Roughly 250 people were lined up outside of NBC Studios on the corner of Sixth Avenue and 49th Street on Friday, bundled up against the cold and patiently waiting for tickets to “Saturday Night Live.”
Passersby gawked. Things may have looked grim, but spirits were high even if temperatures were not.
“I’ve loved it,” said Nathan Gupta about his time in line, as he sat on the pavement in front of several giant tour buses on Sixth Avenue, which were idling loudly and belching out exhaust. “I feel incredibly fortunate.”
Tickets to the show are free, but you pay in other ways — namely by giving up a majority of your weekend to stand around. As I prepared myself for a frigid five hours, attempting to get tickets to this past weekend’s Melissa McCarthy-hosted show, I asked myself, “Is this worth it?”
Nearly every New Yorker has asked themselves this question at one time or another. In a city bursting with culture, if you’re not paying for access with dollars, you’re going to have to be prepared to wait.
Attendees vying for the best views of the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop at Times Square (pray for them) gather right as the gates open at 3 p.m. Shakespeare in the Park hopefuls queue as soon as Central Park opens at 6 a.m., waiting until noon for tickets to be doled out.
And then there's "Saturday Night Live."
According to NBC’s website, fans can score tickets to the show in August by writing in to explain “why YOU would like to be a part of our studio audience!” No further guidance is given. Aside from that Hail Mary, during the season, there is a multiday process to get a standby ticket to either the dress rehearsal at 8 p.m. or the live show at 11:30 p.m.
Using the popular Reddit r/LiveFromNewYork, where “SNL” ticket tips are freely traded, as my guide, I decided to give it a shot.
Step one: A reservation link on NBC’s website opens up at 10 a.m. on the Thursday before a show. r/LiveFromNewYork stresses that “split-second timing is critical to a successful entry.”
At 10 a.m., I clicked on the link and was prompted to choose between one or two seats for the dress rehearsal or the live show.
I had heard that the dress rehearsal included an extra 30 minutes of content and the cast was often looser and more playful, which sounded fun. I managed to get number 315 for the dress rehearsal; within seconds, all of the spots were filled. Reddit informed me my number was not good, but that was better than being shut out entirely.
Step two: Line up outside Rockefeller Center according to your number by 7 p.m. on Friday and wait until 12:01 a.m.
I bundled up against the cold and fought my way through throngs of tourists on Sixth Avenue before running into a page, who directed me to the right spot in line after I told her my number. After check-in, folks hunkered down for the long night – setting up chairs (a must, according to Reddit), spreading out blankets, and opening up laptops, phones and e-readers.
Behind me in line was Dano Qualls, who had recently moved to New York. With him was Cody Owen, whom he'd just met.
Qualls had posted in the Reddit group that he had an extra spot in line after failing to convince any of his friends to wait with him in the cold. Owen responded.
“I was super excited,” Owen said.
Up and down the line were superfans of the show — some were locals, while others had come from Pennsylvania, Texas and Minnesota. Everyone was thrilled to even make it this far.
Lizet Belaustegui of Queens was at the back of the line for the live show, standing over a subway grate for some warmth. She screamed when she found out she got on the standby line and decided to skip her company’s holiday party for the chance to see "SNL."
“They’re in Bryant Park getting drunk and eating lobster rolls and I’m freezing my a-- off in line.” She said with a laugh. “Is it worth it? I don’t know, I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
A group of college students behind her were hanging out under a blanket. They wait every Friday for tickets. If they don’t manage to get standby numbers, there is a place at the end of the line for people without numbers – a sort of standby line for the standby line, with even worse odds for getting into the show. For them, the whole process is part of the appeal. They don’t mind the line.
“You keep each other company, you joke around, you have fun,” said Adrianna Kopytchak, a college sophomore. She and her friends said that the times they didn’t get in made the times that they did get in even more special. “It keeps you humble,” Kopytchak added.
As midnight approached, enthusiasm had died down. Everyone was ready to go home.
At 12:01, an NBC page goes down the line handing out standby cards to those who stick it out with a new number.
I looked down at the blue index card in my hand, which had my new number: 80.
Better than 315, I thought.
Step three: On Saturday, standby card holders once again line up by their new number and wait — this time in the NBC gift shop inside 30 Rock, no later than 6:30 p.m. for the dress rehearsal, or 9:45 p.m. for the live show.
I arrived just before 6:30 p.m. and a bespectacled page directed me into the back right corner of the gift shop.
The next hour was unpleasant. The store was stuffy, with Christmas music blaring over the top of the "Wicked: For Good" trailer, which ran on a loop around the store.
There was also a palpable tension in the air — everyone packed together in near silence, awaiting their fates. The chumminess of the night before had mostly evaporated. No one wanted to be turned away at this point.
Step four: Pages begin whisking people off, 10 at a time, through a set of double doors.
Reddit says they’re filling the seats that remain after the VIPs — guests of the cast, host and musical guests — arrive.
Once the seats are filled, anyone still in line is out of luck. The first 50 numbers are usually a safe bet, but any number beyond that is a bit of a gamble.
The first 70 made it in and then the pages paused. “We just need to clear some traffic,” one declared. The process slowed.
Eventually, they did make it to the 80s and I was herded along at a slightly undignified pace — somewhere between a trot and a jog — through security, up an elevator and along a glitzy hall where the VIPs waited for the show to begin.
Then I was in the studio, along with a handful of people behind me.
Anyone with a number higher than 90 didn’t make it in.
I took my seat on the right side of the stage — at first, disappointed by the sea of stage lights obstructing my view. Crewmembers scurried around, applying finishing touches to the set. Others held up handwritten cue cards for the cast, or operated massive cameras affixed to the top of 30-foot-tall cranes.
I could also see a lone figure surveying the scene from the far end of the stage: Lorne Michaels.
After the show, which featured some virtuosic slapstick humor from Melissa McCarthy and some very funny and very unfit for air jokes from the "Weekend Update" hosts, I took a walk by the skating rink and Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.
I thought about all the time I had put in that weekend. I’m not sure I would ever do that again. The show was memorable. But was it worth it?
Maybe just this once.
