CREATING A GREAT 'MORNIN”

SNL's recent "Mornin' Miami" sketch was a big hit, as Moynihan, Kate McKinnon and host Miley Cyrus played morning show hosts who are not at all perky when the cameras stop rolling. Moynihan and McKinnon got the idea during a satellite tour where they overheard a morning program's anchor being fussy before they went live with the interview. "We got 10 minutes of hearing her being like, 'Are we ready yet? Are we doing this? And they're there? Fine.' She was so mad," Moynihan relates. "And then all we heard was, 'Stop doing that. Stop it. You look like a Jamaican goat when you do that.' And then she started singing, 'I'll Stand By You,' to herself, which Kate does in the sketch. We were like, 'Well, we have to write this.'" Moynihan forecasts an encore of the bit soon. "I can't wait to see how long we can make those awkward moments in between."

DRUNK UNCLE'S SON IS [SPOILER]?!

Moynihan's Weekend Update visitor burns through so many misused pop culture/gadgetry references, it's hard to keep from recycling them. "We'll write a joke and all laugh, and then we go, 'Wait. Did we do that one already?' And then we go back and it's like, 'Yes, we did,'" he shares. "So, we need to wait until new technology comes out, so that we can start referencing this and that." (Likely coming soon to Uncle's vernacular: "iCloud" and "polar vortex.") For the character's most recent drop-in, he was joined by Drunker Uncler, played by host John Goodman. So are there any other relatives to trot out? "The first time I did [Drunk Uncle], I keep referencing that my wife is Linda, because in my mind his wife is Aunt Linda – Kristen Wiig's Update character that used to do the movie reviews. Hopefully, someday it'll come out that that's his real wife. And I like to think Stefon is their son."

'BITCH'? FANTASTIC!

If the rapper Chozen shares any trait with one of Moynihan's SNL characters, it may be his and caustic employee Niff's love affair with the word "bitch." When it comes to being the best at blurting that word with style, Moynihan says, "I feel like Aaron Paul is probably the winner," though he wouldn't complain if someone placed him in the Top 10. "One of my favorite things to do on SNL is is curse." Recounting Niff and Dana's birth one night at 3 o'clock in the morning, Moynihan says, "Cecily [Strong] walked into my office and I said, 'Do you want to write something?' And she said, 'Yes, I want to write something, bitch.' And was like, 'Well, we're writing that.' That's how it started."

'FIND HIM, TOUCH HIM, WIN!'

One of this reporter's all-time favorite, So Funny, I'm Crying bits was 2010's Black Friday sale at MegaMart, where customers were urged to bust down doors, grab their free box cutter and storm the freshly waxed floors to grab $39 iPads and such. "That was a fun one to do," Moynihan smiles. "But [shooting] that was rough — just four hours of screaming and going crazy. Needed a lot of Advil!"

HEAVENLY HOSTS

Asked to name not his favorite singular host but his favorite type of celebrity to play with for those whirlwind four days of prep and performance, Moynihan says, "It's the ones who come in and understand, 'Hey, I'm just going to do whatever you guys tell me.' Because that always works out the best. There are some people who show up and they're like, 'I have ideas and I want to write" — and some of them are great, if they've done that before. But the people who are like, 'I just want to have a good time and serve the show' are, to me, always the best. Take somebody like Paul Rudd, who is just the kindest and funniest man in the world. You're like, 'Hey, I have this weird idea where you're doing this...' and he's like, 'Great. Love it.' Or someone even like Charles Barkley, who shows up and is like, 'I'm just going to read the cue cards,' and you're like, 'Great. Thanks, man.'"

THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

Moynihan calls Sasheer Zamata, who makes her debut Jan. 18 as SNL's first black female cast member in six years, "an amazing performer. I feel very lucky to have her around. In fact, she reminded me that [Upright Citizens Brigade] came to her college, and afterwards she asked me, 'How do I get into comedy?' I told her to get in the van and come back with us to UCB and live there and stay there. And two weeks after she got done with college, she went to UCB."

Seeing Zamata fulfill her goal reminds Moynihan of his own arrival at SNL: "My life's dream was to be on this show, so anytime anyone shows up who will benefit the show itself in any way, I get very happy."