Jim Gaffigan Reveals the Most Nerve-Racking Part of Playing Tim Walz on SNL
"There is nothing that really prepares you for that live television," the comedian told Seth Meyers.
Playing Minnesota governor Tim Walz on Saturday Night Live was an exciting — and challenging — whirlwind for Jim Gaffigan.
The actor and The Skinny stand-up comedian made his SNL debut as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate on the September 28 Season 50 premiere. While Gaffigan is no stranger to the stage, having performed stand-up for decades, performing on SNL is an entirely different beast, he explained during his November 25 Late Night with Seth Meyers interview.
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The Skinny star said he was contracted for five SNL episodes. But over the course of those weeks, he only did one table read, because the scripts weren't ready by that Wednesday's read-through.
"We shoot it obviously on Saturday, and I remember on Friday, at like 7:00 p.m. calling like, 'Hey, is there a script or should we be concerned? Did you guys forget it?'" he told Seth Meyers.
Jim Gaffigan says "Nothing prepares you" for a live SNL cold open
"I love to improvise, but I'm not a huge fan of the cold read. Maybe because I don't know how to read," Gaffigan joked. "I've performed stand-up for 35 years and I've been in a lot of awkward situations, but there is nothing that really prepares you for that live television."
"You walk out and you shake Lorne Michaels' hands. It's like meeting Thomas Jefferson, and then you're supposed to do a sketch? It's bizarre," Gaffigan continued. "And then I'm in these scenes, I was looking at Dana Carvey or Maya Rudolph."
Gaffigan knew SNL was popular, but even he was surprised by its reach, as he told Meyers.
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"A lot of people watch it. We know that there's clips of it, and if it's a political thing, it'll be on the Sunday political shows. But I didn't realize that it is, within a 24-hour period, everyone on the planet has seen the cold open, if it's a real topical one," he explained.
"People knew that I was Tim Walz," Gaffigan continued. "It was insane because I didn't realize everyone watched it, but some of it is because it's on YouTube and stuff like that."
Jim Gaffigan's brother was the inspiration for his Tim Walz impression
The comic also revealed that for his impression of Walz, he pulled inspiration from his brother Mitch "who's a sweet Midwestern guy, similar to Governor Walz."
Gaffigan ultimately played Walz on four episodes of SNL, with his last appearance being in the cold open for the November 2 entry hosted by John Mulaney.
