While interviewing Ryan Reynolds back in 2020, Stephen Colbert revealed that he once auditioned to play the role of Screech on Saved by the Bell. “That was my first professional audition,” the former late-night host explained. “1986, they came to Chicago. I was a student at Northwestern University,” he continued. Apparently, someone associated with the show had seen Colbert, who was a theater major, perform at school and asked him to try out.
But by Colbert’s own admission, things didn’t go so well. “Imagine how that character ended up in broadcast. I did my audition and they said to me, ‘Um, there’s a term you’re gonna need to know about as a professional. It’s called over the top. You just went over the top. Don’t do that anymore,’” Colbert recalled. “Then I saw the subtle interplay of status dynamics that Dustin Diamond brought to that part,” he joked.
Stephen Colbert’s Story About Almost Playing Screech Has One Pretty Big Plot Hole
However, as Pajiba pointed out afterward, if the audition in question took place in 1986 like Colbert remembered, it wouldn’t have been for Saved by the Bell. Diamond first played Screech on the short-lived sitcom Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which only lasted one season. Saved by the Bell served as a reboot of Miss Bliss and didn’t debut until August 1989. In fairness, though, Miss Bliss was retitled Saved by the Bell: The Junior High Years in syndication.
But, when you think about it, it doesn’t make much sense for Colbert to have even been reading for Screech. Diamond would’ve been nine years old in 1986, whereas Colbert was 22. Colbert did graduate from Northwestern that year, and they likely would’ve been casting for the Miss Bliss pilot then, so the timeline checks out. The only other problem with Colbert’s story is that Screech didn’t actually appear in the pilot; the character made his debut in the episode “Summer Love,” which aired in November 1988.
So, while it’s possible that Colbert could’ve auditioned for the Good Morning, Miss Bliss pilot, it’s unlikely that he would’ve been playing a student—let alone one that didn’t exist yet.
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