Conan O’Brien credits Adam Sandler for bringing the fun and joy back to Saturday Night Live 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 was a writer on SNL from 1988 to 1991, was among the last “intense and gritty” generation of the show. He then asked if the set was competitive.
And the TV host replied, “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.'”
“And it feels like that’s kind of how everyone feels,” he reflected.
Conan then recalled how Adam brought life back to the writer’s room. He would burst into the room with endless ideas and 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 thought, “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,” and confessed that he could’ve stayed at SNL longer if he hadn’t made it a “grind for myself.”
