» On 8/01/2024 12:30:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Franken v. Tartikoff. 

Al Franken was a writer and featured player on Saturday Night Live during the time I worked as an NBC Page. One week, he wrote a wickedly funny "news commentary" sketch that satirized Brandon Tartikoff, the soon-to-be-president of NBC's entertainment division. Following rehearsals, word quickly spread throughout 30 Rock... and we all became painfully aware that Tartikoff wanted to be in the studio audience. Uh-oh.

After Franken performed his sketch during the live broadcast, he ran over to me and frantically asked, "Where was he? Where was he?" I replied, "Did you happen to notice the guy sitting directly in your sight line, just behind the cue cards? The guy who walked out when the sketch ended?"

But instead of firing anybody, Tartikoff (1949-1997) performed on SNL the next week in a sketch that skewered Franken. Classy guy.

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