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<p>KINGSTON &#8212; It wasn&#8217;t live from New York, but for Jan Kasoff, the Friedman Jewish Community Center served as the proper place for the former NBC and Saturday Night Live cameraman to host a lecture about his days behind the camera on Sunday afternoon.</p><p>Kasoff, an eight-time Emmy winner, worked for NBC for 36 years and worked as a cameraman for SNL for 26 of those years. He had plenty of tales and anecdotes from his days at Studio 8H.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a pleasure to be here speaking at the new JCC,&#8221; Kasoff said.</p><p>He spoke for roughly an hour and a half about his days at Saturday Night Live, going over everything from camera blocking to guest hosts, drawing laughs and applause from the crowd.</p><p>Kasoff, a veteran of the television business, pulled back the curtain on one of America&#8217;s most beloved institutions, taking everyone step-by-step through a normal work week at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.</p><p>&#8220;Everything has to be worked out, and everything takes time,&#8221; Kasoff said.</p><p>He spoke of a fun yet hectic work environment where anything could happen.</p><p>&#8220;If you walked into the control room at 11, you&#8217;d think that you walked into an insane asylum,&#8221; Kasoff said.</p><p>One of the more infamous stories that Kasoff told was of the Sinead O&#8217;Connor controversy from 1992. O&#8217;Connor, the guest musical performer on that week&#8217;s episode, ripped up a picture of the pope in reference to sexual abuse claims made against the Catholic church.</p><p>&#8220;There was panic, we thought we were going to be sued by the Catholic church,&#8221; Kasoff said.</p><p>Luckily, according to Kasoff, Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live, pulled a nifty trick for the West Coast re-air, and substituted O&#8217;Connor&#8217;s dress rehearsal performance for the actual live performance to avoid even further uproar.</p><p>Still, the damage was done, and millions of people on the East Coast who witnessed the ripping of the Pope&#8217;s picture called in to voice their displeasure.</p><p>Kasoff played the clip of that incident, as well as some clips of behind-the-scenes footage of how an episode of SNL is shot, and wrapped up with a video from NBC&#8217;s 75th anniversary.</p><p>After the video, Kasoff took questions from the audience, imparting some words of wisdom for anyone looking to follow in his shoes and break into the world of television.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s difficult and hard, but I will not discourage you,&#8221; Kasoff said.</p><p>&#8220;Just keep knocking on the door, and don&#8217;t ever give up.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Eight-time Emmy Award winner Jan Kasoff speaks at the Friedman Jewish Community Center on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_Kasoff.jpg</photo0><caption0>Eight-time Emmy Award winner Jan Kasoff speaks at the Friedman Jewish Community Center on Sunday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Kevin Carroll | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Kevin Carroll</p><p>kcarroll@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Kevin at 570-954-8360 or on Twitter @TLKevinCarroll</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Former SNL cameraman tells stories of famed show