Live audience at Saturday Night Live gets paid

NEW YORK • Before the coronavirus outbreak, tickets to join the studio audience of Saturday Night Live (SNL) were a precious commodity - offered free by NBC but so hard to obtain that some comedy fans were willing to pay for them.

But now, the tickets to this long-running sketch show - still free and still scarce - come with a bonus: Members of its studio audience have been paid to attend.

The payments are the result of new guidelines implemented by the state of New York, which has been regulating the reopening of businesses and industries during the pandemic.

On Monday night, the state's health department confirmed that SNL had followed its reopening guidelines by "casting" members of the live audience for its season premiere on Saturday - the show's first live episode since March 7 - and paying them for their time.

It is not clear how many audience members were paid guests.

Mr Sean Ludwig, who attended the SNL season premiere over the weekend, said he and seven friends each received a cheque for US$150 (S$204) from Universal Television, a division of NBC's parent company, when the show was over.

"We had no idea we would be paid before we were handed cheques," he said. "We were all very pleasantly surprised."

The freelance writer, who runs a barbecue website and newsletter, said he and his friends had obtained the tickets through a website called 1iota that screens audiences for talk shows and other events.

He said they had been given a rapid virus test and asked to sign health forms indicating that they did not have Covid-19 or its symptoms and had not come into contact with anyone who had it before they were allowed to attend the show.

In the days leading up to the SNL season premiere, it was unclear whether the show would be able to draw its studio audience from the general public, as it has done in past years, because of state restrictions around reopening during the pandemic.

In an earlier statement, the state's health department said ticketed events had been prohibited since March 16 and that the restriction had not changed.

But SNL had already been asking live audience members to register through its 1iota page, which has since been taken down.

The show had asked applicants to request between seven and nine tickets for people whom they considered to be part of their "social bubble" and had outlined the coronavirus-related precautions that the show would be taking.

The president of 1iota Productions, Mr Ben Biscotti, declined to comment on the company's role regarding the show's live audience and did not immediately respond to a question about why the SNL page was taken down.

Based on the guidelines around pandemic-era media production that were released by the state, television shows are not allowed to host live audiences unless they consist of paid employees, cast and crew.

And if the show decides to create an audience out of its workers, the audience can be only 25 per cent of its typical size, and can be no more than 100 people.

That left SNL an option that would allow it to include members of the public in its live audiences while keeping in line with the state's rules: Pay those audience members like employees.

Mr Jonah Bruno, a spokesman for the state health department, said in a statement on Monday night that SNL had confirmed to them that it had followed the state's reopening guidelines by selecting audience members through a third-party screening and casting process and by compensating them for their time.

Last month, NBC announced that SNL would return to its traditional live format, starting with its Oct 3 season premiere, which was hosted by Chris Rock.

A portion of the tickets to the show was reserved for healthcare workers, who received a humorous shout-out at the start of the show.

In his opening monologue, Rock addressed the front section of audience members, whom he identified as first responders, and joked: "They're so good, we let people die tonight so they could see a good show."

The show is expected to air at least four more live episodes through the end of the month.

NYTIMES