There was an era at Saturday Night Live when the bumpers — those bold, graphic portraits of hosts and musical guests that appear between commercial breaks and show segments — were frequently shot outside SNL's studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, on the streets of New York City.
"But nowadays, with celebrity culture, and people [swarming] them and taking pictures, it's just not possible," says Mary Ellen Matthews, the show's photographer since 2000. Which makes images like that of Sarah Silverman dusting the NBC marquee all the more special.
The setup was a last-minute pitch, and Silverman, that week's host, proved game. Tom Broecker, SNL's costume designer, threw together a maid's uniform and out they went. "But you have to get permissions and permits," Matthews says. "Ultimately, we got the image, but I kind of got my hand slapped for that."
It's no wonder Matthews seized her moment. Each Thursday afternoon, she has only an hour or two with the host to shoot eight or nine images, plus a video for social media. Like the rest of the cast and crew, Matthews abides by the unofficial SNL motto: The show doesn't go on because it's ready — it goes on because it's 11:30.
She was originally hired in 1993 as an assistant to the show's original photographer, Edie Baskin, after years of being a fan of the series. "I remember trying to stay up with my brothers and sisters and be cool and watch Jackson Browne on SNL, but I couldn't stay awake."
Matthews's love of pop culture frequently finds its way into her work, examples of which can be seen on the following pages, along with her memories of each shoot. But many of her ideas come out of thin air, she says, paraphrasing Quincy Jones: "You have to leave room for God when you enter the studio."
This article originally appeared in emmy magazine issue #6, 2022, under the title, "Hot Shots."
