Ana Gasteyer: Lorne Michaels fought NBC for SNL's "Schweddy Balls"

Entertainment Weekly

Gasteyer says NBC didn't want to air the legendary 1998 "NPR's Delicious Dish: Schweddy Balls" sketch starring her, Molly Shannon and Alec Baldwin near the top of the show. “Lorne very graciously fought for ‘Schweddy Balls,’” Gasteyer tells EW. “Standards and practices did not want to put it right at the top of the show. (Traditionally), racier content will play after midnight. I don’t know if that’s still the case. But (Michaels) so correctly understood that the characters were naive to the usage of the word ‘balls’ that he fought really hard and successfully to have it air before midnight, which I really appreciated. He always goes to the mat for work that deserves it. So that’s a huge honor.”