Although 'Saturday Night Live' can be looked at as a huge platform to kick start a career, it won't make or break an actor or actress.
The show turned down countless stars, Jim Carrey might be the hardest to digest as the star is practically made for sketch comedy. To this day, Lorne Michaels blames it on the fact that he wasn't there to see his audition in the early '80s, for being the reason as to why he didn't make it on the show. Jim got his redemption, hosting the show multiple times in the past.
The show said no to so many others, including the likes of Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert.
Another name sticks out, and she's the person we'll cover. Ultimately, this massive sitcom star lost a part of the show to Julia Sweeney. Looking back, we can say that the star that got turned down, still managed to find huge success and we can safely say bigger success than appearing on 'SNL'. Let's take a look at who we're talking about and what project she joined shortly after the rejection.
A Great Audition But Not The Right Fit
To be fair, Lorne Michaels said years later that he thought the sitcom star was "brilliant" during the audition process, just not right for the show at the time.
"There were lots of people who you’d see how brilliant they were, but you knew on some level that it wasn’t going to work. Lisa Kudrow gave a brilliant audition, but it was at the time when it was Jan Hooks and Nora [Dunn]. I wasn’t at the Jim Carrey audition, but somebody who was there said, “I don’t think Lorne would like it,” and they were probably wrong, but it doesn’t matter. Or maybe they were right — who knows? No one gets it all right."
Following the rejection, Lisa Kudrow questioned her career and if she'd ever get that big break, "I remember being super disappointed," Kudrow told Vanity Fair. "I was pretty disappointed because I thought, 'Maybe you're one of those people for whom good things don't happen.'"
Although Kudrow has great experience with sketch comedy, she linked her rejection to the fact that her characters really weren't crowd-pleasers, "The thing about my characters that I did at The Groundlings is they weren’t the big crowdpleasers,” Kudrow said in an interview. “They really weren’t. … I didn’t know how to go too far outside of myself.” Her examples include a biology teacher and an actor appearing on a talk show."
Despite the rejection, Kudrow got some redemption in 1996, getting to host the show. Looking back, it actually turned out to be quite the blessing. Working on projects like 'Mad About You', along with 'SNL', finding the time for 'Friends' might've been a tall order.
'Friends' Comes Along
That's right, getting turned aside by 'SNL' opened the door to 'Friends'. Looking back, Kudrow actually auditioned for the role with the part of Rachel in mind, "It's funny because when I first read the script, and I was going to be auditioning for Phoebe, I saw Rachel and I just went, 'Oh, that's like a Long Island JAP (Jewish-American princess) -- that could be hilarious. I can identify with that more.' But they said, 'No, no. Phoebe,'"
Kudrow landed the role and according to People, a big part of the reason was her ability to adapt during the audition process, "I had played dumb girls [before] but it wasn’t really me,” Kudrow explained of her role. “I feel like, ‘sh-t, I tricked them in the audition.’ I was the only one who could cope with the audition process and that’s how I got it, I think. So I had to work hard at being Phoebe.”
We all know by now, the show was a monster hit, spanning a decade. To this day, fans are still celebrating the show like it ended yesterday, especially with the reunion episode recently airing on HBO MAX.
Given the way everything played out, we doubt Kudrow has any regrets about missing out on 'SNL'. Had she been on the show, perhaps the opportunity would've never presented itself and she would've missed out on the career-changing role.
If history has thought us anything, it is that getting rejected by 'SNL' really doesn't mean much towards the success of your career. And hey, more times than not, those that got the cold shoulder get to host years later. Pretty cool.
Sources: Insider, Cheat Sheet, EW, CNN & People