Despite being a decorated female comedian, actress, writer, and producer, Sarah Silverman was once fired from NBC’s hit comedy show Saturday Night Live after just one season. Since 1975, SNL has been home to many renowned actors and comedians, including Tina Fey, Will Ferrell and Jimmy Fallon. However, the show is no stranger to firing talent like Silverman. Other now-successful actors like Chris Rock, Robert Downey Jr., Joan Cusack, and even Adam Sandler were all fired from SNL.
After pursuing stand-up from the age of 17, Silverman began working on SNL as a writer and featured player at the age of 22. Beginning in 1993, she primarily appeared in smaller roles for skits, though she also wrote for the show. Only one of her sketches made it to dress rehearsals before it was scrapped prior to airing. In early 1994, after just 18 weeks, Silverman was fired from the show via fax.
While Silverman joked in a sit-down interview (via Huffpost) that she hadn’t written a single funny sketch for the show, this wasn’t why she was fired. Silverman didn’t fit in with the popular “Bad Boys’ of SNL”, and was hired at a time of widespread change for the show. “It wasn’t like I did something wrong,” she began. “I was hired, and… I was, I think that last year of the old guard, and [then] they started anew.” Better Call Saul actor and former SNL writer Bob Odenkirk has also said Silverman has her own voice and is herself even when playing a character, so he understands why things didn’t work out with SNL. Silverman simply lacked the experience and longevity needed to withstand the format of SNL and its broad changes at the time.
Despite getting fired from her job at SNL, Sarah Silverman went on to have an impressive career, even playing multiple characters on The Simpsons. From 1995, she starred in the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show, and then from 2007, starred in three seasons of her Comedy Central sitcom The Sarah Silverman Program, for which her acting was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. Silverman also hosted the Hulu late-night talk show I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman from 2017-2018. Then, in 2020 after stand-up shows ceased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Silverman launched The Sarah Silverman Podcast, where she discusses her personal life, politics, current events, and more.
Throughout her career, Silverman has also continued to do stand-up comedy and has made many other television and movie appearances, including parts in Star Trek: Voyager, Seinfeld, School of Rock, and Wreck-It-Ralph to name a few. She most recently appeared as part of Marry Me’s star-studded cast led by Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson. Silverman has also notably won two Primetime Emmy Awards: the 2008 Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics Award for her Jimmy Kimmel Live! Song “I’m Fu**ing Matt Damon” and the 2014 Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special Award for Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles.
Although it ended abruptly, Silverman attributes her resiliency throughout her lengthy career to her time at SNL. There seems to be no bad blood, with her even returning to the show in 2014 as a special guest host. Getting fired from Saturday Night Live after just one season may not have been how Sarah Silverman hoped the opportunity would turn out, but with an impressive career spanning over 30 years, she has become a hugely successful star in her own right.
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