returned to acting after taking a hiatus from the entertainment industry.
Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas of TLC (Musical Guest): As one-third of the multiplatinum group TLC, Chilli contributed to All That's theme song in addition to acting in a skit and performing on the series' first episode. The group would later close the first season with another appearance.
Kenan Thompson (Cast Member): Arguably the most famous of All That alum, Kenan Thompson went from the show to the Kenan & Kel/Good Burger franchise to Saturday Night Live, where he’s appeared since 2003.
Michael Tollin (Co-CreatoExecutive Producer): Alongside Brian Robbins, Michael Tollin debuted the first sketch comedy for kids on Nickelodeon. Additional credits include Kenan & Kel, The Amanda Show, Coach Carter and Varsity Blues.

THE GENESIS

Brian Robbins: Albie Hecht, then-President of Nickelodeon, asked me if there were any shows that I wanted to make. I knew that making a kid-version of SNL would be incredibly fun.
Dan Schneider: In 1993, I got a call from my friend Brian Robbins. Brian and I had been actors together as high school kids on a TV show called Head of the Class [ABC, WarnerBros., 1986–1991]. Brian had started his own production company, and he'd been talking to a friend of ours named Albie Hecht. Albie had recently become the head of development at Nickelodeon and had been talking with Brian about creating a new show.
Michael Tollin: Brian and I had a started our partnership with a handful of documentaries. We were lucky enough to win a few awards and get invited to festivals. We’d kind of been put together indirectly through Albie Hecht, whom we were both friends with and with whom my wife had done a TV series. I got married and moved to L.A. in the early ‘90s and Brian was making a transition. Famously, Albie called [my wife] and said Brian is looking for a producer. She said, “Right house, wrong spouse,” and put me on the phone.
That led to the show Magic Johnson’s All-Star Slam 'N Jam, a piece of sports TV trivia for sure, but it gave us an opportunity to work together. I had an idea for a documentary film which we sold to FOX with Wesley Snipes narrating, Hardwood Dreams. We were doing the show together in a very ad hoc seat-of-the-pants way, which became our style. When we landed Wesley Snipes, The Hollywood Reporter called and said, “We want to do a story,” and wanted to know the name of the company. We said, “Call back tomorrow.” [The production company became Tollin/Robbins Productions.]
We had made a few documentaries. Albie, who now I refer to as the Godfather of Tollin/Robbins Productions, called and asked us to do a mini Nickumentary. It was a half-hour documentary on a Nickelodeon touring road show with Mike O’Malley and Phil Moore as co-hosts, driving around the country on a bus. We had two days to shoot a half-hour show and make it look like we traveled all over the country. [We were in] Topeka, Kansas, for a full shoot. We’d say, “Hello, Topeka,” say cut, and they’d go backstage and change the show and say, “Hello, Rochester,” “Hello, Minneapolis.” We went all out. That was kind of a progression of things, Albie giving us a trial, seeing if these guys can pull it off. That show worked and it was kind of a chance to work together. [Then] Albie said, “I have an idea of a sketch show.”
Dan Schneider: Brian thought it would be a good idea to bring me in, and Albie agreed. At that time, I had solid acting career going, but I was between gigs, and when Brian talked to me about the idea creating a TV show for Nickelodeon, I thought it sounded like a fun "side job,” just to keep my busy for a while.
So, Brian and I started talking creatively about creating a sketch comedy show. I was a huge fan of Saturday Night Live, and as a younger kid I had also loved watching The Carol Burnett Show with my dad. I even had seen reruns of a show called Laugh In, which was popular in the late 1960s. I really loved sketch comedy, so the idea of creating a new sketch comedy show was exciting for me. The fact that it was going to be for a kid audience just made it a bit more challenging.
The idea was basically to produce a half-hour show that would usually feature three sketches, a couple of "runners" (short little sketches), and then at the end of the show, there would be a performance from an established music act. That was our plan, and that's pretty much how the show was for all 10 seasons. But we never had a rigid format for the show. We'd change it up a little, from episode to episode. That was one of the cool things about All That—there were no real rules. We could mix things up make the show however we wanted.
Brian Robbins: When we set out to make the show, we had no idea whether or not we would be able to find kids who would be talented enough to be the next generation of sketch comedians—Eddie Murphy, Gilda Radner or John Belushi. Our expectations were blown away by the talented kids who came to star on the show.
We did a national talent search and looked in different places and locations. We found Kel at an open call in Chicago, Lori Beth at a high school talent showcase and, later, Amanda Bynes at a kids' stand-up comedy night.
Michael Tollin: The great thing about the way that it was set out, we all realized casting was critical. Albie being very a producer-friendly executive, creative by nature, we were given the resources to have a very expensive casting period. Months and months of bringing in kids from all over the country. It’s kind of wonderful to especially see Kenan on SNL every week. Obviously Amanda [Bynes] has had a very interesting career. That was a really deep dive to sit there day after day, week after week, and try and discover kids and figure out the right chemistry.
I think it was always: find great kids who are winning, talented or funny, and build characters or sketches around them. I’d be lying if we had a vision of a certain number of these characters or that characters. We had a great writing staff, and the kids were so fertile and such a great source of humor.
Dan Schneider: We knew that casting was extremely important. In fact, we viewed casting as so crucial that we decided that I would not write the pilot script until we had our cast in place. That's very unusual in television. Almost always, you write the first show and then you cast it. But with All That, we wanted to hire the best kid comedy actors we could find. We decided that we'd do a nationwide talent search, find the best ensemble cast we could and then I would write the script, tailoring the sketches to the specific actors' strengths. I wanted to create characters that would be perfectly suited for the actors.
As for the kids we cast, they were all unknown at the time. Well, Kenan Thompson had appeared in one movie [The Mighty Ducks], but he was still pretty new, like the others.
Michael Tollin: [An important date was] January 17, 1994. We had dinner [at home] and I said goodbye and took the red eye [from Los Angeles] to Orlando, and I got to the hotel at eight something in the morning Eastern Time and didn’t have a cellphone. I got the sleep that I could and woke up and stumbled to a taxi. [I received a] message when I checked in [to the hotel] that was said your wife called to say she and your daughter are fine. That’s a pretty scary message. The Northridge earthquake had happened at 4:30 a.m.; it had been in the hour we were arriving. We were pretty close to it [in Southern California], as was Brian. The morning was spent figuring out how bad was the damage both physical and psychological. Should we postpone [the pilot shoot?]. I was trying to do the right thing. [My wife] was trying to do the right thing. Aftershocks ensued. She said, “I can’t believe you didn’t come home.” The show went on.
We took a while, we were really proud of it. [The show] went through testing, it went through conversation. It was a departure for Nickelodeon. There was no prime time Nickelodeon yet. It all sort of worked in the coming years. Nick put together a Saturday night block, [SNICK]. All That was kind of the flagship. [Eventually] we had pretty much the whole two-hour block: Kenan & Kel and The Amanda Show. A lot of stuff started happening, it was kind of amazing.
Dan Schneider: I didn't have any big expectations for All That because, at the time, I knew almost nothing about the world of kids TV. Creating All That was a ton of fun and I gave it my best because I wanted it to be good and successful. But I just considered it a temp job. I was an actor. I never thought becoming a writeproducer would turn into a full-time thing for me.
Anyways, after we made the All That pilot, about six months went by and I didn't hear much of anything from Brian or the network. At some point, I called Brian and asked him if the network was planning to pick up the show. He wasn't sure. Then I heard that the pilot "hadn't tested great." You see, whenever you make a new TV pilot, the network tests the show with focus groups. So, for All That, they got a bunch of kids—boys, girls, different age groups—and they let them watch the show, and then moderators ask them questions, sort of like a group review. I actually still have the results from those tests. Basically, the people who ran the testing wrote a report—a summary—and they said that while kids might like some aspects of the show, overall, kids wouldn't like All That. I think that's why nothing happened for six months. The pilot only tested "so-so,” so the network was nervous about picking it up.
Then, if I recall correctly, I heard that the president of Nickelodeon (at the time), a woman named Geraldine Laybourne, watched the All That pilot and loved it. She said something like, "This show is great. Why haven't we picked this up yet? Let's make it." Next thing I knew, we were back in Orlando, where we'd shot the pilot, and we were making a bunch of episodes of All That. It was a blast. I loved every minute of it.
Michael Tollin: Albie gets a lot of credit for the vision and the persistence. Kevin [Kopelow] was also the Nick executive assigned to the show, a third producing partner. [He was] very smart, very creative, got the show, was invested in the show. I look back very fondly and feel very grateful.
(... Continued in the comments, maxed reddit character limit)

I THINK it was in the TTYD series, but Dan mentions an snl ski that Chris Parnell did, and Arin laughed so hard for like five minutes, just can't remember which episode haha 😅
Edit: thank you, everyone!! Had a great time laughing at clownpenis.fart xD

I remember this skit weirded me out as a kid and I’m not sure why.
It was either on SNL or Mad TV, but I’m pretty sure it was SNL because I think Chris Kattan played the center character.
The center character was either Prince or Michael Jackson, and they had been “shot in the ass,” and the whole skit seemed to be about Chris Kattan (or whoever) saying “I’ve been shot in the ass!” in a goofy voice.
It was played up like Forrest Gump’s being “shot in the butt-ocks.”

The episode is s37e14, hosted by Zooey Deschanel, but the big moment is Nicolas Cage appearing as himself opposite Andy Samberg as Nicolas Cage during Weekend Update.
Samberg and Seth Meyers have described the broadcast version here https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/nicolas-cage-snl-andy-samberg-seth-meyers-1201972156/:

The dress rehearsal of the segment is available to watch on YouTube, but what that version doesn’t have is something that shocked both of them when the time came to do it for a live audience.
“Then, on air, at the end he slapped the table. You can hear me go ‘Guh!'” Meyers said.
“He leaned in so hard,” Samberg said. “And the last line from him was ‘We’re gonna have a three-way with the Declaration of Independence!’ Flames shot out of his head. It was so fucking good!”

But the only version I've been able to find anywhere matches the Youtube version, which is definitely more subdued, and Cage slaps his hands together. Now, it's quite possible that this is the broadcast version and Samberg and Meyers are just hyperbolic in their memory. But it's also very plausible that there was some minor imperfection in the broadcast version and Lorne Michaels swapped it out for the rehearsal. They've even been known to do that in time for the California re-run, so really, I'm looking for an East Coast airing. I figure there must be at least one person here obsessed enough to collect original broadcasts, if there's any way you could share at least that skit with me, I'm greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

And some of these reactors are like "Is it over for Drake?", "Did Kendrick MGK him", like what?! He's not a rapper who has to maintain some tough demeanor, he's made fun of himself countless times (SNL Skits, NBA Awards Bits, Music Videos like "Way too Sexxy"), The fact that folks can't just go along with ride, and thinking this is dead serious is baffling to me.

Just to break up the Grindrr
https://www.reddit.com/FFIE/s/CCdSMPkDTN somebody meme this, tik tok, instagram, video skit(still call it that SNL anyone)??!!🔋🥳

“Sudeikis, dressed in Chicago Bulls gear à la SNL’s “Bill Swerski’s Superfans” skit, asked the Chiefs tight end, “When are you going to make an honest woman out of [Taylor Swift]?”
Kelce just smiled and tried to laugh it off.
Sudeikis continued, “Taylor doesn’t need to be working anymore and, again, I know your kicker agrees with me. He gets it.””
https://www.si.com/nfl/travis-kelce-laughs-off-jason-sudeikis-awkward-question-about-taylor-swift

I’m not an avid SNL fan but I remember seeing a trivia show skit called the bookworm or the nerd or something with a character with exaggerated nerdy features being challenged by some regular guy on trivia. The regular guy got to choose a category and chose something like pop culture and was able to easily answer a handful of questions that the nerd could not. I’m pretty sure it was an SNL sketch but I can’t find it on YouTube. If any of you know what im talking about please let me know

SNL should make a skit on how specific Reddit is. On how many fucking rules there are and no matter what, there's always at least one duche who tells you that you should've posted it somewhere else.

Who else remembers this SNL skit? I watched it so many times back in the day. Rewatched it recently and it holds up. So good. If you haven't, check it out. This is regardless of political leaning, I mean it's just a damn funny skit either way. "Fuck you, Bernie!!!"