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Chicago's Second City has a long history of producing comedy superstars, many of whom followed alums John Belushi, Dan Aykyrod, and Gilda Radner to NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL). SNL alums, in turn, have also gone on to large screen success. Mike Myers, Tina Fey, and Steve Carrell are just a few of the recent Second City and SNL alums to enjoy such success. In this talk, I'll use the casts of the Second City Chicago and Saturday Night Live to examine the role of social networks in the production of comedy. Actors and their networks are often used to illustrate network phenomena such as "small worlds" or as fodder for party games such as "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". In this talk, we'll look specifically at comedy actors and explore whether their associations in one area (e.g., on stage) impact their associations or success in another (e.g., Hollywood).
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Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
MAKING LAUGHSDr. Libby Hemphill
Illinois Institute of Technology
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Plan for Talk
• Why Making Laughs?• Why Second City and SNL for a cultural policy audience?
• Intellectual Context• History of SC and SNL• Preliminary Findings
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
WHY MAKING LAUGHS?
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Motivating the Project• Hollywood cast networks popular for illustrating network
concepts• TV forces the marriage of art and commerce• Ongoing collaborations• What if we think about the production of the text as a
social endeavor?
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
INTELLECTUAL CONTEXT
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Intellectual Context• Projects
• Actor-Network Theory (Mould, 2009; Latour, 2005)• Coordination (Jones et al., 1998)• Cottage economies (Blair, 2001)
• Production• Marxist foci on labor(ers) (Rosten, 1941; Mayer, 2009)• Liberation and constraint (Powdermaker, 1950)
• Position• Brokerage and closure (Burt, 2010)• Elite influence (Kadushin, 2012)
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Other Research Sites
• Scientific collaboration• Boards of Directors• Industry managers• Job seekers• Parisian salons• Movie cast credits• Movie crew credits
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
SECOND CITY AND SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
PRELIMINARY FINDINGS
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Connecting Second City and SNL
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Season 20(1994-1995) CastMorwenna BanksEllen CleghorneChris ElliottChris FarleyJaneane GarofaloNorm MacDonaldMichael McKeanMark McKinneyTim MeadowsMike MyersKevin NealonAdam SandlerDavid SpadeAl FrankenLaura KightlingerJay MohrMolly Shannon
Photo: NBC
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Network Overview: Both SC and SNL
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Season 10(1994-1995) CastJim BelushiBilly CrystalMary GrossChristopher GuestRich HallGary KroegerJulia Louis-DreyfusHarry ShearerMartin Short*Pamela Stephenson
Photo: NBC
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Brokerage: SNL only
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Al Franken
Photo: NBC
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Core-PeripheryFitness: 0.271
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Core-periphery
1 2
1 0.173 0.131
2 0.065 0.051
Little evidence
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FactionsFitness: 0.215
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Factions
1 2
1 0.181 0.036
2 0.033 0.123
Little evidence
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Degree distributions for three different types of networks: (a) scientific collaboration networks of biologists (circles) and physicists (squares); (b) a collaboration network of
movie actors; (c) network of directors of Fortune 1000 companies.
Newman M E J et al. PNAS 2002;99:2566-2572
©2002 by National Academy of Sciences
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Cumulative Degree Distribution:Saturday Night Live
0 10 20 30 40 50 601
10
100
1000
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Structural Holes
Tina Fey Al Franken
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Structural Holes
Amy Poehler Mike Myers
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
TAKEAWAYS AND FUTURE WORK
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Takeaways
• Improv/sketch NOT like Boards or Films
• No evidence of core-periphery or factions
• Most influential players had weak ties to early adopters
• Women and non-white men have limited roles in network
• “Bad” years don’t appear structurally different from “good”
years
• How useful is social network analysis for creative
endeavors?
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Future Work
• Expand to include off-screen talent (e.g., writers,
producers)
• Include other groups such as Groundlings
• Examine relationships between power and
gender
• Update tools like Timeline to serve as resources
for others
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Funny Girls
Photo: Vanity Fair
Libby Hemphill (CC BY 3.0)
Contact Me
Dr. Libby Hemphill
Assistant Professor of Communication and Information Studies
Illinois Institute of Technology
http://www.casmlab.org
http://www.libbyh.com
