“Saturday Night Live” writer James Downey, who said he did not expect the program to last more than five years, accepted the First Amendment Award for political satire Tuesday night.

Comedic actor Bill Murray moderated the First Amendment Award ceremony and forum in honor of Downey.

The discussion – “Strategery: SNL’s Remarkable Influence Over Politics Through Satire” – highlighted Downey’s career with SNL and the show’s commentary on American political culture through comedy.

The two talked about SNL’s political influence and the community within the show.

Downey and Murray discussed how they worked together to create the one of the longest-aired shows on television and shared some of SNL’s internal experiences.

Both Downey and Murray said they had estimated the show would only air for about five years and had planned their exits and future careers accordingly.

Downey retold many highlights of his career, including both times he departed from the show.

He said after a brief two-year stint on the Late Show with David Letterman, he returned as one of SNL’s writers for 14 years, after which he was subsequently fired for differences with the network.

Murray asked if Downey was due for “a bonus or something,” but Downey said that could not be the explanation.

“I’ve had my own theory though – my boss was a douchebag,” he said.

The controversy was over skits written by Downey and were acted by Weekend Update host Norm Macdonald about O..J. Simpson, Downey said.

After his trials had ended, Simpson was no longer part of the news, so SNL had six or seven episodes that did not have any material about Simpson in them, in comparison to every episode for the last three seasons, Downey said.

Then, when Macdonald and Downey composed satires of a few more skits involving Simpson, they were fired.

“It was like all quiet on the western front, and then – thank God – and then two [jokes], and then the next day we were fired,” Downey said.

He said he was brought back to the show two years later and has been with it ever since.

Downey said the time after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was controversial because of the unique nature of the attacks and how it was a very sensitive subject.

He said he waited two months after the attacks until he drafted his first episode that related to the subject.

Dominick Ianno, president and director of public affairs for Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, which hosted the forum, said he wanted the ceremony to recognize someone who is not well known outside their industry.

Ianno said it was a complete success and Downey truly deserved the award.

“I think we really appreciate Downey’s work; we appreciate the collective work over the years,” he said. “In fact, we appreciate how he’s brought politics into popular culture and we thought he deserved this award.”

Downey said in an interview with The Daily Free Press the influence of SNL over presidential elections, particularly the 2008 presidential election, depends entirely on the personalities.

“That was Tina Fey doing a great Sarah Palin and then earlier in the year Amy doing a great Hilary Clinton,” Downey said. “I think that really that really, that sort of affected things.”

Downey said SNL did not really “try” to do anything to raise media and political awareness – it was just that those ideas suggested themselves because he noticed them.

“There’s no plan,” Downey said. “It’s just that I noticed that the press in 2008 was really jumping on the Obama bandwagon.”