Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
Variety
  • 2/17/2025
Famous hosts, musical guests and “Saturday Night Live” alumni turned out in full force for Sunday’s “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” tribute.

Category

✨
People
Transcript
00:00You obviously played Tim Walz on the show this past year.
00:02You've done some comedy in front of the most powerful politicians in the country.
00:07What is your number one tip for performing comedy for people who don't really like to laugh?
00:13Oh, yeah. You know, I would say some of it is, you know,
00:21the straight answer is like preparation is everything and understanding expectations is really huge.
00:27But the funny answer is like when you're performing for billionaires and politicians,
00:33you know, you might as well be performing for like people that don't speak your language, right?
00:39Because there's going to be reference points that are not part of their lives.
00:47You know, like a billionaire is, you know,
00:49even the most down-to-earth billionaire is not going to be dealing with the same issues of struggling with.
00:56I put my order in at Shake Shack and they got it wrong, you know what I mean?
01:00But I think and also like hot, you know, in a really high-level event,
01:07you know, people have other things on their mind and some people are more sensitive and some of it is,
01:12you know, they have to be on, you know, like a politician has to be on.
01:15So Letitia James at the Al Smith dinner is like, I mean, she's like so impressive,
01:20but like she had to be like, I have to have my demeanor during this thing.
01:25She was very friendly and laughed at jokes, but she's also realizes everyone's looking at her.
01:31You know what I mean? So and it's like performing in front of Trump, you know, like people are watching Trump.
01:36So how he responds, you know, might be influenced by how he wants it to come across.
01:44Did you ever get to talk to Trump? Like did he ever comment on your performance of Walls?
01:48I know he threw some shots at Walls during that dinner.
01:51No, you know, it was really interesting.
01:53I, you know, I think I asked him something about, oh, because I introduced him.
02:00So I went over and I said, is there any anything you want me to say when I introduce you?
02:07And he goes, no, no, no, that's fine. And he was very kind of,
02:10I think he was kind of getting a measure of like, I don't know what this guy is going to say about me.
02:14And so he was a little bit of the cool kid, but it was very civil and stuff like that.
02:20But I think when I did the Al Smith dinner, when I acknowledged his wife had the number one book,
02:29I think he was like, all right, maybe this guy is, you know, not just going to do a hatchet job.
02:38You obviously have a very broad audience across the political aisle. Was doing Walls on SNL,
02:44like, have you noticed a shift in terms of how your audience has reacted to you?
02:48Or do you think people generally have a good sense of humor about it?
02:52I think people have. There's no consequences. I mean, SNL is such a huge comedic opportunity.
03:01So there would never most of the people that like my comedy,
03:04whether they're conservative or liberal, would not have an issue with me portraying anyone.
03:13But, you know, at the Al Smith dinner, there was people that are like,
03:17oh, you're doing this wrong because you're you criticize that person
03:22or you did this wrong because you didn't criticize them enough.
03:25But I kind of knew going into it that there was going to be a no win.
03:30But some of it is I always wanted to do the Al Smith dinner.
03:32So last question, what's the biggest obstacle for comedians today?
03:39The biggest obstacle. I mean, I think it always remains like being funny.
03:45I think that's and I would imagine the biggest obstacle is, you know, not being not buying your own hype.
03:58You know, it's like I think when comedians think they are suddenly it's like comedians are dopey people.
04:06And I'm not saying all of them, but like when they stop realizing that they're dope and they think, no, I'm a good looking guy.
04:14That's when they lose it. So it's like keeping in touch with who they are and maybe losing that work ethic.
04:20That's probably not a creative answer, but.