Whenever we start doing something creative for the first time, whether that’s an audio video podcast, live streaming on social media, performing live on-stage, or hosting our own live and local radio show, we all struggle with how much to script versus how much to improvise. I’ve gone back and forth with this myself over the years because I felt self-conscious about using bullet points on all my content breaks on the air and fully scripting some of the more elaborate bits despite being in radio my whole life. But, each personality has to figure out what works best for them and that’s what works for me. Like many nuanced questions, there isn’t an easy one-size-fits-all answer to the question on scripting breaks. History tells us that both can work, Saturday Night is a highly successful example of a scripted show working so well it just celebrated it’s 50^th anniversary. On the other end of the spectrum Curb Your Enthusiasm is a successful and critically acclaimed example of a show that’s mostly improvised. So, I encourage on-air personalities to ask themselves this question, should my radio show be more like SNL or Curb? Here’s some of the upsides and challenges of going either way.

This iconic Cowbell scene that lives rent free in many of our heads, and gets quoted by virtually every musician I know, is a perfect example of why Saturday Night Live works. That’s probably why they devoted a full episode to breaking it down on the new SNL documentary SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night on Peacock. To pull off a weekly live TV show, Lorne Michaels has developed a specific formula he follows year after year. He and his long-time staff of producers, casting directors and other staff keep a pulse on all things comedy in the US and Canada to help them identify up and coming comedy writers and performers. Then they put them through a grueling round of live auditions, to narrow that down until they find the absolute best of the best. Because SNL is a heritage show that has been a part of shaping pop culture since 1975, the pool of applicants interested in being on the show is almost everyone who’s currently doing comedy in any way shape or form. After hiring the best of the best he then puts them into a highly competitive environment where they write, pitch, produce and act-out three to five minute scenes live for millions just a few days later. It’s not for everyone, many future stars have famously quit or been fired quickly, others talk about their time there like it was a warzone. Most importantly though, it works because everything is scripted and there’s a single, experienced decision maker making the final call on what makes it on-air. When there is improvisation or things don’t go exactly to plan, like on the Cowbell example, Lorne trusts that he hired the right people to pull it off and protect the SNL brand more times than not. There are lots of radio personalities, and especially team shows, that would benefit from applying that SNL mostly scripted with a little room to strategically improvise formula to their shows when they’re doing bits or elaborate content. Traditionally it’s been too time consuming for talent to apply that scripted formula to the entirety of their shows, but with new AI tools it’s getting more and more doable with each passing day.

Curb Your Enthusiasm is one of the most relatable shows in the history of television. I have literally had that above conversation multiple times over my career as we argued about who was going to talk to someone at the company about their wardrobe choices. One of the things that makes that Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David scene unique is that, like everything on the show, it was mostly improvised. Curb famously doesn’t have a full script, there are writers but they just provide an outline for the scene so the actors know how to move the story along (kind of like when radio talent use bullet points). This approach can work well for some seasoned broadcasters when they’re doing solo shows but it can be dangerous for team shows unless they rehearse a lot off the air, something radio personalities tend to hate. The example scene works well because A) these two are comedy legends who’ve been at this for a long time, B) they’ve known each other for years so they play off each other well and C) the only variable is Jillian Bell, an actress who is also experienced in comedy and improvising. This Curb formula can be applied to radio team shows if all of those same rules are followed. If you want to know more about why Curb works there’s a great behind the scenes podcast about it called The History of Curb Your Enthusiasm with Susie Essman and Jeff Garlin.

What do you think, what other example can these shows teach radio talent? Comment below or email me at Andy@RadioStationConsultant.com.