James Marsden says this ‘bad choice’ made him bomb his ‘SNL’ audition
He’s having the last laugh.
During an episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark” earlier in the week, James Marsden revealed that he once tried out for “Saturday Night Live,” but it didn’t go well.
“They did a nationwide talent search and a friend of mine in my drama class, or whatever, who I used to do these humorous sketches with, said, ‘Let’s go down and audition for it,’” Marsden, 51, recalled.
He said, “I think they made us…‘Create an interesting character,’ or whatever. It was like, ‘Do whatever silly thing you want to do.’ I don’t know why we chose to do this, but we clucked like chickens and just walked around each other.”
Marsden admitted that the chicken bit was a “bad choice.”
Although he never ended up on “SNL,” Marsden has proven his worth as a comedy actor over the years.
In between his drama roles like the “X-Men” movies and “Westworld,” he’s played comedic roles in “30 Rock,” “Enchanted” and “Sonic the Hedgehog,” and he snagged Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series” for his turn playing an egotistical version of himself in the sleeper hit “Jury Duty.”
“I thought that would be a lot of fun to have the ability to send up Hollywood [and] entitled actors,” Marsden told The Post about his “Jury Duty” role in 2023.
He explained, “It’s in the same vein that Larry David plays Larry on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ It’s an exaggerated version of myself. Of course [James Marsden] thinks he’s above any sort of civic duty that he has to do. He assumes that every conversation is uninteresting, unless it involves him. That’s a great setup, because when you see him fail, he just kind of collapses.”
Marsden told Kelly and Mark he would “love” to host “SNL” one day. The beloved sketch comedy series is currently in its landmark 50th season.
“I did ’30 Rock’ for a bit with Tina Fey,” Marsden recalled.
“And I said, ‘You know, my dream was always to be on SNL.’ And she goes, ‘Oh, well, you’ll host at some point.’ And I go, ‘No, as a regular. I wanna be the guys!’ She was like, ‘Well, you probably can if you want to.’”
He added, “But yeah, I just love doing impressions and different characters.”
