That feeling you had watching star after star take the stage at the Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary special? Robin Duke felt the exact same way. The former SNL cast member and writer told Canada AM it was surreal being in the audience of studio 8H as the show unfolded.
"It was crazy. I sat beside Tom Green and we were just looking at each other saying 'Can you believe it? There’s so-and-so... there’s Donald Trump, there’s Al Sharpton.' There wasn’t a soul you didn’t know in that audience. It was crazy. Crazy fun!”
Duke began as an actress on Saturday Night Live in 1981, but ended up joining the writing staff because women who were part of the cast had to write from themselves. In her time with the show she worked alongside the likes of Joe Piscopo, Tim Kazurinsky, Jim Belushi and Eddie Murphy.
She said the after-party was something of a love-in, with former cast members meeting each other for the first time.
"Fred Arimsen, Jason Sudeikis, and Chris Rock all said 'You were in my cast. You were the cast that I watched,” Duke said.
Duke sent out a couple of juicy Tweets during the party. In one she mentioned that Dan Aykroyd, Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift had teamed up for a version of the Beatles' classic 'I Saw Her Standing There,' and that Debbie Harry was performing 'The Tide is High'.
She said she left the party after hearing Prince perform his hit "Let's Go Crazy".
"Nothing could top that," she said.
Duke now teaches comedy writing and performance at Humber College, and is a member of the sketch comedy troupe "Women Fully Clothed".
