By Michael Raine

from New York , it ’ s Saturday night !” For over 880 Saturday nights stretching back to Oct . 11 , 1976 , that instantly-recognizable opening phrase has been shouted from TV screens around the world . No one in their rightful mind could ’ ve believed that a sketch comedy show could last this long , let alone become such an integral part of not just American ( and really all English-speaking ) comedy , but all of pop culture and even politics . Nonetheless , Saturday Night Live ( SNL ) is still going strong , still at the centre of the culture , and still introducing generation after generation of brilliant comedic actors and writers .

There is really nothing else like SNL on TV at the moment , and only a rare few have ever really competed with it ( MADtv and In Living Color stand out ), and none of those shows lasted . The pace of production on SNL is notoriously hectic and stressful – it takes a different breed of person to thrive there . And so , with that in mind , Professional Lighting & Production reached out to two of SNL ’ s longest-serving lighting directors , Richard McGuinness and Geoff Amoral , to chat about their decades with SNL , what their average week looks like , and how they approach lighting this iconic program . We hope you enjoy …

PHOTO : WILL HEATH / NBC

This interview has been edited for length and clarity .

PL & P : To start off , can you each give me the brief version of your professional history and how it led you guys to

RICHARD MCGUINNESS

working on Saturday Night Live ?

Geoff Amoral : Well , I was fortunate enough to be able to interview for a vacation relief program back in 1983 . NBC used to be a full-staff operation and they would

PHOTO : ROSALIND O ’ CONNOR / NBC

18 | Spring 2022