As the series marks its milestone 50th season, James Marsden is contemplating what could have been if he’d made it onto Saturday Night Live.
The Golden Globe nominee revealed that he once had an audition for SNL “if you can call it that,” explaining the peculiar choice he made during his tryout before going on to his own acting career.
“They did a nationwide talent search and a friend of mine in my drama class, or whatever, who I used to do these humorous sketches with, said, ‘Let’s go down and audition for it,’” he recalled on Live with Kelly and Mark. “I think they made us do… It wasn’t even something like, ‘Create an interesting character,’ or whatever. It was like, ‘Do whatever silly thing you want to do.’ I don’t know why we chose to do this, but we clucked like chickens and just walked around each other.
“Yeah, it was a bad choice,” added Marsden.
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Marsden said he’d “love to” host the NBC sketch comedy show, joking he’ll “host the show and do the clucky chicken.”
“I did 30 Rock for a bit with Tina Fey, and I said, ‘You know, my dream was always to be on SNL,’” Marsden noted. “And she goes, ‘Oh, well, you’ll host at some point.’ And I go, ‘No, as a regular. I wanna be the guys!’ She was like, ‘Well, you probably can if you want to.’ But yeah, I just love doing impressions and different characters.”
This weekend, SNL alum Martin Short will host with musical guest Hozier. Created by Lorne Michaels in 1975, SNL will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a primetime special Sunday, Feb. 16.
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