Tina Fey’s clip on Amy Poehler’s just-launched podcast Good Hang, about how “rich people shouldn’t have side hustles” has been going viral (more coverage of it here).
I disagree with Fey’s point of view - I think anyone should be able to try multiple things, regardless of what they are already known for - but I also think it was sort of a comedy bit that fell flat, rather than a full thesis from her. I also used to host a podcast for Forbes called Two Inboxes whose sub-title was “interviews with the side hustle generation”, so I may have more affinity for side hustles than most.
Anyway, the clip going viral reminded me of a line from Fey’s bestselling book Bossypants:
“The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.
This is something Lorne [Michaels] has said often about Saturday Night Live…”
I think about this line when writing this newsletter. Beck on Tech goes out at noon ET every day, not because it’s perfect but because it’s time. Sometimes I love what I have written, sometimes other people love it, and sometimes we both do.
But the show goes on.
So if you want to have a regular habit for anything, you need a SNL Time.
The time that the habit starts, the work gets shared, the running shoes go on. Even if you - or the work - isn’t 100% ready.
So onward we go. Because with an SNL Time, we are always going onward.
It’s 11:30pm on a Saturday night, and it’s Live From Your New Habit.
-Molly Beck
Or, as the boss told me when as a newcomer to the anchor desk I was a couple of minutes late (traffic!) the Six O’Clock News is not a suggestion, Ruth Ann.