Photos: Matt Misisco, Edie Baskin/NBC
When Kevin Nealon left Saturday Night Live in 1995 after nine seasons, he did so as the show’s longest-serving cast member to that point—and it’s no wonder.
Though he’s probably best remembered for bringing indelible characters like Mr. Subliminal and Franz (of the weightlifting duo Hans and Franz) to the show, he’s also one of SNL’s greatest utility players, known behind-the-scenes for holding sketches together with a dry, understated wit. After Dennis Miller’s departure in 1991, Nealon brought that same sensibility to the “Weekend Update” desk, anchoring the show’s signature segment for three seasons.
He recently released a new YouTube standup special, Kevin Nealon: Loose in the Crotch, via 800 Pound Gorilla Media, and continues to connect with audiences through Hiking with Kevin.
We’re grateful to Kevin Nealon for taking LateNighter’s SNL Cast Member Questionnaire ahead of the show’s 1,000th episode this weekend—and for agreeing to keep his answers entirely free of subliminal messages.
Earliest memory of when you first became aware of SNL
Probably when it first started, in 1975. I was 22 and I remember trying to stay up to watch it, and I’d start off watching it, then the next thing I know I’m waking up and they’re all saying the goodbyes. That actually happened when I was on the show, too. I’d fall asleep during the show and then I’d be on stage waving goodbye.
All-time favorite SNL cast member
Wow. That’s hard. I thought Jan Hooks was a very underrated sketch player. We came in at the same time. In fact, we were dating at the time. We had been friends for maybe six years and it’s one of those friendships that turned into a romantic relationship. We were still dating when we were on SNL, which was a challenge because there’s so much stress on that show. But yeah, I would watch her and I think “Wow. She is amazing.”
All-time favorite sketch
It’s funny, it’s like when somebody will say, “Hey, what’s your favorite song ever?” and one week it might be one song and the next week, another. I keep thinking of one sketch called “El Cantaro.” It was an Italian restaurant and I come on a date there with Kirstie Alley and the waiters are all over her. They’re kissing her and hugging her and I’m getting uncomfortable with that. She goes, “No, no honey. It’s what they do. They’re Italian!” Then it just escalates from there where they’re licking her cheek and Dana’s dry-humping her on a table. Then as we’re leaving, Sandler comes out with a Speedo and everybody’s up against the window, licking the window. That still makes me laugh to this day.
All-time favorite musical performance
Oh, well, I grew up being a big James Taylor fan, so when he came on…. Also Paul McCartney, Roy Orbison, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton. And a lot of them would do shows afterwards, like Paul Simon. They would stay and do a couple extra songs for the audience.
What was it like auditioning for the show?
Well, this was the strangest audition. I was a stand-up comic; I had never done sketch comedy, I was never in an improv group. Dana Carvey was a friend of mine and he was a stand-up too, but he did characters in his act. So he goes off, he gets SNL that summer, two weeks later, he calls me and says, “They’re looking for another cast member and I told them about you. They want to know if you have an audition tape.” So I sent the audition tape of me doing stand-up, thinking that they wouldn’t go any further than that. Two weeks later, Dana calls me back: “Hey, they liked your audition tape. They’re gonna fly you in for an audition.”
I don’t even really remember what I did—I think I did some stand-up that I did fromThe Tonight Show, and I had a couple of characters. Then I came back to L.A. and a week later, I’m sitting in front of Lorne Michaels and he’s offering me a job.
How did you find out you were hired?
Lorne Michaels came out and met me. I knew it was happening because I was invited to come to my manager’s office and sat across from him. I remember he talked a lot about the show, his philosophy about it, and where it’s going and how I would be a good addition. Then he excuses himself to use the restroom and while he is gone, my manager says, “Eh, let’s tell him we’ll think about it over the weekend.” I’m like, “Are you crazy?” He goes, “It’ll help with the negotiations.” I said, “Okay.”
So Lorne comes back and says, “So, what do you think?” I said, “Well, Lorne, let me think about it over the weekend.” He goes, “Alright, you think about it over the weekend and we’ll see you in New York on Monday.” What I really didn’t think about was that my manager was also his manager at the time, so they probably had this whole routine worked out.
What do you remember about your first sketch appearance?
I was nervous, very nervous. It was a sketch I wrote called “Mr. Subliminal,” which I had done in my act a bit. It was kind of a complicated sketch because it’s two conversations going on at once. It was with Victoria Jackson and Jon Lovitz. I was an advertising executive and I would come into the company and insert these words, subliminally, to get what I wanted. Right before I went on, Lorne comes up to me and puts his hand on my shoulders and says “Are you sure this is what you want?” That loosened me up because I knew that he was lighthearted about it.
Most triumphant SNL moment
I was a huge Steve Martin fan, still am, and he was visiting Lorne just to watch and hang out. I wrote a sketch called “Death Be Not Deadly”—a play off of those old Raymond Chandler, film noir movies—and Robert Mitchum, the host, played the private eye. In those Raymond Chandler movies, he would do the voiceover narrative, so I thought it’d be funny if he was doing that, but he was actually doing it in the room, where he’d be hiding behind a plant, doing the narration. Then he’d excuse himself and go in the bathroom and keep the door open and do it again. So that sketch finished and Steve Martin came running down and told me how fantastic the writing was. That really made me excited.
Most humbling SNL moment
Well, it’s always humbling when you write a sketch that gets cut after dress.
Cut sketch you wish made it to air
There was a sketch I did called “Mr. No Depth Perception.” It was about a guy who has no depth perception and he would get himself into trouble by maybe talking too loudly about somebody at the dinner table. That one did great, but then I wrote a sequel to it that never got on.
The SNL staffer you couldn’t live without
Jim Downey, he was the head writer. He was there from the original years. He was a Harvard graduate and he really knew the show. I loved his personality and his temperament. He was so calm in the storm.
Name something people don’t know about Lorne Michaels
I think a lot of people may not know how generous he is, and thoughtful about things.
Do you/did you have any SNL superstitions?
I’m not a superstitious guy. I don’t believe in signs. I don’t believe in ghosts. My father was an aeronautical engineer, so everything is factual to me.
Your favorite host (while you were a cast member) and why?
I was a huge fan of Steve Martin, so Steve Martin was my favorite host.
Your least-favorite host (while you were a cast member) and why?
You know, it’s hard to say that. Everybody’s great in their own way. People seem to say Steven Seagal. He was in his own world there. I remember him standing there with his arms folded in the hallway, like he was a bodyguard for nobody that was around.
What’s the latest you’ve stayed up on a live show night?
Probably until five in the morning. I’m not a night person.
What’s the latest you’ve slept after a live show night?
Probably 2:00 in the afternoon.
Favorite celebrity you shared an elevator with at 30 Rock
I remember getting on an elevator with Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown and their daughter. I didn’t say anything. I was so intimidated. That’s a good question…. I never thought about this. I’m sure there’s others, and I’m sure somebody is saying right now, “Oh, I was on an elevator with Kevin Nealon once” — probably Whitney.
If you could go back and leave a note for yourself on your very first day at SNL, what would it say?
“Relax!”
Anything to plug?
My wife and I are part of a team of executive producers on a documentary called Come See Me in the Good Light and we just got nominated for an Academy Award, so we’re really excited about that. There’s also KevinNealonArt.com. I’ve been sketching caricatures of people for a long time, but I haven’t done it seriously until about six or seven years ago and I recently opened up an online store.
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