Every once in a while, “Saturday Night Live” really surprises me with its castings. Giving Sarah Sherman (better known to the alt-comedy community as Sarah Squirm) a spot on the roster was one example, while casting Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett in 2013 remains one of the best decisions never taken by Lorne Michaels.

In 2007, the duo started the comedy group Good Neighbor, with Nick Rutherford and Dave McCary, and created some of the greatest sketches ever to hit the Internet for their YouTube channel “GoodNeighborStuff.” Mooney in particular embodied a kind of subversive alt-comedy genius that wasn’t so far removed from the offbeat rebellion at the heart of another early 2000s comedic touchstone: “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job” – also launched in 2007. Indeed. , Mooney and “Awesome Show” star Tim Heidecker later starred as leather-jacket-wearing comedic characters, with Mooney’s Bruce Chandler eventually appearing for several segments on “SNL” (Heidecker’s “An Evening with Tim Heidecker” is now on Hulu and is a must-see).

Fortunately, during his nine years on the show, Mooney was given some leeway to bring his unique humor to the forefront, even repurposing specific sketches from Good Neighbor such as “Inside SoCal.” But while it was great to see this kind of comedy get a mainstream sheen, it also felt a bit like some of the edges had, necessarily, been sanded down. After all, unlike “Awesome Show,” “SNL” isn’t a fringe sketch series with a devoted cult following, it’s quite a cultural institution at this point, and can’t constantly indulge in alternative comedy styles of his most avant-garde films. custody rentals.

Which is why it’s interesting to learn that Mooney landed his spot on the show’s roster by playing one of its most awkward and decidedly non-traditional characters, even using the “SNL” impresario Lorne Michaels for a punchline.

Between his Good Neighbor years and his arrival on “SNL,” Kyle Mooney created segments for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “Sports Show with Norm Macdonald,” playing his awkward interview persona who constantly stumbled over words and mumbled into a microphone while on assignment to cover some sort of live event. Many of these segments exist only at Mooney. YouTube channel and are nothing short of genius, with the comedian successfully playing a fake severe social anxiety disorder for laughs.

It’s the sort of thing that would generally be described as “anti-comedy”, with Mooney reveling in the sheer discomfort that arises from his interactions with audience members. But there really is no anti-comedy – if something’s funny, it’s funny – and Mooney’s interviewee is a timeless example of that.

Still, that’s not the kind of thing “SNL” is known for these days, with the show needing to maintain at least some sort of mainstream appeal. That didn’t stop Mooney from hugging her nervous little interviewer for her audition. The actor, who recently directed Rachel Zegler in the 100% historically inaccurate comedy “Y2K”, spoke about his audition on the four-part documentary series “SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night,” where he revealed that his performance didn’t go very well, especially when he intentionally mispronounced Lorne Michaels’ name within the framework of the act. “I was like, ‘Oh, I want to open my audition kind of like if I was hosting ‘Saturday Night Live,'” he said. “I went something like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I’m here at 30 Rockers in front THE Lonnie Mickers,” and there was no response, and that was the very first thing I did, and I was like, “Oh, no! “”

Kyle Mooney is far from the only actor to open up about how they think they botched their “SNL” audition. In fact, almost every actor who has recounted their audition has a similar story about a certain joke or element that got nothing from the producers. But it’s clear that Mooney’s inventive take on the audition impressed Lorne Michaels and co., showing that not trying to adhere to the show’s sensibilities is the best way to approach the audition.

Sarah Sherman spoke of a similar experience on the “Living with Kelly and Mark” show, telling the hosts how she was nervous about auditioning because her stand-up routine is “a little grotesque.” She continued:

“I was worried, like, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t behave this way in front of future employers,’ but whatever I did, I went for it, it was crazy and then when they hired, I was like, ‘Oh, I guess they’re crazy.'”

All of this begs the question of why “SNL” doesn’t let comedians like Sherman and Mooney do more of their own stuff. During their time on the show, both comedians had the chance to showcase their unique sensibilities, with Lorne even returning in one of Mooney’s films. digital shorts when he misnamed the comedian as “Kevin”. But those moments were always sandwiched between some truly abject sketches that would have benefited from the more subversive energy brought by actors like Sherman and Mooney. For example, the season 50 premiere was one of the most disastrous episodes in the show’s history. Limping through stale bits and wasting the shiny Jean Smart.

Additionally, even though we got to see the character interviewed by Mooney several times during his nine years on the show, there’s something vaguely offensive about seeing some of these segments labeled “cut for time” on the YouTube channel “SNL” – like, you really cut that stuff out and keep it”The Real Housewives of Santa Fe?“That aside, we owe a lot of credit to ‘SNL’ for giving Mooney the platform to go out and make the wonderful offbeat comedy “Brigsby Bear” and “Y2K”, without which we also wouldn’t have Mooney’s marketing brilliance video.