No one wanted to write SNL monologues

I listened to John Mulaney's episode of Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend this week, and, in it, he said a lot of the early SNL work he got as a writer was writing monologues, since no one else wanted to do them.

On the one hand, I get it: You have to work with a celebrity who could be finicky. And, sometimes, the monologues can veer into cheesy or obvious territory (i.e. questions from the audience). Still, the advantage, according to John, was that your sketch got on every week — the monologue was never cut, unlike so many others. Why wouldn't all writers want to take advantage of that?

It's always so interesting to hear about the inner machinations of the show, and it really does seem like the more game writers and performers are, the more they're rewarded. Now, I just wish there was a list somewhere of every monologue John wrote!