Bringing edginess to the mainstream
Comedian Jay on her bold Netflix special and writing for SNL’s diverse cast
In some ways, 3 in the Morning — the Netflix standup special from Saturday Night Live writer Sam Jay — is a sort-of capsule from the Before Times. For one, it was recorded in front of a sold-out crowd at The Masquerade in Atlanta.
“It is kind of like, ‘Wow, I made this right before the world blew up,’ ” says Jay, 38. “I had thoughts of, ‘How relevant is any of this stuff now?’ because the world is just completely different.”
Ultimately, though, Jay said, “It really isn’t completely different — it’s just completely exposed. I think a lot of the things I was saying were speaking to the pulse of what was going on, and that stuff was kind of under the surface.”
Take, for example, Jay’s bit about the British Museum being filled with stolen artifacts — a thread that has come up in recent years, and especially amid conversations about race in the past few months. “It’s huge. I was overwhelmed,” Jay tells viewers. “It was wing after wing after wing of stuff, and it blew my mind because I was like ‘Wow, white people stole all this stuff.’ ”
Jay — who is both Black and a lesbian — joined SNL’s writers’ room in 2017 on the heels of renewed criticism around the show’s lack of diversity.
Many of the riffs in 3 in the Morning take on the same layered approach Jay employs in her SNL sketches, including Cha Cha Slide, a 2019 sketch that featured John Mulaney as a man attending a wedding with his girlfriend. Because the girlfriend (Ego Nwodim) and her family are Black, the joke initially plays like the gag is about the white guy sticking out at a Black wedding. But the sketch, which Jay wrote with co-head writer Bryan Tucker, gradually reveals that Mulaney’s character is exceptionally well-versed on Black culture.
The bit is merely about the awkwardness of meeting a significant other’s family.
“Even in school, I would like to just play the Devil’s advocate. I just like to challenge how people think,” Jay said.
We spoke with Jay about her Netflix special, her approach to comedy, and SNL. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q
Are there any jokes that pushed you out of your comfort zone?
A
The joke I did about my (late) mom was probably the hardest joke to do because I don’t talk about my
mom onstage a lot. (Note: The joke revolves around Jay’s fear, at 11 years old, that she would be abducted by aliens, which manifested in a way that deeply worried her mother.) And it’s just very personal. I feel like there are still things that are unresolved with how I feel — not unresolved, just sensitive. It’s a very sensitive thing.
I try to be honest in my art. It felt dishonest if I didn’t tell it when talking about how I think about my life in relation to having my own kids.
Q
Cha Cha Slide is one of the sketches SNL fans associate most with you, and it was such a refreshing moment for SNL. After seeing it, I told several people it was “the Blackest sketch I’d ever seen on SNL.” Is it one that you hear about a lot?
A
That sketch, I just feel like I got all this Black magic in it. You know, me and Tucker wrote it together, and ... it was one of those SNLs where I was like, “I hope Black people watch today because I feel so good about this one.” And to see the tweets from the people picking up on the nuance and the fun of it, it felt real good.
Q
Was that the first sketch where you felt like you’d hit your stride on the show?
A
Them Trumps was the first sketch that felt like, “Yeah, this me.” It’s like an Empire parody, but it’s Trump and (he’s) Black. One of his businesses is a ham company. It’s just all the type of goofy (stuff ) that I like.
Q
SNL is probably at its most diverse ever right now. What’s it like to be on the show now?
A
Yeah, it does a little bit. You’ve got (writer-turned-cast member) Bowen (Yang) there. There’s me, there’s Ego (Nwodim), there’s Chris (Redd). Gary Richardson, who is another Black writer on the show. Sudi
Green, who is Iranian. You have all this energy, but then you have the old energy that was already there — like James Anderson, who has been at the show forever, and is a gay writer. You have (co-head writer Michael) Che, you have Kenan (Thompson). It just feels like the sauce is cooking right, for whatever reason.