Caleb Hearon almost found himself cast on “Saturday Night Live,” but admitted he’s ultimately “glad” the gig didn’t work out.
The comedian — whose HBO comedy special, “Caleb Hearon: Model Comedian,” dropped on Sept. 19 — opened up on the “Good One” podcast about his audition process for the famed NBC sketch show, which he blasted as “archaic.”
Per Hearon, he nabbed the opportunity to audition for the “SNL” team, including creator Lorne Michaels, through a character showcase at iO Chicago. Hearon said he prepped for the showcase for a year, noting that he “killed” his performance and was invited to join Michaels and others for drinks at the Ritz afterwards.
Hearon recalled being among the few asked to fly out to New York to audition at Studio 8H, confessing he practiced his set to “complete silence” after hearing stories about the in-studio audition process.
“I went and I did it. I would have killed for that job the first time,” he said. “The first time, I had no career. No followers. No team.”
Yet, Hearon shared he’s now happy it didn’t work out, as he felt it wouldn’t have been a right fit. “Glad I didn’t get it,” he added. “Not a place for me to work. For many reasons, not the least of which I’m fat and they’re telling people to lose weight to work on that show. No one likes to talk about that, but that’s reality.”
Reps for “Saturday Night Live” did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Hearon credited this rejection as a motivator for him to begin posting his content online. “I was pissed. I was like, ‘What are you talking about? I have this great set,’” he went on. “But I started making videos right away. And I want to say that was late summer, early fall 2019. I had maybe 3,000 followers on Twitter or something from like college. And I started posting videos and by the end of that year I had 120,000, a team, agents, a manager.”
Hearon noted he did audition for the show again at another time, but still did not get cast.
“Thank god that it went that way,” he concluded. “I genuinely mean it when I say the two best things that ever happened to me are that I didn’t get that job twice. Because, I am not meant for that place. I don’t like being told what to do. I don’t like routine. I don’t like crazy schedules. The way that it all worked out for me that I get to be in charge, that I get to hire the people I want to work with, way better.”
Season 51 of “Saturday Night Live” premieres Oct. 4 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
