Saturday Night Live is a comedy institution, and no one would expect auditioning to be a cake walk. But over the years, numerous cast members have opened up about how terrifying and painfully awkward that process can be.
The final auditions are typically held at Studio 8H in Midtown Manhattan, where SNL is filmed, with a small crew of top brass in attendance—and getting a laugh is apparently no easy task. Not to mention the sheer peer pressure of it all: "I get in the evaluator, and net to me is a guy with tons of props," Bill Hader told Howard Stern, recalling his experience. "I go, 'I don’t have any props.' [It was] Andy Samberg—that’s when I met Andy Samberg! He told me that he was looking at me, like, 'Ah, that guy doesn’t need props!'" (It should be noted that some future stars, like the great Mike Myers, manage to bypass the audition process altogether.)
With all of those fear factors in mind, it’s kind of amazing that anyone does well. But tons of SNL performers were already primed for live TV—and luckily for us, we have the footage to prove it. Ahead of a massive, three-hour 50th-anniversary special, which airs Sunday, Feb. 16, we decided to revisit some of the sketch show’s most hilarious auditions. (Remember: They’re not all publicly available. If only we could see Eddie Murphy do his thing…)
Dana Carvey (1986-1993)
Dana Carvey is a combustible comedic force who could improvise nonsense for an hour and make it funny. And his SNL audition is no exception, filled with impressions that aim for dead-on realism (then-current cast member Dennis Miller), amplified silliness (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous host Robin Leach), and borderline-surrealism (a "senile" take on Robin Williams’ wacky stage persona). It also features a nod to Carvey’s younger brother, Brad, whose sheepish voice and body language wound up forming the basis of Garth Algar, part of his Wayne’s World sketch (and films) with Mike Myers.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Phil Hartman (1986-1994)
A comedic Swiss Army knife with an everyman face and the robust voice of a veteran broadcaster, Phil Hartman was nicknamed "The Glue" by his cast mates for holding the show together. He showcased exactly why during his jaw-dropping audition, doing characters that ranged from a grizzled private eye to a wacky product pitchman to an incompetent German impressionist. This 11-minute video doesn’t quite cover all of Hartman’s talents, but it comes close.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Will Ferrell (1995-2002)
For my money, Ferrell’s versatile (and somewhat insane) audition is the best of all-time—possibly the reason SNL released it in full on their YouTube channel. Almost all of his bits wound up on the actual show: a riotous impression of Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray (here reading lines for a play), a seemingly normal adult playing with cat toys with the mannerisms of an actual feline, and (my favorite) a parent whose gentle requests for their child to "get off the shed" gradually morph into in-the-red rage.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Fred Armisen (2002-2013)
As one of the most eccentric and brilliant comic voices from 21st-century SNL, it’s fitting that Fred Armisen probably clinched his audition by portraying a character no one else on Earth would have attempted: a percussion-wielding, catchphrase-loving Venezuelan nightclub comic named Fericito. Armisen, who himself is half-Venezuelan, recalled in the Peacock documentary SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night that Fericito was a loving homage to Puerto Rican-American artist Tito Puente. "I used to go see [him] in concert, and he would make these little jokes," he said. "'Did you feel it? Not you—her!' [Shrugs.] It was almost like a little mini-obsession: 'What is this thing he does? I wanna try it. I wanna try a little of that.'"
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Kristen Wiig (2005-2012)
A master of cartoonish voices and wild shapeshifting, Kristen Wiig brought her A-game to the SNL audition, presenting multiple characters that wound up as staples on the show. In this clip, you can see her workshop Aunt Linda, the outraged and overwhelmed woman who finds herself reviewing movies at the Weekend Update desk, and the melodramatic Target checkout lady who becomes overwhelmed by the scent of a customer’s candle.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
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Say hello to my little friend...literally.
TikTok shocked by 15-year-old unhinged viral clip of kids performing Scarface in school play
Think about the most outrageous film that could be adapted to the stage. Now, imagine the cast of that theatrical production is entirely children, ranging in age from 7 to 10. Now, film it and let the world react.
That’s what director Marc Klasfeld had in mind when he held auditions with professional child actors for a shocking video, meant to look like an elementary school production of the cult film-favorite Scarface. In a now 15-year-old interview with Entertainment Weekly, when asked why he thought this was a good idea, Klasfeld admits, "I thought this would be a nice fit into the kind of YouTube arena of viral videos. And I was right."
The result? Kids yelling “mother-fudger,” piles of popcorn meant to look like cocaine, and outrageous, lengthy scenes of children pointing Super Soakers at one another.
Marc, mostly known as an accomplished commercial and music video director, later adds, "I enjoy making provocative art. I like stirring debate and causing conversation. You're going to get two sides of the coin no matter what you do. People are going to love and hate everything. People loved and hated Avatar. People loved and hated the Jennifer Aniston movie. And people love and hate this. I guess that's a part of having something that's successful out there. There’s got to be certain people that hate it for people to love it."
Once they got their perfect cast, it didn’t take long to put together. He shares, "It was a one-take, so it was pretty much just choosing the right take. About a month altogether."
People sure did react, as it acquired millions of views and comments from all over the Internet. Some were horrified, some were outraged, and many thought it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen. But Marc emphasizes that the kids in the video were not scandalized. "They’ve heard the f-word. They’ve seen more violence in their everyday lives for as long as they can remember. So for this, they’ve seen worse things than this all the time. So this wasn’t that big of a deal for them."
Enter TikTok. The clip (which just popped up again recently on Facebook) was reposted a few years back, and, once again, the comments continue to run the gamut from indignation to full praise. One TikTok user exclaimed, "Bro, I can’t even remember my grocery list, how the fudge did these kids memorize this whole scene lol?"
Others expressed confusion: "I'm not sure whether to be angry or amazed." Some chose anger: "Just imagine, you know these kids watched the movie to get the characters right. And the parents cheering? Yeah, yeah."
Many commenters believed it was a real school play and commended the production for "keepin' it real": "That school keeps it real. Nowadays, kids know so much about guns and drugs, might as well teach them that bad choices don’t end well."
Yet another enjoyed it but was concerned that the parents of the children would not. "Love the tray full of popcorn. But my God, I would hate to see the hell these parents probably raised."
For the most part, the reviews were glowing. Many complimented the acting, and one claimed they definitely would have "preferred this play over their own school production of Macbeth."
And perhaps the biggest compliment? "Al Pacino will be proud."