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SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night is a recently-released four-part docuseries streaming on Peacock that offers a look at several surprising Saturday Night Live audition tapes. 2025 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Saturday Night Live, one of the longest-running TV shows of all time. To celebrate this major milestone, there are several new specials about SNL’s 50th anniversary, the first of which is SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.
There were a number of shocking reveals in SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, although it wasn’t quite the hit piece that some had been expecting. Nevertheless, the docuseries did provide brand-new insights into the audition process for Saturday Night Live and highlight some of the best, most memorable, and most shocking auditions in SNL’s history. Of the Saturday Night Live cast member auditions depicted in SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, these 10 represent the most surprising in terms of their content, their influence on the cast member, and/or their level of success.
10
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan’s Emotional Response To His Audition Proved How Meaningful These Auditions Are
Comedian and actor Tracy Morgan was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2003. Morgan was one of the first faces in SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, speaking about his experience auditioning in the episode “Five Minutes.” What makes Morgan’s audition such a surprise is not its content (although his Biscuit character went on to be very popular) but rather his response to seeing it.
Morgan watches the audition tape in SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, getting increasingly emotional, clapping, laughing, and saying “This is crazy.” At one point, after Morgan reveals he even remembers when he wrote the material, he seems to wipe a tear from his eye. It’s easy to understand why Morgan has this response, and it’s revelatory about this experience and the impact of SNL. For many on the show, watching their audition tape is an opportunity to jump right back into the moment when they got their big break.
9
Will Ferrell
Ferrell Impressed The Producers With His Unique Audition Material
Will Ferrell became one of the greatest Saturday Night Live cast members of all time, with Lorne Michaels himself ranking Ferrell as one of the top two or three SNL cast members in the show’s decades-long history, according to The Hollywood Reporter. However, Ferrell wasn’t all that confident going into the audition. In fact, even after his audition concluded, he thought he’d done horribly, which was a sentiment many of his SNL counterparts shared.
Evidently, that wasn’t the case, as the producers were captivated by Ferrell and his unique characters and sense of humor. One of the stand-out moments from his audition—which eventually made it into a skit on Saturday Night Live as well—saw Ferrell rolling around on the floor and playing with cat toys. Whereas Ferrell was worried he’d gone too far, the producers were thrilled to see something truly brand-new. This character work was ultimately employed throughout Ferrell’s time on SNL and in his movie and TV roles since.
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8
Kenan Thompson
Thompson’s Audition Was More Than Twice As Long As A Typical Audition
Kenan Thompson’s Saturday Night Live audition was more than twice as long as the average, causing it to stand out. Typically, SNL auditions are compact, running approximately 5 minutes long and providing SNL producers with a quick sense of the person’s comedic chops, as SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night’s episode “Five Minutes” makes clear. Thompson certainly broke with this tradition in his 11-minute-long audition, during which he did a number of impressions, including of Bill Cosby. However, clearly, that strategy worked in Thompson’s favor.
Thompson is the longest-running Saturday Night Live cast member of all time. He began on SNL in 2003, and he remains on the show to this day, giving him an overall 22-year run (so far) on the show. That doesn’t mean SNL has been all that Thompson has done, however. Thompson had his big break on Nickelodeon’s Kenan & Kel, which ran from 1996 to 2000, and he has since appeared in many major movies and TV shows, including as a voice actor in the Trolls franchise.
7
Heidi Gardner
Gardner Also Cried While Watching Her Tapes Back
Like Tracy Morgan, Heidi Gardner got quite emotional watching her audition tape on SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, asking those behind the camera if other former cast members had cried watching their old audition tapes back too (the answer was yes). Gardner went on to explain that she hadn’t ever seen the tape before and was worried she would never be able to because she may be too critical of herself. In the end, though, Gardner was proud of what she saw on the screen.
In SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, Gardner explained, “I cannot believe I did that, just as far as, like, that’s a lot of pressure.” Like Morgan’s reaction, Gardner’s response to watching her old audition tapes reveals both how intense this audition process is for Saturday Night Live and how profound an impact being on SNL can have on someone and their career. While Gardner’s audition may not have been all that ‘wild’ in terms of its content, it’s affecting to see her strong response to these tapes.
6
Kristen Wiig
Impressively, All Of Wiig’s Audition Characters Made It Onto The Show
Saturday Night Live auditions are notoriously daunting, but that didn’t seem to be too big an obstacle for actress and comedian Kristen Wiig. Rather impressively, all the characters Wiig auditioned with eventually made their way onto SNL as characters. The most famous of these was likely Target Lady, although Wiig had a number of brilliant characters both in her audition and throughout her time on Saturday Night Live.
Wiig had a relatively long run on SNL, appearing on the show for 7 years, from 2005 to 2012. During those years, Wiig was known for her character work—the very thing that had made her Saturday Night Live audition such a success. The same skill set is clear in Wiig’s characters in various movies and shows, including as Annie in Bridesmaids and the voice of Lucy in the Despicable Me franchise.
Wiig was known for her character work—the very thing that had made her Saturday Night Live audition such a success.
5
Fred Armisen
Armisen’s Audition Was An Immediate Hit
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night also showed the audition video of actor and comedian Fred Armisen, who was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2002 to 2013. Armisen, who also had not seen his audition video before, laughed along with the clip and explained that he had drawn inspiration from musician Tito Puente for the drummer character used in his audition. The character borrowed from Tito Puente’s animated comedic style and took advantage of Armisen’s real-life drummer skills as well.
According to SNL producer Michael Shoemaker, “You knew right away that would be a character on the show, whether he was crazy or not.” This proved true, as this character went on to appear on Saturday Night Live well after Armisen’s audition. This type of character work would also become a staple of Armisen’s on the show.
4
Bobby Moynihan
Moynihan’s Response To His Audition Tape Was One Of Pure Embarrassment
Although many former Saturday Night Live cast members were delighted or even moved to tears when viewing their old audition tapes, Bobby Moynihan was thoroughly embarrassed by what he saw. As soon as his audition clip began playing, Moynihan said, “Oh no… Oh, Bobby.” Moynihan then explained that the character he portrayed in his audition tape was actually based on someone he had previously worked with.
The audition tape sees Moynihan donning a durag, the long strands of which he plays with as though they are hair. Moynihan also adopts an accent for the audition (which seems to in part be why Moynihan responds with “Oh no”) and a more flamboyant attitude. Despite Moynihan’s embarrassment, this audition clearly did the trick, as he was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2017.
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3
Kate McKinnon
Kate McKinnon’s Penélope Cruz Was A Massive Hit
Kate McKinnon was one example of an SNL cast member who was added at the end of the season, making her a bit of a wild card. Nevertheless, McKinnon’s Saturday Night Live audition, in which she impersonated actress Penélope Cruz in a moisturizer commercial, was a major hit. In the audition, McKinnon hilariously leans lower and lower into her chair as she delivers the generic lines used in so many moisturizer commercials.
McKinnon landed the job following her celebrated audition and then had a long run on Saturday Night Live as a cast member, from 2012 to 2022. That decade saw a number of brilliant Kate McKinnon SNL sketches, some of which included McKinnon’s fan-favorite impression of Hillary Clinton. In the time since, McKinnon has had many movie and TV roles showing off her comedy skills, including as Weird Barbie in 2023’s smash-hit movie Barbie.
2
Andy Samberg
Andy Samberg Came Prepared With Many Props
Actor and comedian Andy Samberg may be best known for the major roles he has under his belt now, such as Jake Peralta on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but he was as nervous as anyone else when he auditioned for Saturday Night Live. That was clear in the number of props he brought alone, which Samberg himself poked fun at while watching the audition tape back in SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night. In addition to using multiple props to his advantage, Samberg also made use of impressions in his audition.
In SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, Samberg watched as his audition tape played, including his impression of Jimmy Fallon, another former SNL cast member. Samberg explained that he knew Fallon had done an impression of yet another former SNL cast member, Adam Sandler, when he auditioned, making it a bit of a tradition. According to Shoemaker, he knew Samberg was right for the job simply from the way he held up his hand when he referred to himself as a “triple threat.”
1
Bill Hader
Hader’s Al Pacino Impression Got Some Laughs During The Audition
If SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night made one aspect of auditions clear, it was that they could be fairly awkward for the person auditioning, as it was unusual for anyone watching to laugh. That was evidently no problem for Bill Hader, though, as Hader’s Al Pacino impression got some genuine laughs during his audition. To make his audition stand out even more, Hader wasn’t just Al Pacino—he was Al Pacino losing his temper over a cantaloupe.
For the producers, this was not only funny but also subverted expectations enough that Hader immediately grabbed their attention. This proved to be the perfect formula, as Hader’s unique impression got him a role on SNL, where he stayed for eight years. Although these auditions aren’t necessarily ‘wild’ in the way one might expect of Saturday Night Live auditions, SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night revealed how each of these audition tapes (and, at times, the comedian’s responses) each held something surprising and unusual.
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