Revenue Builders · 4 Jun 2026 · From the week of 1 June
How Saturday Night Live Builds Teams That Perform Under Pressure with Lindsay Shookus
These are notes on the conversation, checked against its transcript. The episode itself has the full discussion.
In brief
Lindsay Shookus, who spent 20 years at Saturday Night Live including 10 as a producer and head of talent booking, speaks with hosts John McMahon and John Kaplan about how the show's six-day production cycle forces fast trust-building with hosts and musical guests. She covers hiring for team fit, reading talent under pressure, and leadership lessons from Lorne Michaels. The central argument is that trust, permission to give feedback, and letting strong performers do their own parts matter more than credentials, and she also describes her co-founded group Women Work Hard.
For founders
- Ask new team members early whether they like feedback, since most say yes, which gives you permission for harder conversations later.
- Hire people who could eventually take your job and let them do their work rather than micromanaging them, as Lindsay Shookus describes Lorne Michaels doing.
- Ask the hiring team to explicitly opt in to the extra effort a new hire will need, because a team that opts out is not necessarily judging the person badly.
- A hire who fit an early-stage company may stop fitting as the company grows more corporate, and Lindsay Shookus has seen this lead to a change.
- Test candidates socially outside the interview room, because talent alone does not show whether someone can navigate a team's social dynamics.
For revenue leaders
- Do not over-script who says what in an economic buyer meeting; know each team member's strengths and let them speak when the moment comes.
- Ask candidates how they think the interview is going and why, since the reasoning shows how they read the room.
- Ask candidates what they do not want you to know, with a smile and energy; one of the hosts says this often surfaces what a reference check would find.
- Not being available everywhere all the time can make people value you more, as Lorne Michaels taught Lindsay Shookus; one of the hosts applies this to being slow to speak in meetings.
- Let each team member carry their own part rather than one person carrying the room, since a team's output is judged as a whole.
What was said 24, most useful first
Asking new people early in the week whether they like feedback gives you permission to give hard feedback later. Listen
Lindsay Shookus asked each host on Monday how they feel about feedback, and said people almost always answer yes, while it is rare for anyone to say they do not want it. She said this set up permission to say something difficult to someone she had only met a few days earlier, and that she then let her guard down and tried to be vulnerable to build connection.
“And then I would also say, how do you feel about feedback? Do you like feedback? Typically, when someone's asked if they like feedback, they say yes. It's rare that someone's like, no, no, not for me.”
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Hire people good enough that you might worry they could take over your job. Listen
Lindsay Shookus said Lorne Michaels told his team to hire people who can take their job and let them be so good that you are scared they might take over. She recalled being threatened by one candidate around age 26 while leaving her role, but later saw the two women she hired for her department now run it. She said Lorne was good at not micromanaging strong people, such as a set designer.
“hire people who can take your job. Like, let them be so great that you're scared they might take over for you.”
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Take candidates out from behind the desk to see whether you enjoy being around them, because talent alone does not show fit. Listen
Lindsay Shookus said Lorne Michaels told the team to take interviewees out from behind the desk. She described taking an assistant candidate to breakfast, where she struggled to hold a conversation and concluded the person was not her fit. She agreed with a host's 'rowboat test' framing, saying hiring people they enjoyed being around worked really well.
“Lorne used to say, like, when you interview people, take them out from behind the desk.”
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Ask the hiring team to explicitly opt in to the extra effort a hire will need, since opting out does not mean the person is bad. Listen
One of the hosts said he told a hiring team that they would have to spend extra energy to make a candidate feel at their very best, and asked if they were up for it. The group opted in. He said that when groups opt out, it means only that the person will not work on their rhythm, not that they are a bad person. Lindsay Shookus added that people rarely get this kind of opt-in, and that it gives the team ownership in making the hire succeed.
“I said to the hiring team, I said, you keep in mind, I know we all love this person. But you are going to have to spend an extra amount of energy to make them feel at their very best. And are you guys up for that? And it was kind of cool because they opted in.”
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Over-scripting who says what in an economic buyer meeting backfires; each person should know their strengths and speak when the moment calls for it. Listen
John McMahon gave the example of a nervous sales rep who scripts who says what before an economic buyer meeting. He said he would rather go in, be himself and act naturally than respond to a script. His advice was to know the strengths of everyone on the team and let them do their job at the right time.
“You can't over choreograph things.”
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Staying slightly scarce makes people value your presence more, and a host applies this to being slow to speak in meetings. Listen
Lindsay Shookus said Lorne Michaels taught that people should be missed rather than always accessible, because being everywhere lets people feel they own you. One of the hosts translated this to meetings, saying that being slow to speak means the biggest compliment is someone asking 'what do you think?'
“Lorne always used to say like be missed like if you're everywhere all the time and people can access you”
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Asking a candidate what they do not want you to know, with a smile and energy, often surfaces what a reference check would find. Listen
One of the hosts said he asks 'what don't you want me to know?' with authenticity and energy, not as a smart aleck, and that candidates often volunteer what he would have found in a reference check. He said one candidate disclosed a past DUI they were not proud of, and others pointed out he had not asked why they left previous jobs.
“And when I say it with a smile and I say it with energy, a lot of times people will tell me what I'm probably going to find in a reference check”
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At SNL the host arrives on Monday, but the show is not picked until Wednesday night, three days before it airs live. Listen
Lorne Michaels set the show up as a six-day creation that starts Monday and ends Saturday. Writers produce about 50 sketches for the host on Tuesday, the sketches are read through on Wednesday, and the show is picked that night, so the host does not know what they will be doing until about three days before going live.
“when Lorne created the show in 1975, he made it a six day creation. It starts on Monday, it ends on Saturday”
Overwriting far more material than will air, then cutting during rehearsal and live, is built into SNL's process. Listen
Writers deliberately produce excess material for each host and then pare it down. Dress rehearsal carries about 30 extra minutes of material, and the team cuts jokes, sketches, costumes and wigs between the 10 p.m. dress rehearsal and the 11:30 live broadcast.
“I mean, imagine we had so much excess of material because we just overwrote and then we would pare it down.”
Reading every sketch aloud to the whole room before picking the show shows what gets laughs and what the host does well. Listen
On Wednesday the writers read all of the roughly 50 sketches out loud in a large room. The room's reactions decide what feels funny and what the host is good at, and the show is picked that night based on that read-through.
“that's when we'd have a read through and we'd actually read all of the sketches out loud in a huge room and actually see what does the room laugh at and what feels funny and what is the host good at.”
Final creative calls should draw on many people's input, not one person's gut, because a host or guest who is uncomfortable will not produce good work. Listen
Lorne Michaels made decisions around 10:30 p.m. with a group of about six people he trusted plus input from the host. Lindsay Shookus said that if the host or musical guest feels uncomfortable with something, it is probably not going to be great, and that the team would make sure the host had one thing they really loved in the show. She also said sometimes the call came down to a 10-second gut decision.
“So you have to get a lot of heads in the room.”
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Bad behaviour under pressure usually comes from insecurity, so it is better not to judge it in the moment. Listen
Lindsay Shookus said that high-pressure situations bring out either the best or the worst in people, and that nobody arrives at SNL hoping to be bad. She said she learned not to judge difficult behaviour because it typically stemmed from insecurity.
“I learned to not even like judge it when it was someone's had bad behavior because typically it stemmed out of insecurity, right?”
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The team spends time socially with candidates after auditions, not just in the audition itself. Listen
At SNL, candidates who auditioned were brought back out and the team spent time with them, and everyone who was hired came and spent time socially with the team. Lindsay Shookus said this helped the team see beyond talent and skill set, because many talented people cannot navigate the show's social hierarchy.
“And afterwards we, we would have them come back out and we would all just spend time hanging with them, right?”
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A person who fit a company early may stop fitting as the company grows and becomes more corporate. Listen
Lindsay Shookus described a company she coaches where someone who was right two years earlier no longer fit as the business grew and became more corporate, so a change had to be made. This built on John McMahon's point that people can be good at one stage and not another.
“I've seen it where they were right two years ago. And then as the company's grown and expanded and become more successful, bigger, kind of more in the corporate wheel”
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A host does not need to be the funny one in every sketch; one good monologue and one sketch people love can carry the show. Listen
Lindsay Shookus said Chris Rock used to say a great host needs a good monologue and one other sketch that people love. She said she saw hosts resist sketches where they were in a supporting role because they felt they had to be the funny one in every sketch, which could cost the show one of its best sketches.
“Chris Rock used to say, like, When you're to be a great host, you really just have to have like a good monologue and one other sketch that people love. That's all.”
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Asking a candidate how they think the interview is going, and why, reveals how they read the room. Listen
John McMahon said that about 50 minutes into an interview he asks the candidate how they think they are doing, and that he wants to hear the reasoning as well as the answer, since there may be no single right answer. He said salespeople are supposed to be intuitive, so the question tests that.
“And if I'm in an interview with them after like 50 minutes, I look at them and say, how do you think you're doing? Really want to know what they think.”
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Asking candidates about the toughest situation they have faced, and how they came back from it, reveals their character. Listen
One of the hosts said he asks candidates what the toughest situation of their life was, and that he has had people break down in his office. He said he learned much more about their character from how they came back from that trauma. Lindsay Shookus added, citing Jamie Dimon, that people who have made mistakes and learned from them are the ones you want to hire.
“I asked people what's the toughest situation you ever been in your entire life”
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Vulnerability is a skill you can improve, starting with small steps rather than sharing everything at once. Listen
Lindsay Shookus said she was a perfectionist until about age 33 and now calls vulnerability her superpower, and that she would not have offered anything like it at 28. She suggested starting small, such as asking how someone thinks a conversation is going, and pushing yourself to be uncomfortable.
“And now vulnerability is my superpower. And I wouldn't have given you anything when I was 28 years old.”
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Hire for basics such as hard work, intuition and communication, and teach the rest, because the best resume does not necessarily make the best employee. Listen
Lindsay Shookus said she had no talent experience when she was hired at SNL after about five weeks of interviews, and that her interviewer asked about her life and college rather than focusing on her resume. She said the basic skills she was looked for were hard work, good intuition and the ability to communicate, and the rest could be taught on the job.
“it wasn't really about finding somebody who had the best resume. It was like, because the best resume doesn't necessarily going to mean the best employee, especially at a place like SNL.”
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Watching how a candidate responds when an interview is interrupted shows how they handle a room. Listen
Lindsay Shookus said that during SNL interviews, Alec Baldwin often walked in and started talking to candidates, and she treated the candidate's reaction as more data. She also said she looked for good listening, how a candidate sits in a room and how they pay attention.
“I can't tell you how many times I would be doing an interview and then Alec Baldwin would walk in and start talking to them.”
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Women-founded companies receive 2% of VC funding, according to Lindsay Shookus. Listen
Lindsay Shookus cited this figure as part of the reason her group Women Work Hard exists, and said the numbers are 'so off'. She gave no year or source in the episode, and tied it to encouraging women to be better at mentorship, supporting each other and investing.
“Women-founded companies get 2% of VC funding.”
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Building trust and relationships will matter more as AI spreads, Lindsay Shookus argues. Listen
She said trust is industry-agnostic and that building trust and connection with relationships is what will not go away in the age of AI. She said conferences are full of AI sessions, and that she positions her own talks on trust and connection as the counterpoint.
“especially in the age of AI, the thing that's not going away is like, you've got to build trust and connection with the relationships.”
The best hosts were the ones having fun rather than trying to be perfect, and Lindsay Shookus does not think preparation made them great. Listen
Lindsay Shookus said she tells hosts before the show that they have already earned the spot and that it is not meant to be perfect, since a perfect show would be filmed and take three weeks. She said comedians could sometimes have a hard time because they felt more pressure to be the best, and cited Dave Chappelle, who had not been on television in ten years and felt he had to be fantastic.
“I don't think anyone ever became like the best host ever because they were like super prepared.”
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The best performers keep asking how to get better, and treat their growth as having no end. Listen
Lindsay Shookus cited Peyton Manning and Alex Rodriguez asking what they could do better, and argued that coachability is central to adaptability. She said she has seen organisations lose this as they become more successful, and that Lorne Michaels did not let SNL rest on what had worked before.
“the best people are the ones who keep that kind of sense of like, there is no end to my growth.”
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