By Nick Buglione
It's a good kind of nervous, the type that culminates only after hours of exhaustive preparation and rehearsals. And even though the East Meadow resident has been a cameraman for "Saturday Night Live" for more than 20 years -- the late-night showcase just entered its 28th season -- that pressure remains almost as if every night is his first.
"Even to this day, everybody has this pressure. It's a built-up feeling," said the 60-year-old Kasoff, who has lived in East Meadow since 1978. "Your blood is flowing, you feel that charge because you know when they're counting down five, four, three, two, one, if you're out of focus, a few million people will see that you're out of focus.
"Then, at 11:30, the computer switches up Studio 8H, and away we go. We'd better have something because we don't want to leave 220 stations in the dark."
Despite the pressure, Kasoff can scarcely recall throughout his long tenure any major catastrophes occurring during one of the roughly 520 episodes he's shot of "SNL." In fact, when it comes to shooting television shows, he and his fellow crew members are some of the best in the business, and they have the Emmys to back it up.
Just last month Kasoff, along with seven "SNL" colleagues, including Merrick resident John Pinto, took home the Emmy Award for outstanding technical direction, camera work and video for a series, beating out the likes of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "Survivor."
"When we won, Tom Hanks was at the ceremonies, and he was giving us a big thumbs up," Kasoff said, noting that Hanks, a frequent host of "SNL," has grown quite fond of the crew.
Still, Kasoff is no stranger to the red carpet. In a career that has spanned 36 years with NBC and has seen him shoot everything from the Olympics to Senate hearings on the Watergate scandal, Kasoff has earned seven Emmys.
"I keep them in the usual places, like the mantle," he said. "They're nice conversation pieces when company comes over."
Although they are still held in Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, the awards ceremony Kasoff attends is not held on the same night or aired on the same channel as the prime-time Emmys. In general, his field generates little interest among a television audience that tends to be more preoccupied with life in front of the camera.
Kasoff, however, had his mind set on a career behind one from an early age.
Born the son of a postal worker, Kasoff has been fascinated with television production as far back as he can remember.
"I was always interested in the technical aspects. First in film, then broadcasting, but I was always interested in the technical ends," he said. "To me, the heroes [of television] were the camera guys."
When he was 8 years old, Kasoff's father bought him an eight-millimeter camera, which he used to shoot family events and practice editing.
By the time he was in high school, his hobby had turned into something of an obsession. At 16, he managed to get his hands on two tickets to "The Perry Como Show," a variety program popular in the 1950s.
"I went with a buddy of mine, and I was just fascinated by all the cameras," Kasoff said. "After the show, I spoke to one of the cameramen, and I asked if I could ever come back just to watch the crew."
The cameraman invited the enthusiastic Kasoff back the next week for rehearsal, a visit he eventually parlayed into an apprenticeship. "And from that point on, I would come back every week for years, when I was even going through college," he said. "I was like a gofer. I would get coffee for the crew. I did anything I could do to learn."
The experience on the set of "Perry Como" gave Kasoff, who enrolled in New York University for film and broadcasting in 1959, a head start in the industry.
"I got to know the crew, and they really were a bunch of nice guys," he said, adding that many of them came down to see a production he put on in college.
Even with all his experience and schooling, finding a job after graduating in 1963 was difficult.
"When I graduated, NBC wasn't hiring in my areas at the time," he said. Finally, in 1965, he hooked up with the network on a temporary basis, filling in for vacationing and sick cameramen.
"If you were good enough, after working a few years of vacation relief, you had the chance of making staff."
Kasoff worked primarily on game shows then, taping some of the industry's classics, including "The Match Game," "Concentration" and "Jeopardy."
"I worked vacation relief for almost two years, and then in 1967, I was hired as staff," he said. As a full-time employee, Kasoff worked on seemingly every type of program television offers.
"Soap operas are really the hardest to do because you are really a cameraman. You're taking various shots, you're dollying, you're panning," Kasoff said.
He wasn't fond of covering sports. "I never liked freezing during a football game. I'd rather be in a nice warm studio, with the doughnuts and the coffee."
Incidentally, in 1977, Kasoff began filling in occasionally on the two-year-old program "Saturday Night Live," a cutting-edge live comedy show starring a cast of up-and-coming comedians that included Bill Murray, John Belushi and Gilda Radner.
At the time, Kasoff was content to keep working on the soap opera "The Doctors," a steady, five-day-a-week job. "Then, in 1978, one of the cameramen left 'Saturday Night Live,' and they asked me to do it," Kasoff said. He accepted and has been with the show ever since.
"I always liked doing 'Saturday Night Live.' It's great. They treat us very well, and I really have no complaints."
Cast members have come and gone over the years, and while Kasoff characterizes the vast majority he's worked with as "terrific," he still seems to have a soft spot for the show's first stars.
"They were the best. I mean the cast we have now is also terrific. But we were very close to them. Let's put it this way, I have nice memories," he said, particularly of the late Gilda Radner. "She was a real sweetheart. She was a lot of fun and very good hearted."
As for today's cast, Kasoff says he's partial to Jimmy Fallon and that Alec Baldwin and Gwyneth Paltrow get the nod as his favorite hosts.
"The show has gone through transitions; we've had our high points, we've had our low points. It's gone through times when the show wasn't that funny, and then it's sort of picked itself up and renewed itself," said Kasoff, who was always cracked up by Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin's "wild and crazy guys" routine.
"If you are in an involved scene with a lot of shots, your mind is on your shots. But if you're in a scene when you're not that busy and something funny happens, you can't help but laugh."
With a season spanning 20 episodes that runs from late September to May, "SNL" only occupies part of Kasoff's year. When he's not doing rehearsing or taping that, he keeps busy on "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw" and other programs.
"I try to stick with news, because I'm a news junkie. I love doing the nightly news. When I'm not doing the show, I'm watching at home," he said.
In March 2001, Kasoff went into semi-retirement, though he'll continue to work on "SNL." When the show aired its season-opener on Saturday, Oct. 5, Kasoff was absent, having to miss the season's first six episodes because of eye problems.
"He missed it," said Kasoff's wife of 28 years, Linda. "This past Saturday, he felt a little bad that we wasn't there. He has to get used to not being there for every show."
Just because he's not on the set doesn't necessarily mean he's home watching. "Sometimes, no," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper as if confessing a sin. "Sometimes I'll see a show on Comedy Central, and I don't even remember doing it, then my credit comes up."
Kasoff and his wife have two children, Gregory, 26, and Jill, 23. He enjoys traveling and figures retirement is something that will come in time.
"Maybe another year or two," he said, noting that he would gladly give up his position to someone up and coming. "My feeling is give the young kids a break. It's still a very difficult field to break into; the networks are not hiring staff like they used to. I did it long enough."
