Christopher Reeve's Superman Audition Took a Wild Turn in SNL's 1985 Sketch
Not everyone can turn coal into diamonds or melt a phone in real life — but tell that to the casting directors.
No one can actually catch a bullet with their teeth in real life, but try telling that to Superman's casting directors.
Long before David Corenswet suited up for 2025's Superman movie, Christopher Reeve was known as the Man of Steel. But the square-jawed star was seriously humbled in Saturday Night Live's "Superman Auditions" sketch from his April 6, 1985 episode.
Reeve hosted in Season 10, which fell between between 1983's Superman III and 1987's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. The actor was well established as Superman at that point, but "Superman Auditions" imagined the 1979 casting process, with Jim Belushi playing the original film's director Richard Donner. Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays his assistant, Rachel, who announces that they've narrowed it down to three actors: Reeve, Cory Meredith (Gary Kroeger), and Peter Blake (Rich Hall).
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Reeve seems like a shoo-in, until the actors are asked to do a few stunt-heavy scenes. Reeve fails to catch a bullet with his teeth, Blake somehow does it with ease, and Meredith... Well, let's just say Meredith is taken out of the running.
Blake also easily turns coal into a diamond and saves the day when Reeve's X-Ray vision sets a curtain on fire, making him the obvious choice to play the super-powered Krypton visitor. Now all he has to do is make it work with his busy schedule ... which might work in Reeve's favor.
Watch "Superman Auditions" from Season 10, Episode 16 above, and stream every season of Saturday Night Live on Peacock anytime.
Superman stars Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder each hosted Saturday Night Live once
Margot Kidder, the Lois Lane to Reeve's Superman, hosted SNL back in Season 4.
In the sketch "Superhero Party," she plays Lois while Bill Murray takes on Superman and Clark Kent. Lois, in the midst of hosting a party for all of their superhero friends, is finding married life with Superman to be a little dull.
Meanwhile, the Flash (Dan Akroyd), The Hulk (John Belushi) and Ant-Man (Garrett Morris) are mingling and roasting each other and playing pool, as superhero bros do. Watch that sketch here.
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John Mulaney and Sarah Sherman played Superman and Lois in Season 50
When John Mulaney hosted SNL in Season 50, he and Sarah Sherman paid tribute to one of Reeve and Kidder's most famous scenes from the first Superman.
Lois, in a flowy, sheer blue-ish dress, is waiting on her balcony when Superman arrives for an interview and proceeds to charm the heck out of her. The original scene is flirtatious and romantic. SNL's version, however, is interrupted by Lois' roommate Glenn Bechamel (Chloe Fineman).
When Lois asks Superman to use his X-ray vision to look at the color of her underwear, it's swoon-worthy. When Glenn asks, it sounds like a threat. She's even too much for Superman's enemy, Zod (Mikey Day). The sketch was cut for time from Mulaney's November 2024 episode, but the show shared it the following week — ensuring that Sherman's gorgeous replica of Kidder's dress didn't go to waste.
