Saturday Night Live cast member Kenan Thompson is addressing the buzz about the show’s starting salaries.

After stars of the NBC sketch comedy show, both past and present, dished to New York Magazine on their first splurge after their first SNL paycheck, Thompson shared his thoughts.

“It’s pretty notorious that it’s more so about having the job than getting paid for the job,” he explained to Variety last week. “You gotta pay your dues a little bit, yeah.”

Though Thompson did not indulge the outlet in his salary, Pete Davidson, who exited SNL in 2022 but returned to host the show in October 2023, had claimed to New York Magazine that cast members make “like three grand an episode.”

“I think I got dinner,” he teased.

Meanwhile, fellow SNL alum Jason Sudeikis, who started off his time at the show as a writer in 2003, acknowledged that “you don’t really make enough money to make big purchases.”

“So, I think New York rent was probably the biggest purchase I made after writing on SNL the first year,” he added.

Others asked about their first big post-paycheck purchases were James Austin Johnson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sarah Silverman, Sarah Sherman, Cheri Oteri, Seth Meyers, Bowen Yang and Rachel Dratch, the last of whom shared a similar sentiment to Sudeikis.

“Probably getting an apartment,” she shared. “I mean, that’s so boring, but that’s the real thing.”

SNL is honoring its 50th anniversary on Feb. 16 with a three-hour special. Until then, Season 50 continues with former SNL cast members Chris Rock and Martin Short hosting the show’s Dec. 14 and Dec. 21 episodes, respectively.