Nicholas Lutsko
patreon
SNL Retrospective
🕑 Added 2023-03-28 01:34:36 +0000 UTCBoy, do I have many beans to spill regarding Episode 2 of Saturday Nick Lutsko.
I've debated how candid I want to get here, and I've landed on "very."
The stream itself was a bit traumatic. A handful of the live segments felt like a train wreck from our perspective. As a result, the vibe was very tense and gloomy. All of us were shocked to watch the playback and realize it actually wasn't that bad. In fact, it mostly worked!
All of the pre-taped bits from Brielle Garcia, Dan Cupps, Justin Cipriani and Jakey Lutsko couldn't have gone better. They were completed and inserted into OBS early afternoon. I made the last minute decision to extend the Nicole Kidman tour promo segment by adding the AI Fraser acceptance speech. I knew I could use the extra time to create the poll and make sure everyone knew what to do for the next scene. Well, while I was in the middle of creating the poll, the screen went black. Turns out I forgot to swap it out with the new file. This started a chain reaction that had us scrambling for the remainder of the stream.
In retrospect, it was incredibly silly not to do a full dress rehearsal beforehand. But for the few moments that felt a little awkward, so much went right. Here's a breakdown on how everything came to be.
I wrote the script for 'Celebration of Tech' a few days after we did 'Celebration of Country Music.' I was riding the high of Episode 1, so of course my response was to make the next one 10 times more ambitious and complicated.
I reached out to Brielle to see if she would be interested in directing the "CBJ GETS SUCKED" and "SN(AI)L" segments. She said she would love to go all out on the CBJ segment, but probably wouldn't have any time leftover to focus on "SN(AI)L". Per usual, she absolutely knocked it out of the park. She elevates the source material every time. Truly unbelievable work.
I've been a fan of Dan Cupps' work with On Cinema for a while and have wanted an opportunity to work on something together. I thought his sensibilities would be perfect for the "Greezy Come Back," video and he exceeded my already high expectations. I reached out to Dan in February and figured it would take him about a month. He sent me a finished product like 3 days later! Unbelievable turnaround and an incredibly sweet guy. At this point, I was planning on trying to do SN(AI)L myself using AI generated images. I'm so glad I asked if he was interested, because it's 100000 X better than whatever I would have come up with. He animated the whole sequence word for word based on a prompt I gave ChatGPT to write an episode of Saturday Nick Lutsko. I gave it a quick rundown of the show and its characters and voila. All of the voices are AI generated based on our actual voices (including Jerry Seinfeld). I love the end result so much. A definite highlight.
I started working on the 'Greezy Monologue' right away. I asked ChatGPT to write a monologue told from the perspective of an AI that wants to enslave humanity. It delivered! I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get the AI voices just right. I initially used Biden, Trump, Scorsese, Spielberg, Ernest, Beetlejuice, Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, Ringo Starr, Johnny Depp, Dan Bongino, Brendan Fraser, Alex Jones and Elon Musk. I had them weaving in and out of each other and was pretty happy with the end result. But then I discovered Greezy has the most amazing AI voice, and I felt like I wasted 3 days playing with all of the other voices. The end result ended up being a combination of Greezy plus everyone else mentioned above. It's crazy how bad CBJs and Desmond's AI voices are compared to Greezy's.
It was around this time that I decided to have Greezy speak telepathically. I figured Eric's time would be better spent working on the new costume and preparing for tour than memorizing the recipe to Olive Garden's Classic Lasagna. We had Adam triggering Greezy's responses off camera during the stream. They both nailed it.
Speaking of Greezy's new costume, Eric's attention to detail is unreal. He spent weeks weaving different threads of yarn together to achieve the classic Greezy look on the new headpiece and arms. The end result is spectacular and the iridescent outfit ties it together beautifully.
My old friend and collaborator Justin Cipriani pitched a handful of ideas a few months back. Halloween Hotline and Cowboy Cam 2.0 worked great for the tech theme and they also happened to be my favorites. He shot Halloween Hotline with Mikey and Jakey in ATL. I called in for some of the shoot and ruined a few takes laughing over the phone. The first cut was 3 minutes long and tonally very different. A lot of beautiful shots ended up on the cutting room floor but it made more sense for this one to fit the classic commercial vibe. Mikey's performance makes me laugh every time.
We shot Cowboy Cam 2.0 on Asa's family farm a few weeks back. It's always impressive seeing Cip and his crews in action. We had a lot to shoot on a tight schedule but Jon rose to the occasion and turned in an A+ performance. We kept remarking on what a ridiculous amount of work was going into one of the dumbest concepts. I always laugh thinking about how Jon might react if I were able to show him everything we're doing now 4 or 5 years ago. Jon is one of the most professional, hardworking people I know and he takes his work very seriously. If you were to tell me 5 years ago that he would be the cartwheeling cowboy in the group, I would have never believed you. I'm really proud of his performance here and everything he's been able to do with the CBJ character over the past year and a half.
Jakey and Riley came over Friday evening to shoot the Greezy monologue and they had a lot of great ideas. Riley had the idea to have Greezy float. Jakey had the idea to blow the fan on Greezy's hair. I'm super happy with how the whole sequence cut together and think it turned out genuinely creepy. It was a great moment to highlight Jakey and Riley's skills as well as Greezy's new costume.
I have way more good things to say about the stream than bad. Jakey has an incredibly difficult job jumping between shots, making sure things are muted when they need to be, making sure the next sequence is queued. We're really attempting to do the same thing TV studios do but with a two man crew and no budget. I wish I could have done a better job of not letting the hiccups get to me. I think we'll continue to learn and improve as we keep going.
I've had a real "Build it and they will come" mentality with Saturday Nick Lutsko, but the turnout for the latest episode really has me feeling pretty down. I need to rethink promo for the next one. I'm looking forward to getting tour behind us so we're not juggling so many projects at once and can give everything the attention it needs.
I'll end on a positive note and say the after-party really lifted our spirits. It reminded us how much fun we can have just hanging out and winging it. I want to prioritize making sure future episodes also have those moments.
Thanks everyone for your continued support and encouragement. We couldn't and wouldn't be doing it without you!
Feliz Navidad,
Nick
Comments
Linzela
I love this background behind the scenes info! It’s so interesting. I’m going to go rewatch it with a new perspective. Sad I missed being able to join for the after party though but can’t wait for the next one!
Samantha Gallagher
I always appreciate you taking the time to give us the behind the scenes insights, even when they're vulnerable and not so fun to recount. I feel like I'm just echoing everyone else here, but I had an amazing time as always and so So SO appreciate all the new production elements! Obviously the cowboy cam, and the skits but yes the camera work is incredible! I love being able to see Adam do his thing and then cut to the ridiculous cowboy cam view and then Jakey's thumbs up, it's just brought the whole enterprise to a new level. I hope the mantra is true, and they will come, because this is the best patreon in town, and I'm so glad to be here with you folks. See (a lot of) you next week!
Cece
Thank you for sharing your candid thoughts! I'm sorry it wasn't what you wanted it to be - honestly from our living room, the whole show felt magical and flawless and fun. I understand what it is to be let down and sad with something everyone else on the outside finds impressive, and how lonely and strange it is. So my heartfelt gratitude and admiration for you and the entire team also comes with a virtual hug for your disappointment ❤️
Jack Bumby
I thought it was absolutely spectacular. The performances rocked and the production values were insane!! Everything felt pitch perfect from my end. Well done to you Nick, and the whole team 🙏
nymaré
I meant what I said at the after party. It really was such a good show. Both have been beyond expectation, but this one was next level. I would never have guessed y'all felt anything other than extreme satisfaction with what you put out there. From Day 1 of falling down a rabbit hole in your youtube videos section, I've been baffled at how anything you've put out there doesn't have more views. The talent and the heart are there. I hope you're able to figure out how to achieve whatever it is that success at this means to you. You and your crew deserve it.
Shannon Strucci
Re: turnout, the YouTube algorithm favors insane rapidfire spectacle and short-form content now, and numbers are never a marker of quality or of enjoyment from the audience. That's easy for me to say as someone who didn't spend so much time and effort and stress on it, but I think what y'all are doing is really cool. I hope future episodes are more rewarding in one way or another. You may be able to build an audience on twitch or do shows with online cons/events/festivals to promote it? I know that's unsolicited advice but I do sincerely believe there's an audience out there for it!! I hope you can be easy on yourself as well knowing producing that much sketch comedy style prerecorded video along with planning a livestream and organizing everything is going to be a very stressful and challenging undertaking, even if it had gone well. I used to do a lot of that kind of stuff so I say this from experience- it's exhausting and very difficult! Especially if you are doing it on a tight turnaround! And it's cool you're willing to challenge yourself with these intimidating projects and commit to the bit with so much heart and effort, it's something that always shines through in your work. Also just from my pov as well I've had a bad couple of weeks personally with family health issues and was having kind of a sad night in and the stream and afterparty really lifted my spirits. I had no idea anything went wrong.
chefsdaughter418
this was so, so amazing!! i sent you a message via instagram because patreon was glitching for me, but this is so amazing!! nothing felt off to me about it either; it was so fun (other than greezy become possessed, that was creepy), and the after party was hilarious and fun as always! can’t wait to see what you have next, and i’m so excited to see you in charlotte in june! :))
Manda Irle
I‘m so bummed I missed the livestream and Zoom after party, but I just finished watching the show this evening and thought it was so fun! I am in awe the talent and creativity on display from you and everyone else who worked on this. Can’t wait for the next one, and see you in New York!
Pat Llewellyn
I fell asleep before the after party, but genuinely SNL didn’t feel off at all to me. If there was any uneasiness it felt intentional and matched with the overall subject matter. And don’t let numbers get you down. You’re doing something authentic and unique. The internet is fickle, lutsko-heads are forever.
We wished we could have been on the live stream Nick! It was the one day we were traveling and it broke our hearts not to be there. Please don’t get down about streaming challenges. Challenges are part of the ride and make us better every single time. Hell, Kyle and my career is entirely in this space and we have challenging tech issues every single time we do it and we’ve got 15 years in the business and teams of 20+ old grumpy team members. You’re doing something so incredible with such a rockstar team. Few people ever know the true satisfaction of creating something magical. This SNL was amazing and the next will be even better.
Jon Coughlin
It breaks my heart to hear the numbers didn't hit your hopes. I missed it live but watched last night and was blown away by the production value; I thought it was brilliant. You all make me so goddamn happy. I'll keep watching everything you make and I am going to find you in Chicago :)
Molly Rosen
I've been so impressed by all the work that's been put into SNL. It's really phenomenal. I can say at least for me it didn't seem like anything went wrong at all, and when it does, that's the fun of something being live. Also just gotta say cowboy cam was hilarious and everything Jon does is magic.
MIREST
That stream made me a Patreon supporter. I get that from your side, you're focusing on the issues. But as a viewer, it was fucking sublime. Thanks for your art and thank everyone on the team for their work. We'll all continue to spread the word and your tweets. It's phenomenal and I believe it will continue to grow an audience.
Ron Crawford
I had a blast! I’m sorry it was so stressful for y’all, but you really knocked it out of the park
