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Seth Meyers Shares a Hilarious "Favorite SNL Memory" About Nicolas Cage

An audience member's question at a recent Late Night taping prompted the Host to share a "Weekend Update" story.

By Christopher Rudolph
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Nicolas Cage might've starred in Moonstruck, but it was Seth Meyers who was starstruck when the Oscar-winning actor appeared on Saturday Night Live.

How to Watch

Watch Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC weeknights at 12:35/11:35c and next day on Peacock.  

Meyers recently joined the Late Night with Seth Meyers audience for a question-and-answer segment, and in a video shared to Late Night's Instagram on October 16, an audience member asked Meyers what was his favorite memory from his time at SNL.

Meyers said that while it was hard to name just one, he cited a particular installment of Andy Samberg's recurring "Get in the Cage" segment from "Weekend Update." Specifically, the time they were able to get the real Nicolas Cage to participate, which was for the February 11, 2012 episode hosted by Zooey Deschanel.

In it, Cage plays a clone of Samberg's Cage (watch the sketch above), who as Meyers described it, typically "played Cage like a total lunatic." Meyers gave the Late Night audience some background on the segment's concept, and related Cage's patient-sounding reaction when he realized what he'd signed on for.

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Snl Nicholas Cage Andy Samberg Seth Meyers Season 37 Episode 14

Nicolas Cage's SNL cameo made Seth Meyers "the happiest"

"I will say one of my favorites is, Andy Samberg used to do this sketch called 'Get in the Cage' where it would him as Nic Cage and another actor," answered Meyers. "He did it with Bradley Cooper, Jake Gyllenhaal, Liam Neeson, and then we finally got Nic Cage to agree to do it."

"So the real Nic Cage came to SNL, and Andy and I went into his dressing room to read it with him — and in the sketch, Andy played Nic Cage like a total lunatic," Meyers continued.

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"We went in, and we realized pretty quickly that Nic Cage had never read it or seen it. So he was just finding out in real time what this portrayal of him was, and he just quietly reread it. I did my lines, Andy did his lines, and when it was over he was like, 'Alright,'" he continued, doing his best impression of the Longlegs star. 

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"And Andy and I walked out and I think it was the happiest we'd ever been. We floated down the hallway," Meyers added.

"Obviously, I meet a lot of celebrities, Nic cage is a movie star," Meyers told the audience as he made his way back down to the Late Night stage. "Everything about him you're like, oh you're a different kind of thing and you deserve all your success!"

Watch the "Weekend Update: Get in the Cage with Nicolas Cage and Nicolas Cage" from Season 37, Episode 14 of Saturday Night Live above, and stream every season on Peacock anytime.

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