'SNL' Legends Share What Really Happened Behind the Scenes | PEOPLE

0:00 I was like oh I'm the funniest that walked in this mother that's how I was until I sat at table read and saw that everybody was brilliant this mother was doing all kinds of accents this there could be a very unkind edit from People magazine they just took you be like this mother [Music] w wow Hello Kitty is 50 years old too I but shout out to everybody being the oldest on the board here I remember everyone Rosanna

0:46 Dana chvy Chase Fallen Eric Morris good night and have a pleasant tomorrow yeah I'm old yeah I feel like I rode the wave all the way up till I got to work on the show I moved to the us and that was my first exposure to SNL and it was like Molly it was Will Katan and then all the way into like the early arts and then I just remember graduating college and that was it was Kate and Leslie obviously Seth and then Keenan being this perfect sort of steady constant thing as well like I just this is It's amazing to have the Continuum kind of like be in this Tableau I'm using so many obnoxious words no that is it that was well said continuing in this Tableau like that's exactly right you were in

1:32 college I went to college I started watching when I was 12 and watching Molly's characters like taught me what I wanted to do which was to like be this full wacky amazing like the the greatest characters of all time and I Molly like memorize I memor I still remember so many just I I know all the lines from all of your stuff and it's like it's to talk to her is it's like it's talking to a wonderful person but then I realize who I'm talking to and it's like wow I remember I I know the M cuz I I like studied it and and it taught me like what I wanted to do anyway good to

2:20 see awesome normal normal day normal life we uh my brother and I would watch it and tape it and my parents had watched in the' 70s and then on Sunday morning we would show them our three favorite es and that's how they experienced SNL and then when I was on the show I remember them saying it's really uneven and I'm like well that's cuz you were only seeing the three best things for years I was cutting out everything that was not playing but this is very in line with what the show is also Appo of nothing this is the room Lauren says you go to when you die if you this is absolutely the same chairs and everything [Music]

3:06 I had a friend growing up a childhood friend Ann ramp and we play games together all the time house and you know Barbies and um we watch movies we watch a Robert Alton movie with Karen Black and my friend she goes I could picture you doing that like I could picture you being in the movies or on TV I'm like you could so it was like Tom Sor and Huckleberry Finn like she's like yeah I can picture you doing that like with a Southern accent I was like really so it just shows that you just need one friend it could just be a little quiet thing of somebody who believes in you quickly we saw the Divergence of Molly's childhood which is like we played house we played dolls we watched Alman movies like you're like okay I was like car black R was a copile at a young

3:54 age I'm always searching for the most perfect moisturizer Jesse it's our shopton a lot of people have been asking me and you know have you why is it that you you know sort of can't you know get get to the end of a sentence I would have told you nobody laughs at auditions cuz nobody laughed at mine and then I was there for Leslie's and was very upset every nine months I'd have been having a super baby sh Kobe LeBron I was cocky as I was like yeah move to the front y'all in the back move to the front I don't perform like that ah yeah I was I was I was a cocky ass and they move Mo to the front because that's what the I said and then when I finished I was like my name is lesie Jones peace that's right wow I ain't get the job but

4:41 it's cool it's cool I remember the the emotions the nerves I remember being uh kind of enamored by 30 Rock at first CU it's a big building outside small Studio inside it was very surreal and very stressful because I had to do stand up without being a standup you know what I mean so I was kind of Faking it till I made it and luckily I I made it into a situation where I what I really do is you know good for the show which is act you know what I mean so yeah I I just got lucky but it was very stressful I remember they they had come around um and they were asking for tapes because they were looking for women on the show and so I spent all my waitressing money making a

5:28 you know like a f minute VHS tape and I did characters and I would buy the cost at thrift stores and I put all my money into that hiring an editor and a guy to shoot it in my little dumpy apartment on the corner of Fountain and Vine across from the ELO Loco and I and then I found out that my tape had gotten passed over when I was on a pay phone outside of my apartment they said sorry they're not going to bring you in they passed on your tape but my manager had another woman who we represented who they wanted to see and I cried and cried had that pone and I was like but then I I just said you know what for the next next five years work really hard on my characters and be you know just perfect them and make them better and perform and work and write and and so if they come back around I'm going to be ready and that's what I did and then they came

6:14 back around five years later and they asked for a tape again and I was like I am not giving you a tape you got to come see my live show and Marcy Klein came out and saw my show and and then I got invited to audition but I learned like no you really have to see it live and the tape wasn't going to do it so that was great passed on you but they did ask to buy all your wigs and props from first can I change my audition oh boohoo I ain't do stand up comedy I had tell jokes that's incredible it was hard for Kenan he had to wait till he was what 19 years old before you got your bre well I've actually been on the show the whole time it's just like it's just weird if you look in I'm in the back yeah I've been waving like the like my audition was actually in 1962

7:00 um no but yeah man I genuinely think for all of us we were all fans of the place you know what I mean so it's very stressful to like and it's also for me it's hard to identify seeing myself on the show and comparing it to watching the show before I was on it and having it be the same thing you know what I mean it's just it's just a weird thing I also I don't know if you have this they put me up in a hotel with everybody else auditioning and so if you like walk to the ice machine yeah you would hear Snippets of people running their audition in the room and as any one of us every snippet you heard you think that's better than what I got I will say first time I was in ADH one one of my auditions I remember coming out and I was in like a silver metallic onesie and then I come out of Q cards and Kate was there in a jacket she was watching the auditions and then she came up and gave me a hug

7:47 and was like that was so good that was so fun you should feel so proud of this audition no matter what happens and that's like an indelible thing that was like the best kind of introduction to the place like that I could possibly ask for hello hello thank you for having me I'm good I'm ready to film the commercial okay you know you want something your whole life like I remember watching when I was 12 and just I for me it was the good nights like watching people hug each other out the show and just seeing the camaraderie I was like I have to be there and then getting there and being like Oh my God I could I could so spectacularly tank this at any moment of this week I I'm going to vomit when I finally do perform if I

8:34 get to perform I will vomit on TV and um just it it's so much pressure it's just like the only thing you ever wanted and then you have to like do it and are you going to survive uh that Amy yes yes yes this is my assistant Amy Amy we're going to do a liver trans I went from doing this little stage show for you know 200 people a night paying for the band myself and inviting people you know working in restaurants and take you got to come see my show and I had have hundreds of names and phone numbers and I would cold call people come to my show come to my show come to my show so when I got booked on SNL I threw that box of names and phone numbers in a dumpster in my backyard in Hollywood I was like I don't have to call anybody anymore to come and then it was so surreal to do my first show with George Clooney and have the band there that I didn't have to pay for and that millions of people would

9:21 just tune in I was like oh this is the greatest I don't have to call anybody you know yeah and no bring a show and not having to like bring like I did sketch comedy for six Years in New York before getting the job and I just having to like I did a onew woman show that had a rotisserie chicken in it so I had before every show I had to like go and buy a whole rotisserie chicken and a whole cake and like carry all these groceries and wigs into the theater and just having like the most talented Artisans ever in history in the business to like make the wigs and do the costumes and do the art and do the props is like such a different experience and I was just like wow I don't have to buy

10:06 atis chicken your friends were like you know Kate's on SNL now and she stopped smelling like chicken remember how she always smelled like chicken I met Seth the first day I came through and I was like who is that beautiful mother that is the next president this mother you see this mother eyes and smile and then I turned the corner and ran into Colin and I was like where are they making these beautiful white men is there a floor where all these white men are being damn I fell in love with Colin the first time I saw him I was like oh my God he's perfect I think we leave the first [Music]

10:57 part so the show does like go on because it's ready The Show Goes On because it's 11 30 which that's amazing oh who said that that is oh my God that should be that is I I would say a prayer um I would pray get down on my knees and pray please God help me I hope I could do a good job and be in the moment and you know I did do that and I would have half a bite of a pretzel in case I get hungry and I started on the show with Chris Farley Adam Sandler Mike Myers and I remember a memory of Chris Farley is that I would see him in his dressing room he was up practicing Catholic and he would get down and gen flect and pray um yes so that was my ritual listen to Keenan when Keenan sings that openin

11:42 song we know the show didn't started that's that's the ritual that's we would sit I when I at the makeup whenever you hear Keenan starting up it's like Showtime it's showtime turn it on and I think I've only been doing that warmup so long without trying to eject out of it because it helps me get my nerves of per performing in front of people out so I get to actually see them you know what I mean and before I'm in action kind of thing so like I can just like go into my first performance moment kind of free of the fear of being watched kind of thing because I've already been watched like doing a forc karaoke kind of thing on people and they embrace it and i' I've always enjoyed that part of the show because it's just for the audience like the audience like that relationship between them and us is invaluable it has

12:29 to be connected for the show to be great and then when there are insane moments happening it feels like the whole city is aware because like backstage it'll be all these people you know what I mean and then the audience will be going crazy for something it'll be a surprise guest or something like that and you know that'll be for one thing but the rest of the show was kind of like that like every single sketch from like the cold open to the Finish was just like on another level for some reason and then everybody's finishing you just see everybody's exhausted at good nights like holy crap like that was crazy live New York they never let me do it because I was always like live from Milwaukee I was always I did it with the rock and I mouthed mine that's how I didn't yell it

13:15 cuz I was so scared cuz we were rehearsing and I was every time they got to the live from New York I was like live I'm sorry I don't mean to laugh at that from Minneapolis it was just I thought it would make me feel better yeah really yeah thought it would and then I did it and then I immediately had all I realized I had all the same anxiety right this will be a right of passage and once you yell it I'm sure you feel some yeah some Enlightenment and I just screamed it and then I was like I don't think I have anything else in the show this we evening Myers and here at tonight's top stories I never said my first line on Weekend Update with the confidence that words would come out yeah just that feeling not address only at air when you

14:02 know it's live you are aware so many people are watching and then it went away but I never rolled out thinking don't worry words come out when you talk I think it takes 3 to four years to have the fear of getting fired but I think you're still I'm still a I was about to say comfortable is subjective because like we're uncom because it's unproven you know what I mean like we're we're always presenting something new you know what I mean so we never really have a relaxed moment until after it's done [Music] the thing I miss the most is and even though it's not joyful per se but the table read is the most unique experience as far as being a part of SNL because that's the

14:48 thing where up close you get to see the funniest people you've ever seen fail and the way sometimes brilliantly you know just watching people you love take big swings and having it not work that is the education that you can't get from watching what airs like that's the thing we get that I do I do miss that Rush of sitting down you should call it Ash Wednesday Everything Burns just Everything Burns to the freaking ground big swings just I remember you okay my first what was the dude that played Martin Freeman I thought it was Morgan frean I thought it was Morgan Freeman so I came in with pictures for Morgan Freeman oh my God and it was Martin so I was like this don't look like that's

15:34 notg frean is the white dude sitting there for him or something and they was like it's Martin frean I was like well I'm still doing the same pitches so I did this pitch for where I was a stewardess that was doing standup like doing crowd work and he was supposed to be the one that's not funny it didn't work that way I was bombing so I had never bombed that bad ever and I'm talking about I'm bombing bad and GE and Martin was just killing me like with his little lines every time he says some of the people was dying then they go back to me complete crickets I was like well this didn't work

16:19 out will frell and I had a an agreement where if we bombed we would have to embrace it and we did a sketch where we were two people who lost 100 lb and we did it Center Stage usually when you get a a sketch on in the center it's easier to get laughs cuz you're dead center and right and we wereing and it it's based on a Japanese business school that I saw in 60 minutes where they had to embrace failure and like I failed and like crawl on the ground and then you had to treat scoring and failing equally because they were really they coexist and so we were just like looking at one another not laugh just crickets like well I lost 100 lb

17:04 like a twinkle L like we are not a laugh and but we just stayed connected and it's like a moment I felt so connected to Will and we were we had we treated it like the most glorious moment of embracing this terrible bombing sketch look we're trying to grieve my father is gone well we can't bring him back it's an error and stimulus which is like there's something about comedy that kind of fundamental to that too it's like you laugh because something is not Landing normally or some things is landing Kenan and CES would tell me the wrong camera on purpose I know so during Lista McCarthy sketch you remember and I'm laughing and I'm thinking I'm turning away from the camera I'm looking

17:51 right at the camera laughing and Chris is like get out get away from the camera and I could not Melissa was doing it on purpose she was like I'm GNA break you bit before before we went out she was like I'm going to break you and I could not stop laughing I do think you have to earn it like a a few years before Lauren is okay with it yeah one of my favorite on I can't remember what it was called when wig and Maya were like showcase show girls hey you love golf you love the next prise you didn't win and they were driving around like chicken from chicken man and Bill was the host of this game show and he was breaking and they were breaking but Vanessa was new and she was still B face the whole time and I was like look at her new on the show and knowing that as the Vets sort of go one

18:38 after the other she kept it tight oh my God I remember I was going to say but it usually means you're very relaxed if you can laugh because if I'm really nervous there's no way I'm going to start laughing so I think it shows that the performers relax if they if they can laugh we had a thing with Will frell Brendan Fraser was hosting where I accidentally pulled he was playing Zena Princess Warrior and I accidentally pulled Brendan's whole week off and and hats by accident and I remember having a moment where I was like wait can we stop and then I realized oh my God We Can't Stop R like this isn't a movie like and know we all started laughing the entire we could not stop laughing and it's was such a great moment it was so fun I have always subscribed to this thing that Lauren says which is the audience is never wrong so even if you're sketch

19:24 bombs even though it killed on Tuesday like it doesn't matter like it's the schinger cat either it's in this Quantum state where it's like a killer sketch and also a dud and until you open that box until it's Saturday until you open that box you won't know which one it is and so like I think I think that's like the that's the best part of the show and it's that thing where that mol's talking about of like failure and success living like on the same thing is like so nothing's worse than that time between killing a dress because even then we've all killed a dress and had a bomb and it all feel so um I don't know fragile until it kills it air because you know that's not you weren't trying to write a sketch that killed a dress and so no

20:09 yeah you always wanted a bomb at dress for for for me if you didn't do good at dress that means that live is going to kill yeah for some reason if the if the dress audience is really good I get nervous cuz the live audience hot dress is a disaster a disaster during Co we um we had a a a vastly reduced audience because there had to be space between and everyone was masked and it was like the laughter was much less just because of the the the uh pity of people in the room and then the first time that we got a full audience back we walked out to do the cold open and I just was sobbing because they were

20:55 standing and clapping and it was like oh my God I missed this it's a and I always did much better at dress than on air which was very frustrating every single week for 10 years but like like having the having the camera and knowing that like I always just was cognizant of like there's a lot of people watching who are not in this room right now but dress just it's just for us and it was like you killing me thank you Leslie you're killing me you always K I was going to say one more thing right before I left the show I did create this character called Genie Dary who is a really bad standup have you guys heard of this Tik Tock thing the only Tik Tock I hear is

21:41 my biological clock don't get me started don't even get me started and I did it kind of for myself as an exercise because I was like I feel so tired of trying to get laugh that I want to do just something to make my my peers laugh like my friends on the show it was really just for them to make laugh but it was like a character who's a terrible stand comedian she's a closeted lesbian doing straight comedy I said are you sure it's a dog or is it my ex-husband and she's terrible and she's very awkward and she lives in the valley and it was and she gets no laughs cuz she's terrible and so it was like an a freeing exercise to get to perform

22:26 somebody who's a bad comedian and it was very creative for me ladies and gentlemen J [Music] harer molissa M host wise there's been great ones that are like vets and they know what they're doing but they give the grace to everybody because they know it's awkward so some people prepared is actually the last thing I [Music] want we don't want them to walk in I want to have a people's toes but I remember Melissa McCarthy came in with a lot of ideas and she was just like I just want to throw this out there you know what I mean real quick like I was thinking about these things but you know and they were all hilarious so yeah there are there are some people that that come in strapped and then there's

23:12 other people that give the grace to everybody because they know it's you know it might be awkward a lot of pressure or whatever and they just like let the room go around the room and you know thank everybody as they go and not really like interject too much and those are great too um but yeah Melissa she's she's always come in with a few like Heavy Hitters like in pocket on deck and it's a it's kind of amazing thank you thank you thank you oh my god hello oh wow will pharaoh and Kristen wig I am so happy to be back I saw Christen wig we did this really difficult sketch and I was like oh we're GNA be rehearsing this all night and we rehearsed it once and she was like I got it and we were just

23:58 like go home and will phell was like their 10 minutes I was like oh we get to go home early on Thursday yeah there like when you get to watch people do that like per like damn super vets call them super vets yeah I felt that way with Jim Carrey I was like God he just elevates every sketch just fun and we we try this and what about this and just um great and then I also felt Jennifer Anderson was just very laid back I remember being like oh that's so cool Jennifer and she had like a big wedding ring on and was just easygoing you know professional been had been in television for a long time that fight club monologue you guys did where every was all the women beating the sh out of each other so good real pain tastes different don't it

24:44 Molly come on superar yeah she was just easygoing and really like fun and I I remember Cameron Diaz was like like during the rehearsal she would just eat salads like like green GRE and I was like I want to be likeon Diaz and just eat salad you know what I mean yeah funny Tom Hanks watching Tom Hanks like the remember he played the trer he was it was so good like so good Doug you you ready to play Black Jey they told me a fell can win some money so let's win me some money get her done it's awesome to watch people continue to want to try to find things you know what I mean like all the way up to the live show it's all good it's all good

25:30 it's all good so that whole like him being freaked out about the handshake was like a last minute like in the- moment kind of thing he hadn't done it before that he found a brand new beat in our sketch to give to our sketch to give to the world it's just a he's he's one of the like greatest human beings walking you know what I mean but on top of that watching chman smile when that he was so scared about the jokes he was really thinking that they were going to hit and doing dress rehearsal he hit the one joke and they laughed and he went yep he found it and it was like but that's what I'm saying like the finding it of it all like that Journey it can freak people out along the way so some people like have a meltdown or they'll tank it or they just will vote against it you know in between shows but the

26:16 ones that like stay committed and stay like in it and stay in the trenches with us you you never forget them man I'm 90 90 years old I would just say when I guess it was The Betty White Show you did Sally o Ali and you were pulling your pants up that what you were revealing to the audience it was just the audacity and the joy I that is one of my favorite moments of just like God Molly is so in the pocket right now and we're so lucky uh to have this Vantage for and there's also nothing better than people like that giving the moment you know what I mean like a lot of times you know things are kind of like cut into here cut into there like you have have a setup piece and you have a punchline piece or whatever but when you

27:04 have like a performer who has five minutes to themselves like that kind of thing and just eat it up like Molly you eat it up every single time and my favorite is when you say stretch because it's like the kick is intense I like to kick I like to kick stret and it's just like you see a person like having their moment not panicking about it and just like having such a good time doing the dance of your gift you know what I mean I also want to say I turned 50 last year uhhuh 15 different SNL people texted me that it was time to kick and stretch like it's when you cross that threshold know that that and it was it really made me I was like God you know Sally Al was so happy

27:50 about it I'm going to embrace it the same way I'm going to kick and stretch my way through my 50s it's it's actually based on my father we were in a terrible automobile accident my dad was very badly injured and he he had a brace on his leg and had to learn to walk again they would amputated his legs so the character is based on my dad's limp who she's like ladies and gentlemen wow my name is Sal that's me imitating my dad but then she fools you because she's like I she's got power she can you all the so that's based on my dad for me for me like seen I've seen so many great moments we Keenan but to see him and

28:35 know why he is who he is the brick of like the building when he played the freaking Lobster who am I and why am I condemned to boil alive it was freaking brilliant everybody was like this dude is like the best in the business like seriously made everybody love the lobster uh it was one of my favorite moments okay give me comma give me Trump let's play the [Applause] PE I didn't know about politics until I came to SNL and I was like oh the senator oh that's a oh that's a that's a representative is that what they do oh I didn't know that's oh wow I

29:20 should be paying attention to who I'm V oh cuz so it was like such an interpretation of everything I was like oh damn that's what they meant oh damn I should have been paying attention didn't know you get a digest of like what what happened in the week politically like from the cold open to update like you you you do get this pretty neatly curated thing of like what's going on I don't know hello I'm Hillary Clinton tonight I'm speaking to you not as Secretary of State or as a senator or as a first lady but as a relatable woman on a couch hello I'm not a standup ComEd I'm not smart enough to be a stand-up comedian the way that I chose to like communicate

30:05 my feelings about politics and I do have many feelings about them is really thinking about the inner life of these people who have such a profound effect on all of our lives and why they're doing what they're doing and I find that a fascinating and helpful exercise personally just to try to make sense of what's going on any it still has to play I mean I think no matter how strongly you feel Lauren's never going to put something on that's just making a point so ultimately comedy has to be the first order business but I also think when you write comedy about current events you know it's crazy to think that people are going to be agnostic about their feelings so you know you just have

30:51 to synthesize them in a way that hopefully makes people laugh and then you have a good chance of it getting on TV I don't understand it I really don't and I never will but sometimes comedy is really the only way forward through tragedy that's where Lauren's heart shines through the most like yes the show is funny yes it's satirical it's occasionally sardonic but at the heart of it there's an underlying goodness and a desire to reach and to comfort people like when Russia invaded Ukraine we had a Ukrainian choir singing and then the camera panned up and the uh word ke was written out in candles live from New York it's Saturday night he knows instinctively because of this like

31:36 goodness undering everything how to respond in these moments when the nation really like needs a a hug basically and so those are my favorite [Music] Parts because I love and respect the show so much and Lauren I just wanted to leave at the right time when I felt like it's time to pass a baton to somebody else when I still loved it so much so it just it just felt like the right time and um I wanted a good ending because I had an Abrupt ending when I was young with people being pulled like in a way that was traumatizing and like so scary so I love a nice H game I love you

32:22 thanks for letting me stay a while live from New York it's Saturday night I was so sad about it for like years just anticipating the the loss and the grief of like the thing that I the one thing I wanted to do with my life basically but I was tired I was like yawning at 10:30 on a Saturday being like wow I'm having trouble staying awake for this show I think okay I get it but it was like not not a decision made lightly because of how much it meant to me you know and I made it clear to Lauren I would only leave if he found

33:08 me a different television show and if he had for real if he hadn't I would still be there I mean I there was no and even when I knew I was doing late night I came back and did the first half of the season because I was not ready I only had three weeks between my last out and my first wow wow which was not rational but I just saying goodbye was so very very very hard oh I ask going all the time like when you head it out man are you you s around going to go to California I what I realized like working on other shows was oh it's a rare thing especially now to like return for a season and like seeing the same people again that consistency that continuity is really singular and special and um it's a hard thing to to

33:54 part with when when I got ready to leave Lauren was like are you sure you know because like some time you know at the end of the season everybody hates each other and then they go away and they have some time and then they miss each other and then you come back and I was like I don't miss none of you my I'm GNA Go I mean I know it's such a Nuance like I'm in my 20 second see that's just it's just crazy because most people do eight Max you know what I mean or 12 whatever but it I'm echoing everything that everybody said like we love it we respect it we respect the people that are there it's a one-of aind place what a blessing it is to you know have a steady you know employment or whatever but I think it's the people it's the

34:40 people in front and behind that embrace it need it and then when they call me what am I not supposed to oblige the greatest job in the world you know what I mean like they they keep calling me it's not like I'm calling them and telling them like you know I'm not going nowhere like that's never the case so it's just out of love you know Tina F said that if Kenan walks out the 30 Rock or out the building and he's done the whole building's going to collapse [Music]