10 times ‘Saturday Night Live’ took a bite out of the Big Apple

nypost.com:

with two specials, it’s the perfect time to look back at its best sketches mocking Manhattan. “SNL” is celebrating its half-centennial with “SNL50: The Anniversary Special,” (airing on a rare Sunday night (Feb.

16 at 8 p.m. on NBC and Peacock) and “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert,” (streaming live from Radio City Music Hall on Peacock Friday, Feb.

14 at 8 p.m.). Carol Leifer, an Emmy-nominated writer who has worked on the Oscars, “Seinfeld” and “Saturday Night Live,” told The Post that as she looks back, “You realize not only what an institution it is, but how it’s really shaped the culture.”She added: “Lorne Michaels..this man and his eye for talent, is amazing.”Leifer was an “SNL” writer at the beginning of her career in 1985 during the infamous Season 11, when the cast included Joan Cusack, Jon Lovitz, Robert Downey Jr., and Anthony Michael Hall. “[Downey Jr.] and Anthony Michael Hall were the kids on the show, I think they used to skateboard around the halls, it was crazy,” she recalled. “But, whatever sketches they were in, they were funny,” she went on. “I look back on it and they were so young to be on the show that I’m sure it was also just very difficult for them to navigate the place.”Leifer viewed the experience as a training ground. “A lot of people think writers have to get some inspiration and you have to think about things and then maybe write something.”But on “SNL,” she said, “You have to produce a lot, and also pretty quickly….So I think it also gave me a great work ethic.