When I see it in reruns, there are no laughs. None. All I can tell you is that it died a rat’s death.I was not daunted, fortunately. I carried on. Th
When I see it in reruns, there are no laughs. None. All I can tell you is that it died a rat’s death.
I was not daunted, fortunately. I carried on. The main thing that’s essential for any cast member is that sometimes, confidence and commitment can carry you through a sketch that might not necessarily be that powerful. It really is kind of a game where you pretend you’re doing great. But we didn’t see Fritzie again!
Rachel Dratch (1999–2006): “Mr. Kotter”
Cut after dress rehearsal
An office worker who idolizes and dresses like comedian Gabe Kaplan is distressed to learn that Kaplan himself visited the office, but none of his coworkers told him. This is one of the “biggest-failing sketches at dress of all time,” according to Will Ferrell, the man who wrote it.
It just totally died. It was noiseless to the point that we were looking at each other and behind our eyes laughing at what’s happening here. The audience was not on board from minute one, and they stayed off board for the entire thing.
But Will would just commit to it even harder. He gets a kind of glimmer in his eye, like, We all know this isn’t working how we wanted it to, but I’m going to embrace that. He was going to talk even slower and louder and dig into the fact that it wasn’t working. He embraces the risk. If it’s a sketch you wrote that bombs, you’re not gleeful, but that group panic can be amusing. It’s this bonding, a foxhole kind of thing.
Bill Hader (2006–2013): “Song for Daddy”
Season 38, Episode 13
Cut after dress rehearsal
Host: Justin Bieber
Starring: Bill Hader, Justin Bieber, Fred Armisen
A country singer tells the sorrowful story behind the song he is about to sing.
It was written by me, John Solomon, and Rob Klein. They wrote a lot of amazing stuff for me while I was there, particularly this Vietnam vet in a puppet class. The sketch was a play on when you watch a singer tell a story about what the song they’re about to sing means to them.
The buildup is that it’s a very sorrowful story he’s telling about how his dad died, and they bring out these incredibly strange musical instruments that are out of Dr. Seuss. Justin Bieber was the host, and I looked out in the audience, and it was all teenage girls, and I thought, Well, this isn’t going to work. We did it at dress, and—I’ve never seen this—a piece of the set almost fell on Justin. I incorporated it into the sketch—“Well, the wall almost fell on you, son.” And Justin called out, “This isn’t part of it,” which broke whatever illusion we had.
Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. This was my last season, so I’m pretty much leaning into it. My first season I would have been like, Oh man, this is bombing, and I would kind of bail. I remember walking upstairs to the writers room on the ninth floor afterward, and when I walked in, they all started howling because it was a total train wreck.
Sarah Sherman (2021–present): “Waiters”
Season 49, Episode 10
Host: Dakota Johnson
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Sarah Sherman, James Austin Johnson, Molly Kearney, Devon Walker, Chloe Troast
Two waiters insist they don’t need to write down a family’s order and proceed to get everything horribly wrong. Chicken fongers, anyone?
I don’t think of it so much as a bomb as it was a shocking disconnect. Me and the Please Don’t Destroy boys were up Tuesday night, which is writing night. I’m not kidding: Martin Herlihy showed me a draft, and I was crying laughing; couldn’t get a word out. There’s a lot of laughter in this job, and that sticks out as the hardest I’ve ever laughed.
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