|
IGNFF: What's the audition process for SNL? Do they come to you, or is there an open call?
PARNELL:
Well, I tell you, it was actually a wonderful experience, in that what happened is somebody I don't know who had seen me at
The Groundlings. I still suspect that Will and Cheri might have put in a word for me, and Ana and Chris I think somebody might
have said, "Hey, you might go check this guy out." I'm not sure. Anyway, somebody saw me at The Groundlings, and then based
on that I guess they got my reel from my agent, and then based on those two things they called and wanted me to fly out to
audition. So yeah, they actually fly you to New York at least, this is how I think it happens now. It's how it happened with
me. They flew you into New York, put you up in a hotel, and then you go in and you do one audition. It was in 8H, where the
show goes on, and it was on the little stage where the host does the monologue. I found the fact that it was in the studio,
and it was on the stage, actually a really great thing, because so many auditions that you do for sitcoms and things if not
all of them happen in people's offices, where the people that you're auditioning for are anywhere from a foot to five feet
away from you. In this setting, everybody was at least 15 or 20 feet away from me, watching, and I was actually on a stage
and that really felt great. Then, the fact that it was just one audition and it took a while to find out. It took about half
a month or a month to find out, which is not unusual. But to compare that to Mad not to badmouth Mad, but I
will badmouth their audition process because I think any actor in comedy in L.A. certainly has probably auditioned for Mad,
and it's grueling. They put you through the wringer. I auditioned for them on two separate occasions, but each occasion involved
several auditions. I've heard of people being brought back, like, seven times, and still not getting cast, and just all of
that. Compared to that or compared even to, say, getting a pilot for a sitcom, where you have to go through multiple levels
of approval you do one audition for SNL, and a decision is made... and it's really great that way.
IGNFF:
How hard was the Mad TV audition? I mean, did you have to dance through hoops for them?
PARNELL: Yeah, it's
hard... it's a hard thing. You've got to just, I guess, take care of yourself physically and make sure you're rested and eat
the right kinds of things, I suppose... exercise... all of that.
IGNFF: Is there a demoralizing aspect to it or
you just have to realize it's part of the game and plug along?
PARNELL: Well, you kind of have to accept it, on
a certain level. It's like, "Well, you want the job so I can rail against this all I want, but I want the job, so I'm going
to do what I need to do to get it, or try to get it." It's certainly not as bad with a sitcom. Usually it's an audition for
the casting director and a producer, and if they like you after that, you might be brought back again for another producer
but then usually you then go to studio and then to network, and then you've got the job or you don't. So, Mad is kind
of an anomaly that way, I think, in terms of what they put actors through.
IGNFF: For the SNL audition process,
what do they have you perform during that audition?
PARNELL: They ask for three characters and three impressions,
and I had the benefit of having some insiders Cheri Oteri and Ana Gasteyer to talk to about it, and I also had the benefit
of them knowing my work. So they could talk to me about the specifics of what they'd seen me do at The Groundlings, and what
they were looking for, and that gave me the freedom to let go of a third impression because I really didn't have impressions
that I felt good about. I just sort of somewhere along the way thought, "Oh, I can kind of do Tom Brokaw", and then I came
up with this MTV VJ of the hour, Jesse Camp, for my impressions. Then my characters I did like four different character things
that were all selections from monologues that I'd done at The Groundlings. I was lucky that way, in the stuff that I'd been
successful with at The Groundlings in terms of my writing were the pieces that I'd written by myself, for myself, and so those
of course lend themselves very well to an audition.
IGNFF: When you get that call that you've gotten SNL,
what then is the process from when you get that call to when you make your first appearance? When does that call normally
come? Was that a preseason call, or was that in the middle of a season?
PARNELL: Initially it came before the season.
I guess I auditioned in June or July of that year, and then I found out about a month later. Then about three weeks after
that, or I guess about a month later, I had to be in New York.
IGNFF: This would be what, '98?
PARNELL:
Yeah, '98, right. For me, I remember after I found out, I went and just sat and had lunch by myself, and just kind of was
in a daze just kind of couldn't believe it. Was trying to enjoy it, but I was also filled with a lot of fear that they had
made a wrong decision and, when I actually got there and started to try to do sketches and things, they'd be like, "Oh, what
did we do?" But Cheri Oteri told me, "You know what? You've just got to try to enjoy this time, because it's very exciting,
and enjoy your time on the show." And that was really good advice I've taken it to varying degrees. Certainly the longer you're
on the show, the more you kind of become comfortable with it.
IGNFF: What's the process when you're a featured player
at first?
PARNELL: Well, you know what, I found and I think it's still true it's kind of more just in name only
that you're a featured player, and in money only. But, you know, I was getting in sketches more than some of the regular players
were, and that still happens. Seth [Meyers] and Jeff [Richards] and Dean [Edwards] are sometimes in stuff more than regular
cast members are. There's not any rule that a featured player can't be in a show. I think, by necessity, you probably don't
have as much material developed or characters developed or those kind of things, so you're not as likely to have a presence
anyway. But I was very lucky in that the writers of the show, I think, really liked my audition and saw me as somebody they
could use, and so I was given a lot to do that first year.
IGNFF: What is the pressure cooker like, when you're
a featured player? Like your first week there, what was that like?
PARNELL: Oh gosh...
IGNFF: Or is it
a blur?
PARNELL: It's kind of a blur, yeah. Again, I have a horrible memory, but it was just kind of trying to
learn how everything works, because SNL is kind of a I don't know how to describe it. It's all about kind of flying
by the seat of your pants, in a way. In a certain way, the show is a well-oiled machine but there's not, for instance, somebody
when you get there who takes you around and tells you how everything works, and all that. You have to rely on your other cast
members and just ask questions, and so I think that was probably a lot of what the first week was about figuring out what
was expected of me, what I needed to do, how I would do it, where my office was, where the dressing room was, and how the
dress rehearsal worked versus the aired show and all those kinds of things.
IGNFF: At that point, I'm assuming,
a lot of the SNL players will go in and start writing their own material, or writing material that early on, were you
basically just plug and play into other people's sketches, where they needed you?
PARNELL: Actually, the writing
has always been sort of the struggle for me. I mean, I'd done writing at The Groundlings, but it's never something that I
tried to hang my hat on and there is an expectation there to write, absolutely. It's one of the great things about the show...
I can sit down and write something on a Monday or Tuesday afternoon or evening or early morning, and it can be potentially
seen on the air that next Saturday night. There was that... trying to write things on your own, or trying to pair up with
people either other cast members, or writers, you know to help you develop something, or if they have an idea they want to
work with you on. Honestly, also relying a lot on the fact that you're hopefully going to be written for by the writing staff
but you can't count on that, so you do always try to create your own material as well. Plus, I mean, it's such an amazing
opportunity. When you get tired, it's hard to sort of see it for that, but you have a great opportunity to create and if you
don't take advantage of that, you're not really taking advantage of the experience.
IGNFF: Do you see the process
of getting the show on each week as cutthroat? Do you see any backbiting or infighting or mercenary tactics, or just this
endless struggle?
PARNELL: I worked a bit with Victoria Jackson on Conrad Bloom and got to know her somewhat,
and we talked about her experience on SNL lovely, lovely woman and I think from what she said, it was a much more difficult
time when she was there. I think it has been, perhaps, a darker place to work in days gone by. It's a pretty supportive cast
there, now, I would say. I don't know of anybody that would really try to, you know, take somebody else's sketch out or hurt
them. The thing is, certain cast members have kind of unspoken alliances with producers and head writers and things like that,
and it's not anything evil but you know, like if for instance one of the producers works on a piece with one of the cast members
to create it, it's probably going to have a little extra pull than if a cast member just created it on their own. It's not
the kind of thing where somebody's trying to shaft somebody, it's just the creative process. And if I write something, yeah,
I'm going to try to get it on, but some people take it more personally than others. Some people, if you don't get sketches
on, really feel slighted and maybe they rightfully do. I mean, this last Saturday night, I was in four live pieces at dress,
and only in one at air, and when I found out that three of them had been cut, I took it pretty personally. I thought, "Geez,
what's going on here?" Then I found out that there were other factors at play that really didn't have anything to do with
me, and you just have to remember, I think, that it rarely is personal.
IGNFF: But it's a cyclical thing next live
show you might have, what, five live pieces and somebody else's might get cut, right?
PARNELL: Exactly, that's
the thing. I remember Will saying that kind of earlier on in my time there it's just like a wave. Sometimes you're in a lot
of stuff, and sometimes you're not. I have to say, it was easier to sort of feel okay with that before and I don't know if
you're aware of this, but I was fired from the show for the first half of the season.
IGNFF: I've heard plenty of
conjecture about that... I wanted to ask you about that later.
PARNELL: Sure, sure... I just wanted to make sure
you're aware of that. So since that's happened, when I came back, the first show which was just three shows ago I was in like
5 or 6 pieces, and the next show I was in like 3 pieces... which is still great... and then this last week I was just in one
thing. So on the one hand it's like, "That's okay," but it's a little tough when you've just been faced with not being on
the show for a while.
IGNFF: Would you say that perhaps there's a certain aspect of this cast that's more mature
than casts of the past? This is generally a cast that is almost 90% in their 30's...
PARNELL: Yeah, I'd say that's
probably true, actually... I mean, in terms of the age thing. It may be so. I don't know what it is. It may help that a lot
of us have come from The Groundlings. A lot of them have also come from Second City and, of course, the stand-up world but
I don't know. I don't know what it is. There's just...
IGNFF: It seems to me to be a very mellow cast...
PARNELL:
Yeah.
IGNFF: Not a lot of flashiness or overtly loud, boisterous, bad behavior.
PARNELL: There's really
not, I don't think. I mean, Horatio can get a little crazy at times, but to me in a very lovable way. Yeah, it's a pretty
easy group to be with, and it's one of the things I really missed when I was gone. I remember looking at one of the cast pictures,
and just sort of being reminded of how much I missed all the people on the show. It's a really fun group, actually.
IGNFF:
In past casts, there would always be at least one who was chafing to get out of there as soon as possible. I'm sure everyone
would love to move on to even bigger and better things, but there doesn't seem to be anyone who's actively, "Damn the torpedoes,
this is my spotlight, and I need it to get the hell out of here."
PARNELL: I don't think so, no. I don't actually
know what's going to happen next year. I mean, I know we're going to probably lose Will, but beyond that, I don't know that
anybody's really, you know, ready to run away.
IGNFF: I've been surprised by how many people have seemed to have
gone and then come back. There was a period where you would not see, say, Chris Farley for a couple of months, and you'd think,
"Oh, well, he probably left," and then Chris would be back.
PARNELL: Yeah, right.
IGNFF: And frankly,
at the time last year, I thought same thing about you. I thought, "Oh well, unfortunately they lost another, but I'm sure
he got something better."
PARNELL: Right.
IGNFF: Then you were back, and then I heard this controversy
in the background ... there was all kinds of conjecture firing back and forth, with exclamation points "Did you see Chris
Parnell is back? What's up? What's up?" Then, of course, you get the TV archivists who go, "I don't know if there's ever been
an SNL cast member who was fired I heard he was fired but was fired and been rehired."
PARNELL: Yeah, I
keep waiting to hear a definitive answer to that, because everybody that I know has been telling me that it's not happened
before, to their knowledge. So I guess there's one good thing, if I perhaps set a precedent.
IGNFF: Yes, it's now
called the Parnell Factor.
PARNELL: Yeah, exactly.
IGNFF: Well how exactly I mean, the story that I've
heard was that it was an NBC executive...
PARNELL: Well, honestly, I don't know that I'll ever know the truth of
it, but I really think it was Lorne. I mean, Lorne pretty much calls the shots with the casts around there. I remember hearing
that when Norm MacDonald was on the show, there was some higher up that didn't care for him and wanted him out of there, but
I never got the feeling or the impression, or never got word of any kind that Scott Sassa or anybody from higher up at NBC
had any problem with me. And actually, Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan actually called Scott and sort of asked him about it
he was like, "No, no, it wasn't from us." So I really think it was Lorne's decision. It was very upsetting at the time it's
still upsetting if I think about it in a certain light. I don't know why it happened, and I don't even know if he knows
why it happened. Nobody has ever really given me an answer, and I don't know that anybody knows the answer. I think that somewhere
over last summer, he was auditioning new cast members, and he knew he wanted Amy [Poehler], and he found Jeff and Dean and
Seth, and then he was looking at going over his budget. The way that I heard it put to me was that maybe there were just too
many white guys on the show, and he couldn't let Darrell go, he couldn't let Kattan go, he certainly wasn't going to let Will
go, wasn't going to let Jimmy go, you know. So it ended up being me. Horatio, Maya, Rachel Dratch, and I were all on the chopping
block last summer, because we have to find out every July 1st if our contracts are going to get renewed, and July 1st came
around and they said, "Can you give them a coup le of more weeks to decide?" NBC, Lorne, et cetera, and we're like, "Yeah,
okay, sure" what are you going to do, you know?
IGNFF: Right.
PARNELL: Then two weeks rolled by, and
they wanted another week, and then they wanted another week, and slowly but surely everybody got hired back unfortunately,
Jerry Minor was fired, which I thought was a high crime. Rachel went back, Maya went back, Horatio got back, and it was me
that was not going back, so...
IGNFF: And at what point were you notified of that?
PARNELL: I guess that
would have been in late, late July of last summer. That was a pretty big blow, because every indication had been that I would
be on the show, certainly for the length of my contract and maybe even some years beyond that. Then there was enough of an
outcry from the cast and the writers and friends, and strangers that it made me feel like, "Okay, I'm not the only one who's
surprised by this."
IGNFF: I think the objections that I had seen, and personal experience you were a great utility
player, which is few and far between.
PARNELL: Well, thanks. Yeah, it felt like I was used on the show, and I know
there were several writers who called me and they were really upset, because they liked using me and I liked being used. That
was a hard thing, but I tried to embrace the positives about being back in L.A. and just sort of say, "Okay, other work will
come, hopefully." Part of what made it difficult was, shortly after I was told that I wasn't coming back, I was told that
I might be coming back. So then I was sort of thrust into this state of limbo where I didn't know what to do. I had
all my stuff in New York, so I packed it up and put it into storage and then I moved back out to L.A.
IGNFF: And
you had essentially missed pilot season...
PARNELL: Well, not really yeah, I guess in a way I probably missed some
stuff of that.
IGNFF: As far as regular pilot season is towards the end of the previous year, but as far as mid-season
pilot season, you'd even missed that.
PARNELL: Yeah, right. I got the part on Friends, which was a nice
little thing to come back to that was just an offer... I didn't even have to audition for that. That was sort of a nice thing.
I don't know if some executive at NBC sort of threw me that way in some sort of a comfort thing, but it was appreciated, however
it came about.
IGNFF: A large section of your TV appearances have been on NBC shows, it seems.
PARNELL:
Yeah, it has turned out that way, I guess.
|
