James Marsden bombed an ‘SNL’ audition because he clucked like a chicken
Although James Marsden was able to land a guest role on NBC’s ’30 Rock,’ he failed to become a studio regular after botching his ‘Saturday Night Live’ tryout.
The “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” star said on a Dec. 18 episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark” that he once auditioned for the prolific sketch comedy show, “if you can call it that,” but was subsequently given the thumbs down . failing to live up to the leadership of the talent scouts.
“They did a national talent search and a friend of mine in my drama class, or whatever, who I was doing these humorous skits with, said, ‘Let’s go out there and audition for it.’ I think they’re telling us… ‘Create an interesting character,’ or whatever,” Marsden said. “It was like, ‘Do whatever you want.’ I don’t know why we did this, but we clucked like chickens and just walked around each other.”
In retrospect, Marsden admitted that “it was a bad choice” to commit to the chicken part.
Marsden added that he would love to host “SNL” one day, recalling a time when he expressed his desire to join the show to his “30 Rock” co-star and “SNL” legend Tina Fey.
“I did ’30 Rock’ with Tina Fey for a while,” Marsden said. “And I said, ‘You know, it was always my dream to be on SNL.’ And she says, “Oh yeah, at some point you’re going to be a host.” And I say, ‘No, as a regular customer. I want to be the boys!’ She said, “Well, you probably can if you want.” But yeah, I just love doing impressions and different characters.
This year, “Saturday Night Live” marked its 50th season on air. This Saturday, former cast member Martin Short will host, accompanied by musical guest Hozier.
