It seems pretty safe to say that few television casts are more famous despite changing on a regular basis than the cast of Saturday Night Live. The sketch series recently celebrated SNL50 with both the golden anniversary season on the 2025 TV schedule and a series of specials, which included a number of the biggest stars the comedy has produced over the years. One of those luminaries is Will Forte, and he recently opened up about the long and anxiety-filled wait he once had to find out if he’d return for another season on the hit.
What Did Will Forte Say About Waiting To Hear If He’d Return For More Saturday Night Live Back In The Day?
Obviously, Saturday Night Live cast members tend to have some things in common. They’re funny people who love to perform and bring laughs to the masses, sometimes they make a huge impact in less than five years on the show, and many also have surprising musical talent. But, we’ve been hearing a lot more about how a lot of them also shared quite a bit of anxiety about the gig that made them famous for one reason or another.
Will Forte is known for his decade on SNL from 2002 through 2012. He went on to bring one of his famous characters to life in the big screen film MacGruber, and star in shows like The Last Man on Earth and The Four Seasons, as well as movies such as Nebraska and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. He stopped by Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast recently, and as they reminisced about their days on the comedy hit, she asked Forte if he ever “relaxed” and felt “secure” while there, which led him to this anecdote about the time after his second season on SNL:
There’s a time in July where they’re contractually obligated to tell you if you’re getting picked up for the next season. And then sometimes they will make a request to have three extra weeks. And they did that with a bunch of people, and that’s always scary.
As you can probably guess, Forte (who gave a wildly inappropriate speech for Seth Meyers’ wedding) was one of the unfortunate cast members whose place on the show wasn’t immediately a given once the season ended. This is something that most actors on TV shows simply don’t go through, because if you’re a regular cast member and your show gets picked up for another season, you’ll be there with everyone else unless serious unforeseen circumstances intervene.
Getting a steady job on any television series that manages to be renewed yearly is already tough, but to know that you might be let go after each season adds another level of “oh shit” to what is already a crazy process. Questlove noted that everyone is always afraid of being called to Lorne Michaels’ office and Mike Myers said he’d “go into a depression” when his sketches got cut. Meanwhile, Andy Samberg has spoken about how stressful being on the “intense” show is, and Bill Hader has said that he was “a basket case” while starring on the series. Apparently, this time in Forte’s life didn’t get easier soon, as he added:
And then I got to the end of that three weeks, a lot of people had gotten picked up and, this was Friday, they said ‘Can we tell you Monday?’ And I’m like, what am I going to say? So I’m like ‘Sure.’
Can you imagine? You’re already afraid that you’re going to be fired, but at least the time is coming when you will finally find out their decision, and then they delay the reveal AGAIN?! Unfortunately, it seems that this was a stress-inducing life experience that the Kinda Pregnant actor had to go through, because it wasn’t over yet:
Then, on Monday they said ‘We’re not going to be able to tell you ’til Wednesday.’ And then that went on jumping every two days for three more weeks. And I was the very last person who got asked back. I don’t even think they cut anybody that year.
Honestly…what the absolute fuck? I think I may have quit out of stress/anger over being dicked around and not knowing for weeks whether or not I had a job. Luckily, Forte stuck with it, didn’t curse anyone out and was finally able to “relax” into his standing on the series by his seventh season.