TORONTO - Decades later, Mark McKinney says the pressure of writing comedy sketches for 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥 still haunts him.
The Ottawa-born comedian says he occasionally wakes in a panic reliving the deadline stress he felt long ago 鈥 back when it would be "four o'clock in the morning on a Wednesday when you don't have an ending for your sketch," McKinney chuckles from Toronto.
"That's when the PTSD sets in."
He鈥檒l be attending festivities in New York this weekend to celebrate the show鈥檚 50th anniversary.
While many know McKinney from 好色tv absurdist comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall 鈥 or as the current star of CTV's 鈥淢ark McKinney Needs a Hobby" 鈥 he was also a writer for 鈥淪NL鈥 in 1985 and rejoined the show as a cast member from 1995 to 1997.
He recalls the show鈥檚 breakneck pace as 鈥渁 grind,鈥 and his offbeat humour didn鈥檛 always fit its broader, crowd-pleasing style.
McKinney describes it as 鈥渟urreal鈥 when Lorne Michaels scouted him and fellow Kids member Bruce McCulloch for the eleventh season, when Michaels returned from a five-year hiatus. Alongside new writers, Michaels hired a fresh cast, including Randy Quaid, Robert Downey Jr., and Joan Cusack.
"I was working at a Second Cup, barely making rent in Toronto, and then three weeks later I鈥檓 giving notes to Madonna on one of my sketches and having Al Franken kick me under the table saying, 鈥楧on't give Madonna notes,鈥" he says.
Madonna was the season鈥檚 first musical guest and "at the height of her fame," McKinney recalls. "She鈥檇 just married Sean Penn, so I remember going to work with helicopters around 30 Rock and security being really tight."
His material often landed in the show鈥檚 final sketch, typically reserved for the night鈥檚 weirder, more experimental fare. One such sketch he and McCulloch wrote for Madonna never made it to air.
It saw the pop megastar seducing a paper boy, played by 鈥淪NL鈥 cast member Anthony Michael Hall, who was 17 at the time.
"It was Anthony Michael Hall telling Madonna he couldn't come around, he couldn't deliver her newspapers anymore because she had to stop dragging him into her bedroom. And it was Madonna admitting she had a long string of paper boys."
Hall refused to do the skit.
"He said, 鈥業 don鈥檛 want to play teens anymore,鈥欌 recalls McKinney.
That was his first taste of disappointment at 鈥淪NL."
"We had the set already built. It got nixed on a Friday morning and I remember watching them cart out the set. That's how I found out."
McKinney eventually grew accustomed to his sketches getting rejected. He and McCulloch found an outlet in returning to Toronto on occasional weekends to perform live with Kids in the Hall.
"I think because 'SNL' can be a place where your favourite sketches don't get picked, we would come back to Kids in the Hall and just write up a storm and do the stuff we wanted to do. So in a weird way, there was a threat of us (breaking up), but it was ultimately a great year for the troupe."
Michaels later caught one of their sets in Toronto, leading to a development deal for their CBC series, which he produced. McKinney and McCulloch left 鈥淪NL鈥 to focus on the new show, which debuted in 1989.
"We got to do our own show autonomously because when you have Lorne Michaels as your producer, you get some creative protection that you might not otherwise have," McKinney says.
Years later, when 鈥淜ids in the Hall鈥 wrapped, McKinney says he was the lone member eager for a sixth season. That鈥檚 when Michaels invited him back to 鈥淪NL鈥 as a cast member.
While McKinney felt like a 鈥渕ismatch鈥 his second time around, he has no regrets.
"I kept trying to do 'Kids in the Hall'-type sketches on 'SNL,' which is a fundamentally different show. I didn't really think through what I was doing," he says.
"But I had a blast. How can you not? Every Saturday at 11:30 when that theme kicks in, it's like, wow, goosebumps every time."
This report by 好色tvwas first published Feb. 15, 2025.
