CMU School of Drama


Friday, March 14, 2025

'SNL' costume designer tells how they create hundreds of costumes

Los Angeles Times: The first thing you are likely to wonder about Tom Broecker, who has spent more than 30 years as the costume designer at “Saturday Night Live,” is whether he ever sleeps. Indeed, he does — but not much. Broecker says he averages about five hours a night, and tends to get more shut-eye earlier in the week.

3 comments:

Sharon Alcorn said...

I remember watching a 10 minute youtube video a few years ago that briefly took the viewers on a tour through the process of costuming, hair, and makeup at SNL. I don’t remember much from it, but what stuck with me was the sheer number of costumes that have to be created within such a short timeframe. The ability of the costume team to churn out costumes at this rate is incredible.

What stuck out to me in this article was the actual hours for tech, dress rehearsals, and the live performances. What Tom Broecker said about emotionally detaching from his work was some invaluable advice, and I think that when you work on such a tight schedule and make so many costumes, it’s probably easier to detach emotionally from the work you are doing. Currently, I can recall in great detail the projects I have worked on, but that is because I don’t have the same years of experience that Broecker has.

Lilly Resnick said...

The first thing I noticed when reading this article was the education and experience this designer had to support his success in the TV industry. He has been working on the show since 1986, which is a really long time especially when you think about it. I know this person has many TV credits on SNL but my favorite was the lobster one for One Day More. That was my favorite SNL skit I think it's very funny. Beyond all of this, I'm very impressed with this designer because he manages multiple skits a week And also overseas a whole team of people who are helping him design these costumes. he has just a few days to come up with 12 different costumes per sketch I believe which is very stressful and puts a lot of pressure on him. I think that costuming for television is super cool and I commend all of his hard work to keep SNL alive and on its feet.

Mags Holcomb said...

As a born lover of SNL, I've always wondered how the magic happens. One of my dream jobs is to work in SNL someday! The entire show is proof that the impossible is possible, putting together 80 costumes and the span of a few days is insane. Tom talks about the important skill of being able to invest in a thing while staying emotionally detached. The skill is vital being that things are constantly changing and moving forward. As important as the skill is, it is one I still have yet to master. directly equivalent to theater, where we build and then soon after destroy hundreds of hours of work, being able to move forward quickly is vital. as Tom also mentions nostalgia is warm and comfortable, but in such a fast-paced environment they're simply isn't the time to look back. The span of Tom's work is incredible; he even created the Moo Deng costume!