Copyright Parade
Key Points Jim Downey suffered an eye injury before SNL's 50th season celebration. He wore a real eye patch during the event after nearly losing his eye. Downey remains SNL's longest tenured writer, writing for over 30 seasons. Saturday Night Live‘s 50th season celebration may have been one big party for some of the show’s most iconic figures — but for legendary writer Jim Downey, he admits things went a little awry. The longtime comedy writer and producer looked back on his SNL50 experience during an appearance on The Tonight Show on Wednesday (Oct. 29) where he revealed that he ended up suffering a pretty intense injury ahead of the weekend. “I had fallen off the stage at Radio City a few days earlier when I was doing a thing with Bill Murray,” Downey explained. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 In the hospital, Downey says he was told that he almost lost his eye. Thankfully, it was able to be saved — but he did have to wear an eye patch for some time, including the events the rest of the weekend. “That was a real eye patch and it was not a Nick Fury kind of thing,” Downey said. “So when people were coming up to me all night long going, ‘Jesus, the eye patch? Really? It’s like Snake Plissken or something.'” Downey added that everyone quickly changed their tune once he lifted up the eye patch to show them his injury. Since then, Downey appears to have made a full recovery, noticeably not wearing an eye patch during the interview. During the rest of the show, host Jimmy Fallon recalled some of Downey’s most iconic SNL skits which included Patrick Swayze‘s Chippendales sketch and numerous Weekend Update segments. He also wrote for Dana Carvey when he played George Bush and Will Ferrell when he played George W. Bush. Downey, who wrote for over 30 seasons of the show, is still the longest tenured writer in the show’s history and went on to be a head writer for Late Night with David Letterman. You can hear all that Jim Downey had to say below.
