James Marsden recalled a doomed “Saturday Night Live” audition during an interview on “Live With Kelly and Mark” Wednesday. The actor said he and a friend answered a call for a “nationwide talent search” and ended up performing a spontaneous sketch in which they “clucked like chickens and just walked around each other.”
“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,” Marsden explained.
“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,” he added.
The actor also said that he once told “SNL” alum Tina Fey about his sketch comedy aspirations. “I did ’30 Rock’ for a bit with Tina Fey, and I said, ‘You know, my dream was always to be on ‘SNL,’” he explained. “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.”
Peacock will premiere the four-part docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night” on Jan. 16, 2025, a month before the big 50th anniversary primetime special for the legendary late night show. The “SNL” documentary series will feature over 60 contributors, including “SNL” alumni, who will extensively cover decades of the show’s history.
Each episode will provide brand-new insights into what was going on behind the scenes in the writer’s room and will also include footage from the show’s audition process.
Of course, there’s no word on whether to not Marsden’s chicken impression will make the cut, but fans can hope.
