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The comedian, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, offered up some very candid answers.
A lot has been written over the years about theSNLaudition process, likethe New YorkTimespiece in 2013.
Its usually about 15 comedians.
You go up and you do a five-minute set.
Ive done that a couple times and Ive never gone on from there.
They changed the date around a couple of times, and then they fly you out to New York.
You cant really hear or watch you could barely hear the other persons set, the people onstage.
Right.I was there for probably five hours before I went up.
And then its the classic story: You go onstage, everybodys sitting in chairs or standing up.
And theres some laughs, but mostly not.
You do a punchline that youre used to killing, and its just people going Ha ha ha.
Thats kind of about it.
My test didnt go super well, but I really didnt want it.
And I kept thinking about how my life would change if I had to be onSNL.
Also, you have to.
The women walk aroundSNLand they make you sign a contract, and everybody jokes youre signing your life away.
Interesting.Its a wild contract.
But they didnt really care about what people did beforeSNL!
Do you consider yourself anSNLfan?No, not really.
Were you around when Shane auditioned?Yeah, I was there.
Did you meet him?Yeah, I did.
And I make fun ofSNLalot.
Theres tweets and stuff where Im making fun of it.
I think whatever Ive said aboutSNLin the past isnt a big enough reason to not hire me.
But I dont think there was really much vetting at all.
Oh, really?Yeah, thats something that theyre always looking for, the last few years.
They think of the South and Middle America as stupid racists, I guess.
He didnt hang out with everybody as much …
But I dont think that that is within him.
[Its] lacking any self-awareness.
Taking that route is kind of cowardly and sort of egomaniacal.
So why wouldSNLwant to continue to have that person there?
Right.But at the same time, I feel likeSNLshould keep him.
You hired this guy, youre stuck with him.
Now you gotta deal with all this shit he said or might continue to say.
But dont just go Oh whoops, we made a mistake!
These places shouldnt be so desperate to appeal to a certain demographic in this day and age.
They should just have a go at make comedy thats funny and good.
The floodgates have been opened, and its a really tricky line to toe.
And it really bit them in the ass in casting Shane.
Do you think theres a discussion to be had there?No I mean, its old!
Weve all said and done really inappropriate, bad things a long time ago.
And then people have had to go, Oh yeah, shit.
Its only been in the last 20 years, maybe.
And those comedians dont do that anymore.
Casting Bowen [Yang] was really exciting, because Bowen is so funny and strange and interesting.
It still feels kind of weird.
I dont know, man.
Rich white people have always been bad; theyve always done really fucked-up shit.
Thats more boundary-pushing than someone saying a bunch of racist shit about Asians.
Because 50 percent of white-dude comicsnowadays feel like theyve got a hot take, which is the big problem.
Shut up about your hot take.
Thats more interesting than anything.
I dont think he really is losing any sleep over any of this.
I really dont know if theyre going to learn anything from this.
They fired Shane, so now theyre just like, Okay, its finished.
Its a legion of these white dudes who are going, Oh, hes making a joke!
Cancel culture over a joke!
But nobody is looking around and going, Oh shit, were just a mob of white guys.
I just cant believe that these people dont see that.
It feels really scary and gross.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
