How ‘SNL’ Inspired Curtis Sittenfeld’s Book ‘Romantic Comedy’: ‘I’m Not Sure This Novel Would Exist if Pete Davidson Didn’t Exist’
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New York Times-bestselling novelist Curtis Sittenfeld broke out with her 2005 debut “Prep,” which unpacked the layered coming-of-age of a teenager at a private boarding school. Since then, she’s spun “Pride and Prejudice” for the 21st century with 2016’s “Eligible” and reimagined the fictional lives of Laura Bush in “American Wife” and Hillary Clinton in “Rodham.” Now, with “Romantic Comedy,” Sittenfeld crafts a lighthearted romance between a late-night comedy writer and an aging pop star, framed within a smart, funny commentary about the dynamics and perceptions of celebrity relationships.
“Romantic Comedy” follows Sally Milz, who writes for a fictional “Saturday Night Live”-esque show called “The Night Owls.” While not necessarily cynical about love, Milz has had enough experiences under her belt to mitigate her own expectations romantically. When her friend and colleague, Danny Horst (by all accounts an average-looking, if talented, man) gets engaged to a gorgeous actress named Annabel Horst, Milz puts pen to paper to write a sketch called the Danny Horst Rule, riffing on the trend of very normal men pairing off with successful and captivating women — all the while emphasizing that the opposite never happens. But when the show’s guest host, a pop star named Noah Brewster, begins to show interest in her, Milz finds her life upended and her own assumptions challenged when she starts to live in her own romantic comedy.
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In a conversation with Variety, Sittenfeld reveals how a lifelong affinity for “Saturday Night Live” led her to write the romance novel.
How did you decide on the title for your novel?
While my family was watching a lot of “SNL” during the pandemic, I thought to myself: Someone should write a screenplay for a romantic comedy about a woman who’s a writer at a place like “SNL” who writes a sketch making fun of the phenomenon of men from the show dating these stunningly beautiful, super famous celebrities who are guests on the show — and how that phenomenon doesn’t seem to happen with the female writer and the gorgeous, famous male celebrity. It tends to only happen in one direction. A few months passed, and I thought, Oh, maybe that screenplay that someone should write is a novel, and maybe that someone is me. In that way, I think the title “Romantic Comedy” naturally arose from that.
Tell me about your obsession with “Saturday Night Live.” How did it begin?
So in “Romantic Comedy,” Sally mentioned that she is the same age as “The Night Owls,” which is obviously the stand-in for “Saturday Night Live.” But in real life, “Saturday Night Live” and I are the same age. We both were born in 1975. My first memories are from when I was about 10 and being at my friend Annie’s house, and her older brothers showing us sketches in the attic — not even necessarily getting all the humor, but being really captivated by the energy and thinking it seemed like a really fun parallel universe inside the TV. I’m obsessed enough with “Saturday Night Live” to have written a novel about it and done a ton of research and loved doing the research. I’ve watched it off and on for my whole life. It’s not like I’ve watched it every week for 35 years or something — I probably have seen 99 percent of the entire episodes of the last five years.
What are your favorite sketches that you rewatch?
Every Christmas my family watches “Schweddy Balls.” It’s a classic, it’s amazing. I think it’s from the early ‘90s, and it has Alec Baldwin, Anna Gasteyer and Molly Shannon, who play NPR hosts. It’s really good. So that’s on an annual basis. These are all so kind of bodily focused, but my family has definitely watched “Undercover Office Potty.” Another one that my family loves is “Crucible Cast Party.”
What did your research for this novel look like?
I started with doing research and writing at the same time, because it helps me to write a scene and, in writing, realize what I don’t know and where the gaps in my knowledge are. There’s the oral history of “Saturday Night Live,” which has been revised and expanded a few times, but it’s called “Live from New York.” That’s a treasure trove. There’s a ton of memoirs, including Molly Shannon’s memoir — which actually was published during the time I was writing — is really great. Colin Jost’s, Jay Mohr’s is really good. Sarah Silverman’s, and then, of course, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Tracy Morgan. “SNL” makes its own digital shorts about how its various department works, and it’s fascinating and very detailed. There’s also a documentary that James Franco made that’s called “Saturday Night.” It’s about like a week in the life of a show. That was really useful. Then there’s all these podcasts where cast members or former writers or current writers or whatever are interviewed, including Conan O’Brien’s podcast and Marc Maron’s podcast and Mike Birbiglia’s podcast. This came out during the time I was writing the book, but “Fly on the Wall,” which is Dana Carvey and David Spade. That is very explicitly “SNL” focused. I also did interview two people who’ve worked there.
What real-life “SNL” couples inspired Danny and Annabel’s and also Sally and Noah’s relationships?
I don’t think there’s a one-to-one relationship between real people and the characters in the book. I think I’ve fleetingly met a cast member or two, but I don’t know them. I’m not sure this novel would exist if Pete Davidson didn’t exist. But even so, I would not say that there’s a Pete Davidson in the book. Noah has a career that resembles certain real musicians’, or I think of his music as most resembling some real people’s, but he has his own personality. That’s true for all the characters — I was writing and making up their dialogue. I wasn’t trying to take anything that anyone has said in real life and repurpose it.
“Romantic Comedy” focuses on Sally and Noah when they’re in their mid- to late 30s, whereas a few of your other novels like “Rodham” and “American Wife” have spanned the course of your characters’ lives. What went into that decision to have your characters be at that age this time around?
There’s kinds of confusion that people commonly feel in their twenties. There’s different kinds of confusion you feel as you get older, and I think I’m more interested in the older confusion. [Sally] had a so-called “starter marriage,” so her perspective is not like, “Oh, I’ll find someone and the ultimate dream is that I’ll get married, and then that will resolve what’s wrong with my life or what’s missing with my life.” She never really thinks that. But she’s both open and not open to romantic connection, and I think a lot of the novel is her having to figure out, is she more open or is she less open?
What are your favorite romantic comedy films?
I’m a fan of “When Harry Met Sally.” I don’t know if “Dirty Dancing” counts as a romantic comedy; I am a big fan of that. I like “Notting Hill.” I feel like this [novel] has a little bit of inverted “Notting Hill” inside.
You’ve previously cited “The Idea of You” by Robinne Lee as a book that you enjoyed recently, and it’s being adapted into a film with Anne Hathaway. What about the book will the film need to capture and preserve in order to maintain the original appeal of the story?
First of all, that book does so many things very well. The sex scenes are great, and there’s a lot of them. The chemistry between the main characters is very persuasive. In theory, it shouldn’t really add up that like, a 40-year-old woman and a 20-year-old boy band heartthrob are into each other in both directions, but I feel like their chemistry is very believable. They’re both very appealing, and they’re three-dimensional characters. I will definitely make time to see that one.
What makes a well-written sex scene different from a poorly written sex scene?
There’s the famous Supreme Court definition of pornography: “I’ll know it when I see it.” This might be a spin on that. It’s hard to say, but you know it when you see it.
To what extent do you think your book simply fulfills the fantasy of what we might want to be true?
That’s an excellent question. I think that it’s very hard to speak in generalizations. It’s almost funny to me that a novel writes a specific book about very specific characters and then, because of that, the novelist is asked to make sweeping generalizations…But I don’t know. Is romance an illusion? Or is it a real and beautiful and special connection that doesn’t happen for everyone, but does happen for people who are lucky? I don’t know. It depends how you define everything or any relationship between two people. There can be some beautiful romance when people have known each other for two years and then when they’ve known each other for 18 years it’s not as beautiful. I’m certainly old enough that I know a fair number of people who are divorced. It depends on the marriage, but it doesn’t mean the marriage was a mistake or nothing good came of it. Every story can be told and in multiple ways, and almost every argument about humans and human nature can be made. I write to try to sort out what I think. I don’t always come to a conclusion.
“Romantic Comedy” is available in bookstores now.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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