Saturday Night Live Fantasy League is back for a third
season, fresh off the excitement of Season 40 with renewed expectations for New
York’s sketch comedy institution.
Trivia Club is once again opening up our fantasy league for
the comedy nerd and everyone who would like to join in! Though I guess you
might be asking yourself, or the closest person to you…
“HOW DO I SNL FANTASY
LEAGUE?”
Good question! If you’re interested in this odd concept
taken to its logical (or illogical, depending on your point of view) extreme,
let’s talk about the business of this show.
1) JOIN the SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE FANTASY LEAGUE Group on Facebook
Facebook or Twitter are, of course, the main hubs of communication
for the league with Facebook taking the brunt of keeping League members up to
date on important dates. It also keeps members of the League in contact for the
only episode-to-episode part of the game (which we’ll get to).
2) CHOOSE YOUR TEAM
NAME
Choose wisely, we’re celebrating a comedy show after all.
Luckily you’ve got a lot of material to work with.
3) DRAFT YOUR CAST
& PREDICT HOSTS
The big points come from who you draft from the cast members
of Saturday Night Live, while gaining those additional points that will help
you win, comes from drafting the correct hosts. When it comes to a time
commitment, DRAFT DAY is the only one we ask of you when you join our SNL
Fantasy League. Though the numbers are tweaked, so as to better serve the
number of participants each season, in the first week or two of September the
eight or so REPERTORY LEAGUE members (those involved since the start of the
League, coupled with a mix of others) participate in an in-person draft, while
FEATURED LEAGUE members (broken into smaller groups) draft through Facebook.
Further details of the drafts can be found on this blog, but to put it in the
simplest way possible. Draft order is decided randomly, with each round being
mixed in a way that is as mathematically fair (putting the nerd in comedy nerd)
as possible.
a) You will draft three Cast Members. Like with our Season
40 draft, all cast members will be available up front.
b) You will then draft the eight to ten (depending on League
size) Hosts who you predict will host during the upcoming season of Saturday
Night Live.
Remember that all of the people that you draft will be
getting points based off of this system, so
if you believe we’re missing anything important please do make sure to bring
that to our attention. Also, if anything happens with either additions to or
demotions from the cast, we’ve got a plan for that and a NAME for that PLAN!
4) SIT BACK, ENJOY
SNL, & CHOOSE WHICH SONGS THE MUSICAL GUESTS PLAY
After DRAFT DAY the only other way to get points will be,
before the start of each episode (Eastern Standard Time), choosing the TWO SONGS (unless they’re
Prince) that you believe the Musical Guests will play, and in which specific order. Submitting your SONG
CHOICES will also be done through Facebook, simply because it’s easiest to keep
track of things when they’re all in one place.
Other than that, enjoy Saturday Night Live this season! It’s been said by members of the Fantasy League in these first two
seasons (and I have to agree) that after you draft someone you become more
invested in that performer then you thought you would! It even adds a level of
excitement to those episodes that you, as a viewer, might otherwise consider an
off week.
After each episode a full Breakdown is posted on the Trivia Club blog showing who scored what and how that affects both
the score of your team on that episode, as well as throughout the season. The
Breakdown also features thoughts on the episode (P’s & Q’s), as well as a
preview of what to look forward to in the coming week(s).
It’s just part of the growing community of comedy fans that
we’ve found ourselves in, and speaking of which…
5) LISTEN TO THE
PODCAST
Yes, the Saturday Night Live Fantasy League has a podcast,
in fact that’s how some of you found out about us! Deep Thoughts on SNL is hosted by Rob Moden, who is joined by other
members of the Fantasy League each week, including Brian Edwards, Leah Sueko, and Matthew Smith, to talk not only about that week’s
episode and the League, but also about the larger Saturday Night Live and
comedy world, as well!
So listen in, and if the opportunity arises, and the
potential is there, then please feel free to take part!
6) THE WINNER IS YOU!
Finally, since we’re playing a game then there has to be a
winner at the end of the season! Naturally, the top score in each League wins a
trophy, because we’re sporting people. And since this IS a Trivia Club run
event, that trophy has a fair amount of gold to go with it!
With the introduction of the FEATURED LEAGUE, for those new
to the Saturday Night Live Fantasy League, we also introduced the GILDED RADNER!
The first Gilded Radner was won by Three Legged Jeans, and was accepted by
their GM Lori D (we’re like Survivor, we enjoy first names and last initials)!
Luckily, as we waited to see if Kate would become available
to accept the Hartman on The Ignorant Sluts behalf, it did give us a chance to
spruce up the Biggest Prize in Comedy-Based Fantasy Leagues!
And we’ve got even
more prizes planned for this year, with the potential return of the Versus
head-to-head portion of the League, as well as acknowledging the best in
predicting Hosts, Musical Guest song choices, and other such things!
So yes, THAT is how you
Saturday Night Live Fantasy League, but if you have any other questions please
do contact us on Facebook or Twitter! Also keep a look out on both of those
platforms, especially around the first or second weekend of September for DRAFT DAY, as we
prepare for Season Forty-One of SNL and the THIRD edition of the SNL Fantasy
League! Can’t wait to have you be a part of the game!
Russel Harder hosts Trivia Club at Hitch (1216 Queen St East) every other MONDAY of the month, at Lou Dawg's near Ryerson (76 Gerrard St E) every TUESDAY, and Cardinal Rule (5 Roncesvalles Ave) every WEDNESDAY!
