Chloe Fineman on What Inspired Her Write SNL’s “Forever 31” and “Big Dumb Line"
The concepts for two of Season 50's breakout Digital Shorts had been living in the Notes app for quite a while.
Chloe Fineman simply can't stand big dumb things.
The Saturday Night Live Season 50 cast member joined several of her colleagues for an FYC panel promoting SNL50, and moderator Fred Armisen asked where the idea for two of her pretaped Season 50 shorts, "Big Dumb Line" and "Forever 31," came from. Fineman joked that her comedy inspiration often comes from "people who bother me" — while admitting this included herself, at times — and explained that both sketch ideas had been in her phone's Notes app for some time.
"It all happened in the spring," Fineman said. "Sometimes you'll have like 15 ideas on a Monday or Tuesday, and it was one of those Tuesdays where I had 15 ideas. Everything was a no, and then I pulled up an old Notes app of ideas I've had. 'Forever 31' was one that I've had for, like, a really long time. And the other was 'Big Dumb Line.'"
Chloe Fineman on writing SNL's "Forever 31": "People in their 30s, we dressin' sad"
"They were things that I never thought anyone would want to do, and then [Kent Sublette and Alison Gates], our head writers, were like, 'Wait, these are great!'" Fineman recounted. "They are kind of critiques on people I don't like — or things I don't like about myself. But the line thing is an epidemic in the West Village. It's also in Los Feliz, it's in Silverlake, Miami, London..."
Watch SNL's full For Your Consideration: SNL50 panel below.
Ego Nwodim admits she's waited in a "Big Dumb Line"
Fellow cast member Ego Nwodim took an opportunity to make a confession that made Fineman shout, "Why?!"
"I did just stand in a line for matcha on Monday," Nwodim admitted. "It was like an hour and 10 minutes. Honey, I stood in line, I watched a man come from the back of the line, tell the women in front of me, 'I will pay for your drinks if you let me cut you.' And they did. And I thought I should have thought of that, but I can't afford to buy four women matchas. Anyway, I thought of you when I did that. I thought, 'Chloe would be angry.'"
Based on the way Fineman cried, "Ego! You're VIP!," Nwodim wasn't wrong.
Chloe Fineman wrote "Big Dumb Line" with Kent Sublette, Alison Gates, and it was directed by Tim Wilkime.
Nwodim costarred in "Big Dumb Line," which aired during Mikey Madison's March 29 hosting debut and featured Joe Jonas.
Watch "Big Dumb Line" from SNL Season 50 below.
RELATED: Bowen Yang Called Ego Nwodim's Weekend Update His "Favorite Televised Moment Ever"
The ad parody "Forever 31" aired during the May 3, 2025 episode hosted by Quinta Brunson. "Inspired by all my girls rocking giant blazers and IBS-friendly jeans," Fineman wrote in an Instagram story crediting co-writers Gates and Sublette "with help from" writers Ceara Jane O'Sullivan and Allie Levitan.
Brunson, Fineman, Nwodim, and Sherman play women in their 30s who think they can't wear Coachella outfits anymore and are now only allowed to be in beige, black, khaki, and navy blue (AKA "every color in the bummer rainbow"). Get yourself a "loose suit" to ask your boyfriend where this is going.
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