Dear Delegates,

Welcome to CESIMS! My name is Gaby Góngora Rosales and I am so excited to be your Crisis Director for Live from New York, It’s… Not Ready for Prime Time! 

At Barnard College, I am a Sophomore from Sanford, Florida intending to major in Political Science and Spanish and Latin American Cultures. I have been doing Model UN since my freshman year of high school, and aside from my role as your CD at CESIMS, I am one of the Under-Secretaries General of Education at CESIMS and an Under-Secretary General of Programming with the CMUNCE Secretariat. Outside of Model UN, I am an Advising fellow with Columbia and Barnard Matriculate, treasurer for Colombians@Columbia, and Senior Initiative Director at a gender justice organization called The Ruth Project. In my free time, I love drinking coffee, collecting postcards, and reading (currently reading: How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia)! If you have any questions about life at Columbia, college applications, or any of these activities, let’s chat!

Throughout this committee, I hope you all have the opportunity to execute your creative vision for the first iteration of Saturday Night Live, formerly NBC’s Saturday Night. In negotiating the tensions between creating a TV show that is a novel reflection of popular culture and creating a successful commercial venture, I hope you get a sense of the dynamic, high-energy environment that gave rise to what is arguably one of the most culturally significant shows in American history.

In terms of committee preparation, I recommend using this guide as an initial step to independent research and inquiry! This guide provides an in-depth, but not exhaustive look at the inception of NBC’s Saturday Night, and you will be expected to create your own sketches and an abridged, original version of the first episode of Saturday Night while handling different crisis updates in the form of Studio Notes. Delegates are highly encouraged to become familiar with the context of popular culture, politics, and the social landscape of 1975 America, as many of these elements could be useful in the creation of our episode. 

Should you have any questions before the conference, feel free to reach out to me at gg2977@barnard.edu. I look forward to seeing you all at CESIMS! 

Sincerely,

Gaby Góngora Rosales

Code of Conduct

All delegates will be held to a high standard of behavior and will be expected to treat each other and the topics of debate with respect. No harassment or bullying of any kind will be tolerated. Sensitive discussion of topics is expected to be conducted respectfully and intelligently. The Secretary-General of CESIMS reserves the right to remove a delegate from the conference at any point in time.

Attire

All delegates will be expected to wear Western Business Attire.

Language

The working and official language of the committee shall be English.

Parliamentary Procedure

Points

There are four types of points that a delegate may raise.

Point of Order

A Point of Order may not interrupt a speaker and can be raised when the delegate believes the rules of procedure have been violated. The chair will stop the proceedings of the committee and ask the delegate to provide warranted arguments as to which rules of procedure have been violated.

Point of Personal Privilege

A Point of Personal Privilege may be raised when a delegate’s ability to participate in debate is impaired for any physical or logistical reason (for instance, if the speaker is not audible). This point may interrupt a speech, and the dais will immediately try to resolve the difficulty.

Point of Parliamentary Inquiry

This point may be raised by a delegate who wishes to clarify any rule of procedure with the Chair. It may not interrupt a speaker, and a delegate rising to this point may not make any substantive statements or arguments.

Point of Information

As the name suggests, this point may be raised by a delegate to bring substantive information to the notice. It may not interrupt a speaker and must contain only a statement of some new fact that may have relevance to debate. Arguments and analyses may not be made by delegates rising to this point. A point of information may also be used to ask questions of a speaker on the general speakers list.

Motions

Motions control the flow of debate. A delegate may raise a motion when the chair opens the floor for points or motions. Motions require a vote to pass. Procedural motions, unless mentioned otherwise, require a simple majority to pass.

Motion for Moderated Caucus

This motion begins a moderated caucus and must specify the topic, the time per speaker, and the total time for the proposed caucus.

Motion for an Unmoderated Caucus

This motion moves the committee into unmoderated caucus, during which lobbying and drafting of resolutions may take place. It must specify the duration of the caucus.

Motion to Suspend Debate

This motion suspends debate for a stipulated amount of time.

Motion to Adjourn

This motion brings the committee’s deliberation to an end, and it is only admissible when suggested by the Chair.

Motion to Introduce Documents

A successful motion to introduce essentially puts the document on the floor to be debated by the committee. The sponsor of the document will be asked to read the document and then, if deemed appropriate, the Chair will entertain a moderated caucus on the topic.

Motion to Divide the Question

This motion may be moved by a delegate to split a document into its component clauses for the purpose of voting. This may be done when a delegate feels that there is significant support for some clauses of the document, but not for the complete document.

Motion for a Roll Call Vote

A delegate may move to have the vote conducted in alphabetical order.

Motion for Speakers For and Against

If it would help the proceedings of the committee, a delegate may motion for speakers for and against a document.

Documents

Committee Documents represent the product of the committee’s deliberations and their collective decisions.

Directives

Directives are similar to resolutions in traditional committees, with the notable exception that they do not include preambulatory clauses and are much shorter and more concise. Directives are generally written in response to a specific crisis update, and can be as short as two or three clauses. All direct actions by the committee as a whole require a directive.

Communiqués

Communiqués are formal communications (private by default) directed from the committee to other governments, individuals, or organizations. Committee communiqués pass by simple majority.

Press Release

Press releases express the sentiments of the committee (NOT individuals) on any issue. They require a simple majority to pass.

Amendments

After the first draft of a committee document has been introduced, delegates may move to amend clauses of the draft. If the amendment is supported by all the sponsors of the documents, it passes as a friendly amendment.

Communication During Committee

Communication during committee may take place through handwritten notes:

Notes Between Delegates

Delegates should feel free to write personal notes to their fellow committee members. We ask that these notes pertain to the business of the committee.

Notes to the Dais

Delegates may also write to the Chair with questions regarding procedural issues of the committee, as well as a wide range of personal inquiries. Delegates should feel free to write to the Chair on any issue that would improve the committee experience. This could range from a clarification of procedural issues to substantive matters.

Crisis Notes

Crisis notes are notes written in character to fictional confidants. Backroom staffers will respond to these notes in character. The success of your notes depends on how well the notes are written and researched, and how reasonable the request is.

Live From New York… It’s Not Ready for Primetime!

Introduction: An (Abridged) History of Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live or, as it was known at the time of its inception and debut, NBC’s Saturday Night has “come as close as any program does” in “[embodying] every element of the cultural, technological, political, and aesthetic evolutions in the history” of television and in American Culture (Marx et al. 2).

Although it was created to be “new, unusual, arresting, surprising, and attractive to baby boomers,” Saturday Night Live was created from a purely corporate perspective (Shales and Miller 8). Indeed, Saturday Night Live came about during a period in which the American broadcasting industry was “largely controlled by an oligopoly” of the “Big Three” major networks: ABC, CBS, and NBC (Marx et al. 6). At this time, these three networks were battling each other to “win a bigger piece of what was essentially a three-slice pie,” as their biggest concern was which of the individual networks held the biggest piece of the 90% of television viewers they collectively drew in each night (Marx et al. 2-3). 

In 1973, late-night programming on Mondays through Fridays was NBC’s domain, but the “fringe hours” of late Saturday and Sunday nights were “the property of local stations, where old movies, syndicated reruns, home shopping, and strange rants ruled supreme” (Hilmes 33). In interest of staying in the good graces of Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, who requested that reruns of his show stop airing on weekends, NBC shifted its focus to developing new late-night programming.  

In 1974, NBC tasked its newly-minted Director of Weekend Late Night Programming, Dick Ebersol, with developing a show to replace reruns of The Tonight Show at 11:30 PM on Saturdays (Shales and Miller 19). If the show was a success, then-president of NBC, Herb Schlosser, promised Ebersol that the show would remain on air for 6 months. 

During his search for comedy talent to host his new show, Ebersol met Lorne Michaels, a Canadian writer and producer. Despite Ebersol turning down the idea that Michaels pitched to him for a show, Ebersol and Michaels became friends (Shales and Miller 21). 

Ebersol began developing an idea for a show with comedian Richard Pryor at its helm, but Pryor and his agent waffled (Shales and Miller 21). Having no other source to turn to, Ebersol reconnects with Michaels, tapping him to workshop ideas for a new-era comedy-variety show together. Here is when Michaels begins to step into the role of executive producer for NBC’s Saturday Night, a role that would convert him into the “all-powerful Oz” of late-night TV.

With Michaels signed to the project, Ebersol made progress on developing his show, yet he recalls that Michaels “did not have an idea” for a show at this point,” and the agreement between the two was made because Ebersol trusted Lorne’s vision – and whatever show it may have produced (Shales and Miller 21).

In a record-breaking ten days, Michaels and Ebersol came up with a loosely-defined idea for what the show would be, including its “repertory company of seven” members and a writing staff (Shales and Miller 25). Michaels’s tenure producing a number of specials for comedian Lily Tomlin, and his familiarity with the Second City comedy group and the many offshoots of the National Lampoon, including The National Lampoon Radio Hour, introduced him to Gilda Radner, Anne Beatts, Michael O’Donoghue, Chevy Chase, and John Belushi, all of whom he would hire to be his show’s performers or writers or both.

Inside of Studio 8H at Saturday Night’s new home at 30 Rockefeller, Michaels was "aghast" at the “technically primitive” conditions of the facilities and technology (Shales and Miller 43). Thus began a battle of the wills between Michaels and NBC higher-ups who hesitated to invest in a show whose success was so uncertain. Moreover, network executives were “consumed with nervousness” about what the contents of the show would be, fearing that Lorne and his gaggle of “left-wing loonies” would permanently tarnish NBC’s image by including content that was plainly obscene instead of risqué.

For the show’s debut episode, the network planned to handle the crude humor of “sometimes-racy” host, George Carlin, by using a “six-second delay” that would allow “anything unexpected and obscene” to be “edited out” by a censor (Shales and Miller 43). 

Among the other hills that Michaels was resolved to die on was the “signature” issue of the show’s name: “he wanted to call his show Saturday Night Live,” but Howard Cosell’s show had taken the title, making Lorne’s show NBC’s Saturday Night (Shales and Miller 93). 

The technical deficiencies of Studio 8H, the lack of cooperation from executives who did not confide in his artistic vision, and his lack of total control over a rowdy, energetic cast and writing staff put Michaels at the helm of a very precarious ship at Saturday Night.  

The technical challenges and creative-corporate tensions that marked the creation of Saturday Night Live’s first episode were not the only obstacles to an easy debut episode. While Michaels intentionally sought out female comedians and writers to star in and write for Saturday Night, his set was not particularly the most feminist of spaces, causing tension between the creative team and cast. The sentiment among female cast members and writers was that Saturday Night remained a “boys club” (Shales and Miller 84). According to writer Anne Beatts, the only way to gain entry into the boys-only inner circle at SNL was to be romantically or sexually involved with the male writers already in it (Shales and Miller 84-85).

In general, a lack of sportsmanlike behavior and sense of responsibility to each other compromised the integrity of the show’s writers and actors to work together. Upon hearing buzz of getting his own show even before the first episode aired, Chevy Chase was already thinking of what new direction Saturday Night could catapult him in, much to the annoyance of John Belushi, who resented the perception of Chase as the show’s leading man. Garrett Morris, the show’s only Black writer and performer, struggled to integrate himself into the cast-central social life that was so important to his role at SNL. Feeling left out and constantly type-cast into roles merely because of his race, Morris did not feel like one of the group among his fellow writers and performers (Shales and Miller 90-91). Across the board, many of the cast and writers struggled with severe substance abuse, and their dependence on substances prevented their full, consistent commitment to the show’s project.

In spite of these challenges, the first episode of NBC’s Saturday Night was scheduled to air on October 11th, 1975, representing a decisive movement for the careers of its many young cast members and writers, as well as for Lorne Michaels.

Current Situation

It is the afternoon of October 11, 1975. After a chaotic, 3-hour long dress rehearsal, the show’s first episode is not yet finalized. 

The script has not been approved by the censors, as no final script has been written, and there is too much material to fit into the show’s allotted time window of (for our abridged purposes) 30 minutes.

In the next 8 hours, it is imperative that the cast and crew finalize a show order, write out a final script, and remain on okay terms with NBC’s corporate affiliates so the show can air its first episode at 11:30 PM.

Some Recurring Sketches from NBC’s Saturday Night Season 1

Many of the iconic and recurring sketches that appeared on Season 1 of NBC’s Saturday Night helped shape the show into today’s Saturday Night Live – some of these sketches appear even today, in SNL’s 50th season. The following is a (non-exhaustive) list of the titles of sketches that appeared on Season 1 from which delegates may draw inspiration. 

Delegates are encouraged to research a few of the following:

• “The Killer Bees”

• “Weekend Update”

• “The Land of Gorch”

• “Samurai Hotel”

• “Baba Wawa”

1. Michael O’Donoghue: The head writer of NBC’s Saturday Night who is unwilling to compromise his comedic vision to network or advertiser standards. He knows many of the cast members from their time together at the National Lampoon.

2. Rosie Shuster: A writer for Saturday Night, Lorne Michaels’s wife, and Dan Aykroyd’s lover. Shuster is dedicated to seeing the show’s vision through, but it is undoubtedly straining her and her husband’s relationship.

3. Al Franken: One of the apprentice writers (and an occasional performer) at Saturday Night. He was hired as a package deal alongside Tom Davis, with whom he used to be part of a comedy duo. 

4. Tom Davis: The second of the apprentice writers at Saturday Night. Davis was a talented improvisational comedian who used to be part of a comedy duo with Al Franken. As an apprentice writer, he had to share a single $350 weekly salary with Franken.

5. Herb Sargent: A former writer for the Steve Allen Show, Sargent was another one of the writers on Saturday Night. He coined the nickname “The Not Ready for Prime Time Players” for the Saturday Night cast and was known for his patience and calm-demeanor, which stood in stark contrast to the chaotic environment at Saturday Night.

6. Anne Beatts: A former restaurant reviewer for the Village Voice and the first female editor for the National Lampoon, where she worked with her then-boyfriend Michael O’Donoghue. She initially turned down the offer to write at Saturday Night, but accepted the post upon Michaels’s insistence.

7. George Carlin: Saturday Night’s first host. Carlin is a stand-up known for his dark, edgy comedic perspective on politics, religion, and psychology. Known for pushing the envelope on scandalous topics, Carlin was a temperamental first host who did not want to appear in any sketches.

8. Chevy Chase: Another former writer and cast member at The National Lampoon Radio Hour, Chase originally only wanted to be a writer for Saturday Night. However, he became the first cast member-writer on the show. He has a unique, one-year stipulation in his contract, and whispers of him getting his own show compromise his commitment to the Saturday Night ensemble. 

9. John Belushi: A 26 year-old stage actor from Chicago, Illinois. He’s met and acted alongside members of the ensemble at The Second City comedy club and National Lampoon Lemmings, a comedic off-Broadway musical. Saturday Night marks his breakthrough both on-screen and into more mainstream comedy, yet Belushi remains nervous and has yet to sign an official contract.

10. Gilda Radner: Saturday Night’s resident ingenue. Radner was the first cast member to sign onto the show, and she met many of her fellow cast members in the ensemble at Second City Comedy and at The National Lampoon Show. Her bubbly, charming personality made it easy for her to bond with everyone at Saturday Night.

11. Jane Curtin: Known her for down-to-earth and focused presence on set, Curtin was one of the original Saturday Night cast members. Curtin got started in comedy through an improv group called the Proposition. Just as composed off-set, while most of her cast-mates are living fast and dying young, Curtin is happily married with a dog.

12. Garrett Morris: A Juilliard-trained singer, playwright, and former schoolteacher. He was first hired as a writer for Saturday Night and became one of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players after a fellow writer tried to steal one of his sketches and get him fired. Morris struggles to find his identity among the other performers at Saturday Night. 

13. Laraine Newman: Before he hired her for Saturday Night, Lorne Michaels hired Newman for a Lily Tomlin special. Struggling with her new, chaotic environment at Saturday Night, Newman developed a serious eating disorder.

14. Dan Aykroyd: A cast member-writer on Saturday Night, Aykroyd is a good friend of John Belushi. A talented-celebrity impersonator, he brings a youthful and intensely energetic demeanor to the cast. 

15. Jim Henson: The creator of the Muppets and part of the original cast of Saturday Night. Henson’s vision for the puppets he creates for Saturday Night clashed with the comedic vision of the show’s writers, who struggled to fit Henson’s whimsical puppets into Saturday Night’s mature and irreverent tone. 

16. Andy Kaufman: Unwilling to label himself as a comedian, Kaufman was a young performance artist and unofficial member of the cast of Saturday Night. Kaufman was slated to perform parts of his act alongside the cast of Saturday Night, but the show will have to devise new plans to convince the anti-comedian to become a more permanent part of Saturday Night’s vision for comedy-variety television.

17. Tom Schiller: Yet another of Saturday Night’s debut-season writers. Instead of writing sketches, Schiller is set to write and direct short films that will air as part of Saturday Night’s variety programming. Based in New York City, Schiller's films compete with those written and directed by Albert Brooks.

18. Albert Brooks: A director of short films that were slated to air between sketches and other segments of the show, Brooks is the only member of the Saturday Night crew not based in New York City. His desire to curate the arcs of his short films leaves him pleading with Michaels to allot more time to air his shorts.

19. Dave Wilson: Hired to direct the show, Wilson has a lot of experience directing television. His expertise in directing on other television shows, and his strong opinions about the set and layout of the studio for logistical ends clash with Michaels’s creative vision for building a set for a live studio audience. 

20. Julian Goodman: The NBC chairman in 1975. As chairman of the corporation, he is most concerned with keeping ratings and revenue high and NBC’s image pristine, even if it means starting battles with the team at Saturday Night. 

21. Barbara Gallagher: An associate producer at Saturday Night, formerly at the Ed Sullivan Show. Hired for her experience producing live television, she is most concerned about the quality of facilities in Studio 8H. She spent much of the first season fighting to improve primitive sound and lighting in the studio while balancing pushback from NBC higher-ups who were unwilling to invest in a show that they were unsure would succeed. 

22. Alan Zweibel: A former deli slicer-turned-writer for Saturday Night. Zweibel used to sell jokes to other comics and was discovered by Michaels after bombing a set at a comedy club in New York City. After accepting Michaels’s offer to become a writer, he becomes close with cast member Gilda Radner. 

23. Craig Kellem: A second associate producer at Saturday Night. Throughout the first season, he is concerned with liaising with external representatives who wanted to involve the Saturday Night cast in commercials. While Lorne Michaels would prefer to keep Saturday Night far from commercials, engaging commercials would add to the cast and crew’s limited wages. 

24. Dick Ebersol: The head of weekend late-night programming at NBC. In 1974, he was tasked with creating a show to replace reruns of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson that aired at 11:30 PM on Saturday nights. He was given one year to develop the show and was promised it would get 6 months of air time if the idea was solid. He met and became friends with Lorne Michaels during the show’s development process. 

25. Charles R. Denny: The former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Denny became general counsel for NBC after leaving the FCC in 1947. As general counsel, Denny is responsible for providing legal advice to senior management at NBC and ensuring compliance with communications regulations across the network.

26. Richard E. Wiley: The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1975. The FCC regulates communications in the United States, including communications via television. Wiley is responsible for enforcing the laws against broadcasting obscene, indecent, and profane content on TV, a law that the content on Saturday Night may go toe-to-toe with.

27. David Tebet: An NBC executive who is overseeing the development and first show of Saturday Night. He previously worked on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. 

28. Herbert Schlosser: The current President of NBC who is interested in bringing up viewership in the 18-25 year-old demographic to ensure that NBC could claim the top spot among the three major American networks. Known for being aggressive and competitive, Schlosser has a lot riding on the progress of NBC’s Saturday Night, as he started term as NBC President just a year prior in 1974. 

29. Howard Shore: A Canadian composer, Shore is set to be the musical director at Saturday Night. In addition to having composed the iconic Saturday Night introductory theme, Shore collaborates with Michaels to bring fresh, up-and-coming talent to appear as musical guests on the show.

30. Johnny Carson: The well-established host of The Tonight Show. NBC’s Saturday Night would replace Tonight Show reruns that have usually played on late Saturday nights.

Topics of Debate

• Sketches – At this time, no final script has been created. Our host, George Carlin, is without a monologue, and no sketches have been drafted or approved by FCC censors or by NBC executives to air. Without any sketches (which could range from fake commercials to a classic, first rendition of “Weekend Update”), we have no show. 

• Despite having no script, we have a surplus of material to air. Even without sketches, competing short films by Albert Brooks and Tom Schiller, our host, and our two musical guests must make it seamlessly into the show alongside the upcoming sketches. It is critical that we determine the run-of-show order for all of our show’s elements, even if it means cutting some segments along the way.

• The environment on set – From excluded Black and female cast member-writers to the growing feud between John Belushi and Chevy Chase, the set of Saturday Night does not seem conducive to a team-driven environment. The workplace is in desperate need of some regulation (or even an intervention) to make sure it is a constructive environment for everyone involved.

• Facilities & Technology – the primitive facilities (including lighting and sound equipment) in Studio 8H are alarming. Convincing NBC executives could invest in these resources is an uphill battle. Cast members and crew-alike must collaborate to remedy the material conditions before the show can go on air.