Zach Galifianakis on Tina Fey during his very short SNL career: 'God bless her'

Authored by phillyvoice.com and submitted by holyfruits

Zach Galifianakis told a heartwarming story about Tina Fey and his very brief stint at SNL in a recent interview.

On "The Off Camera Show with Sam Jones," Galifianakis revealed that while he did get a shot at being a writer for NBC's "Saturday Night Live," during the same time as some of the show's greats, like Upper Darby-native Fey, Amy Poehler, and Maya Rudolph (the two got hired on the same day), it didn't last very long.

"I got there, and I was like, 'I cannot believe I am going to be on the show,'" he told Jones in an interview from September. "'Saturday Night Live' was a big deal for me."

Galifianakis had auditioned for the show a couple times and thought he was being hired as a cast member. But it turns out, there was a miscommunication, and he was only there for a two-week trial run as a writer.

"I will say this," he said. "Tina Fey, God bless her. God, I'll never forget this."

Galifianakis describes being at the SNL table read where writers and cast members pitch sketches for the upcoming show. Britney Spears was hosting the show that week, and Galifianakis had an idea that involved Will Ferrell being the bodyguard to her belly button.

"After they read my sketches at the table read. You know there's 70 people there. To say it was silent ... I remember the AC "krrr," like it had shut down during the middle of the sketch. The cast members are reading it out loud," Galifianakis said. "... I just remember Tina, who I was sitting next to ... putting her hand on my shoulder. It didn't feel sarcastic, it could have been. But in my mind, it was her going, 'It's OK,'" he said.

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nowhereman136 on December 6th, 2020 at 21:06 UTC »

Only 3 SNL writers have come back to host, Conan Obrien, John Mulaney, and Larry David. (im excluding writers who were also credited as cast members)

Zach Galifianakis is the fourth, but he left the show prior to the start of the season and none of the sketches his wrote made it to air.

edit: Louis CK was also a writer for SNL in the early 00s. He also auditioned for the show earlier and didnt get it

TheCrowAngel on December 6th, 2020 at 16:54 UTC »

Sounds like something from 30 Rock

BurstYourBubbles on December 6th, 2020 at 16:29 UTC »

That whole scenario sounds like a sketch