I’ve watched hundreds of Saturday Night Live episodes, and at no point have I ever thought about the practicalities of wearing a bald cap and what that means for someone who is in multiple sketches. Well, it turns out it means a lot of pre-production planning and a series of wig changes.
The subject of bald caps came up during a recent episode of Fly On The Wall with David Spade and Dana Carvey. At first the conversation was in reference to Coneheads, but later, the two started talking more broadly about how it works on Saturday Night Live. Apparently, if a host is going to wear a bald cap at any point during the episode, they typically put it on before the show even starts. Then, the production department gives them a wig during the monologue to resemble their real hair so no one notices.
According to Spade, it’s an issue of timing. It used to take about 45 minutes to get into the bald cap, although he thinks it might be a little faster now. That’s only half the problem though. Once you’re done with the bald cap and want to take it off, your hair is a matted down mess that’s not fit for television. Since there’s no time with a live show like SNL to redo it, the plan is typically just to keep using different wigs until the closing credits, at which point you can finally take it off. That's especially true for the host who is often in most sketches, but it can also be true for cast members if they have a busy night too.
Here’s a portion of Spade’s quote talking about how it works…
A host will put the bald cap on before the show because it used to take 45 minutes. It’s probably quicker now. You put it on, now monologue, here’s my “real hair” (which is a) wig. Ryan Gosling has one that looks like his real hair because if not, they have to blow dry it, style it. (After rehearsal) you have an hour before the air show. (They’re not gonna say) ‘let’s wash it again in the bowl, blow dry it.’ You don’t have time! So they go wig a lot of the time and then every sketch, different goofy wig.
It’s really a credit to Saturday Night Live and the heroes over in the make-up and costume departments at 30 Rock that I’ve never thought about this before (or how much the process can cost). I’m always on the lookout for bad wigs and sketchy makeup, but I’ve never second guessed a host during their monologue or noticed a consistent pattern of wigs after bald caps. I just ignorantly thought they were throwing on the bald caps ten minutes or so prior to the sketch and ripping them off as soon as they’re done.
I can’t wait to be on the lookout for all of this next month. Season 52 is scheduled to return to NBC and Peacock on September 26. We still don’t have definitive answers on the cast, at least outside of Chloe Fineman leaving, but the specifics should start coming in the next few weeks. I don't expect to see huge turnover, as the show has really found its rhythm lately, but we'll have to wait and see what longtime showrunner Lorne Michaels decides.
