Not every Saturday Night Live sketch is destined for viral glory, even if Andy Samberg is behind the idea. And that's especially true if Lorne Michaels himself hates it.
The sketch in question is "Lamps" from a 2008 episode hosted by Hugh Laurie. The clip resurfaced recently on The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast, where Meyers prompted his former SNL colleagues to recall Lamps, a strange sketch involving singing lamps
In the sketch, Samberg, Kristen Wiig, and Laurie played lamps that come to life and burst into song once their human owners (Fred Armisen and Michaela Watkins) leave the store. Things take a turn when the lamps are caught mid-serenade and must go to absurd lengths to cover up their sentient secret.
The Toy Story-inspired concept sounds absurd, but not too far off from what SNL audiences would expect from Andy Samberg. But according to former head writer Rob Klein, it nearly cost him his sanity.
“I think Andy wrote the title, and we wrote the first page of it before we had any idea that the lamps were going to sing,” Klein revealed via voice note on the podcast. “At a certain point, Andy, as a lamp, just started singing, and we were having a blast. Little did we know that the sense of fun was going to soon be replaced by one of the darkest weeks of my professional life.”
According to Klein, fellow writers were even irritated by the sketch's title. But the ultimate blow came when word spread that Lorne Michaels hated the bit.
“Soon, I find out no one is angrier about the sketch ‘Lamps’ than Lorne Michaels,” Klein recounted. “He doesn’t think it makes sense. He doesn’t understand why the lamps are singing.”
That didn’t stop the sketch from making it to air, though it wasn’t without consequences. Michaels reportedly disliked it enough to personally attend the sketch’s blocking (a rare move) and producers were warning people about Michaels' feelings during rewrites. Klein recalls hearing producer Michael Shoemaker break the news: “Yeah, Lorne hates ‘Lamps.’”
But for whatever reason, it was never enough for Michaels to completely pull the sketch. It made it past the infamously challenging writers' room, past dress rehearsal, and ultimately aired.
Perhaps Michaels has something to do with the fact the sketch isn't available on the show's official YouTube channel. But those willing to judge "Lamps" for themselves can find the episode on Peacock.