Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I felt that it was cool to even get to the point where I was able to audition on the actual 'SNL' stage. Looking back on it, I can't believe that I wasn't more nervous.
Comedy did a lot of things for me. I mean, 'SNL'? Not too bad. Not too shabby with this comedy thing. I have really worked on my comedy and really upped it some notches.
'SNL' came out in the '70s. It's a different zeitgeist. It's hard to re-create it, just as it would be hard to do a black-and-white noir film now. The culture's different.
We thought we were going to go up against SNL on Saturday Nights - that would have changed things so much that it's almost impossible to speculate what might have happened.
'SNL' has changed my career because it gave it a platform to be seen. And I really feel like the Weekend Update desk is where I am given the opportunity to shine on that show.
If you watch 'SNL,' any time there's this thing with everyone singing, I'm, like, the one person who just has a straight line of dialogue because I can't sing to save my life.
I still have my old Nintendo 64 that works. And I hook it up, and I still play the original 'Goldeneye.' I'm that geek. I have an 'NBA Jam' arcade machine in my office at 'SNL.'
It's still amazing to me to walk down the halls of 'SNL.' You see pictures of the greatest comedians we grew up worshiping, basically. It's crazy to be able to still work there.
I took my pants off in my 'SNL' audition. It was to do a character called Out of Breath Jogger from 1982. I had short shorts on underneath. It eventually aired, so it was worth it!
At 'SNL' there's framed pictures of all the cast members, and it starts with Dan Aykroyd. It's linear. It just keeps going through all these people, and then you're at the end of it.
I hated L.A. for a long time, and I wanted to leave it. I had these fantasies of going to 'SNL' and falling in love with some writer on 'SNL,' of getting married and living in New York.
You can track elections by who was playing that president on 'SNL' at that time. There's the theory that the more likable or charismatic impression would help get the president elected.
People ask me, 'Did you always want to be on SNL?' No, actually, it never crossed my mind. It didn't even seem possible. It would've been like saying, 'Hey, do you wanna go to the moon?'
Sometimes 'Portlandia' can be pretty traditional. But the stuff I've always loved on 'SNL' has always been the weirdest stuff I've done. The stuff that went on at 10 to 1 in the morning.
I worked in Trenton, and then I got sidetracked into comedy and then onto 'SNL.' And then into being a live performer - what I do now; virtually that's what I am: I'm a live entertainer.
Obviously Mad TV, SNL are one kind of show, whereas The State belongs to the kind of show that is entirely conceived written and performed by a set group that existed before the TV show.
My jokes have definitely changed. 'SNL' has helped with that, because when you're on 'SNL,' you have to kind of pay attention to the news. I feel like my material has gotten smarter now.
At 'SNL,' we don't have the luxury to perfect things. However a video turns out, that's what we have to present. There's a number of things that I'm super embarrassed by and wish didn't air.
What's more important to 'SNL': comedy or buzz? To the writers, players and guest hosts, it's probably the former; to Lorne Michaels and the suits at NBC, it's ultimately probably the latter.
The first impression that I liked doing was an impression of Cheri Oteri's Barbara Walters impression on 'SNL.' I found that I could mimic that pretty well, and people got a kick out of that.
The good thing about 'SNL' is that it's the same people every week that you're working with, and we've all become so close and tight because we've worked together so long and so closely together.
In Australia, I wrote lots of little plays and put them on, and then I worked on a few different TV shows, like the Australian equivalent of 'SNL.' I would write and perform all of my characters.
I was always self-conscious about the fact that I didn't have as much comedy experience as other people at 'SNL,' and I kept thinking they were going to realize they'd made a mistake by hiring me.
I plan to join the 'SNL' band as a maraca player and stand behind saxophonist Lenny Pickett. That way they will at least cut to me before commercial breaks. I'll be sure to look right into camera.
In the year and a half I was on SNL, I never saw anybody ad lib anything. For a very good reason - the director cut according to the script. So, if you ad libbed, you'd be off mike and off camera.
Even before I got on 'SNL' I assumed I would do some type of sitcom; I kind of thought that was how I would start. I don't mean to sound arrogant - I just thought I would be best suited to the form.
Anyone who knows music knows that Neil is about as real as it can get, and this along with seeing him perform 'Harvest Moon' on 'SNL' was my first experience knowing what real music really felt like.
With 'SNL,' it's such an iconic institution. Throughout my 20s or maybe even in middle school or high school, it never felt like a real thing. It felt so distant, and I never imagined I could do that.
One of the most positive takeaways I've had from 'SNL' is when we'd make videos back in the day: we'd just write material as we were inspired, and so, in a given year, we'd only put out two or three videos.
I've never shown up to the set of 'SNL' or 'Girls' without having a million options for me to try on. They don't bat an eye at my body or how to dress me because they dress all kinds of bodies as costumers.
Even when I was at 'SNL,' I didn't do impersonations. I always wanted to be the kind of person who could do them - I always thought they were the coolest thing on the show - but I didn't have any experience.
Maybe it's because One Direction was just on 'SNL,' or because I'm playing The Wanted on my Top 40 show, but in terms of boy bands, we're seeing this resurgence, and it's happening, whether you like it or not!
All the women I've grown up with at 'SNL' and other areas, and even the women that work with Judd Apatow, all those women are powerful, assertive women that have great material, and they just produce themselves.
When I was at 'SNL,' I would constantly get in arguments, 'Why aren't we more political? We're not going after Bush.' Then look what happened - that Sarah Palin season, they were on fire. It was about something.
I'm not totally sure what I want to be doing, but it's so fun to be on 'SNL' because you get exposed to so many different people and so many different experiences. It's a cool, lucky way to break into the business.
Working on 'SNL,' you can have a really stressful experience or a really bad week, and I could see how much of a nightmare that could be for someone who doesn't have a network of buddies going through that with them.
I love Jennifer Aniston. I'm a bit obsessed with her. I also love Kristen Wiig, and obviously, 'Bridesmaids' is one of the funniest movies ever. I do have some of her 'SNL' skits that I've saved on my computer and stuff.
When I started as an assistant at 'SNL,' I got my eyes on Kristen Wiig and was able to bring her for an audition for Lorne Michaels and the other producers. Turns out, Kristen Wiig can give you some street cred early on.
Yeah, I just don't break. I don't. And there's only one person I know who's a better non-breaker than me, and that's Will Forte from 'SNL.' You can not make that guy break. I'll break eventually - Will Forte will never break.
Most days, we don't get to the 'SNL' studio until noon. On Monday, we pitch the host, and that's our shortest, lightest day. Tuesday is our longest day - some people don't leave until Wednesday night. It's just a long, long day.
Something really intense happened to me during the 'SNL' performance. It felt like the person I was made to be faced the person I'm becoming. It was the first time I felt like I was able to make any sense of ownership of my work.
There's no job like 'SNL.' There's no other job you go to where you're like, 'Oh, this is like that live, late-night sketch variety-musical show that shoots in, whatever it is, 10,000 feet of sound stage.' There's nothing like it.
I want to be host of 'SNL.' I want to work with Steven Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, J.J. Abrams, Emma Stone and Tim Burton, Sean Penn, Cameron Crowe. I want to work with Adam Sandler - he is so funny - and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
I'd like to be involved in 'SNL' somehow. I mean, being a permanent cast member is a stretch! That's pretty damned hard, but to host it one day would be a dream come true. And I would like to play the DC Comics villain Harley Quinn.
Eddie Murphy was my guy for a long time. My first exposure to 'SNL' was his 'Best Of' VHS, and I would watch it over and over again. He was one of the few people on the show to play with the live elements and engage with the audience.
I tell people all the time, as I was going through my process of being a comedian or being an actor and a writer at 'SNL,' I tell people that everything you do is all a piece of your puzzle to determine where you're going to end up at.
I'm friends with a lot of actresses, but my 'SNL' friends are my closest. The experience of working there is something of a battleground, a great one, but complicated. I think there's a deep connection for having survived that workplace.
I watch 'The Bachelor'. It's one of those things where I always think if it didn't exist and it was on 'SNL,' we would think it would be a ridiculous, funny idea. But it actually exists... It's a glorious train wreck that I love to watch.
It's like, backstage at 'SNL,' like, if you come back after a show or something, or a lot of times even at the after-parties, we're just pretty tired and like, 'Hey, what's up.' Just getting a drink and kind of chilling out. Nothing crazy.
I loved 'SNL' growing up, and I would trick my babysitter into letting me stay up to watch it. My family would rent Marx brothers' movies and Monty Python episodes, and we watched 'In Living Color', 'The State', and 'Strangers with Candy'.