Hosting Saturday Night Live is no small gig. It's a hard task, because each week a new talent is thrown into the high-octane well-oiled machine that is SNL, and that can be overwhelming. Plus, it's a major rite of passage too, which adds pressure. Recently, David Schwimmer got real about the challenges of hosting the iconic sketch comedy show, and with his story, he revealed a "big mistake" he made that made the cast angry.
Schwimmer hosted SNL back in 1995 as part of Season 21, and he was quite busy at the time, because he was also filming one of the best sitcoms, Friends. While appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Ross actor shared the schedule he had the week he hosted, and it didn’t give him much time to rehearse for SNL, as he explained:
I was thinking recently. You make a lot of mistakes, and there was one big mistake I guess I made, and I’m not trying to blame all my reps. I was the first in the cast of Friends to be invited to host Saturday Night Live, and it was a huge honor. It was 1995, just a year after the show aired, and I couldn’t be more excited. I think because, you know, Friends at that time was shooting on Tuesday nights. And we were shooting sometimes until 1:00 in the morning and so I had to fly from L.A. to New York on Wednesday to get there, and it took a six-hour flight, three-hour time difference. And I really didn’t get to arrive at SNL until Thursday, two days before the Saturday show.
It sounds like Schwimmer tried his best to make it to SNL with plenty of time to spare, as he can’t exactly help when Friends films. However, considering he made it to New York with only two days until the show, people were not happy. Prep for each episode of SNL begins the Monday before the show for the writers, cast, and guest host, and it continues throughout the week. So missing most of the week is certainly not a good look, and when the actor eventually made it to Studio 8H, people weren’t happy:
And when I walked into the writers’ room, like the entire writing staff looked at me as if I had just slept with their mom or something. They were not happy to see me, and I had no idea. Somehow, I got through the next two days, but I was kind of traumatized.
It is good to know that David Schwimmer managed to get through his hosting gig, but it does not sound easy. Perhaps that also explains why he has never returned as host too.
He admitted he didn’t find out the reason why everyone was so angry at him until years later, and even now, he’s not sure if he should even accept an invitation to come back for the big anniversary special, as he said:
I don’t remember how it went, to be honest. But it wasn’t until years later that I was talking to someone else who had hosted the show, and they said, ‘No, no, you’re supposed to show up on a Monday.’ No one told me, and for years, I had no idea why, and recently, I received an email; I was invited to the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, which is coming up in February. It’s been 30 years, and I’m thinking, ‘Well, maybe they forgot that they don’t like me?’ Or it’s just some intern that’s tasked with emailing everyone who’s ever hosted but I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be Charlie Brown with the football, you know? You show up all eager again and, ‘Nope! We don’t want you here.’
It's kind of wild to hear that Schwimmer wasn't aware of SNL's schedule, especially when you consider the fact that both the sketch show and Friends aired on NBC. You’d think it would be a no-brainer to give him a heads-up, especially since NBC knew of both schedules. The mystery remains as to why Schwimmer was never told, but at least he was finally able to get some closure. Plus, his being invited back for the 50th anniversary special could be a good thing, even if he doesn’t think so.
As SNL creeps up on its 50th anniversary, Schwimmer is creeping up on his 30th anniversary hosting SNL, which will be in October. Since it seems like there is no bad blood between him and the show, assuming it wasn’t some intern just randomly emailing every single past host, perhaps he can host again in the future and redeem himself. In the meantime, those with a Peacock subscription can go back and watch his episode, along with every single episode of Saturday Night Live. Also, you can catch new episodes as they air on the 2025 TV schedule as well as the 50th anniversary on NBC.
