Julia Louis-Dreyfus Recalls ‘Cringey’ First ‘Saturday Night Live’ Rehearsal

Entertainment

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is opening up about the time she heard crickets while performing in her early “Saturday Night Live” days.

On a recent episode of her “Wiser Than Me” podcast, the comedian, 63, looked back on a particularly “cringey” experience she had while coming aboard the late-night sketch comedy show.

“When I was just getting started, I was part of The Practical Theatre Company in Chicago,” she said on Wednesday’s episode. “The producers of ‘SNL’ came to see the show, and they loved it, and they hired all of us to come to New York and be a part of ‘SNL.’”

The star of the “Veep” sitcom recalled having to re-create the first act of the show with three “complete and total unknowns” in the “SNL” office “under fluorescent lights in the middle of the day in front of 20 very cynical, unfriendly ‘SNL’ cast members and writers.”

But according to Louis-Dreyfus, the vibes were already askew because “a bunch of the [current ‘SNL’ cast members’] best friends had just been fired to make room for us.”

Claiming that the group “hated” them, she told her podcast guest, Catherine O’Hara, “We never had a chance. Sketches that had killed in Chicago died a terrible, terrible death that day. It was excruciating.”

Louis-Dreyfus then admitted she thinks the “humiliation influenced our whole ‘SNL’ experience for the next couple of years.”

She added, “I’ve learned a lot since that cringey day in a carpeted office on the 17th floor of 30 Rock.”

Louis-Dreyfus joined the cast for the eighth season of “SNL” in 1982 at age 21, making her the show’s youngest female cast member ever at the time, according to Variety.

Your Support Has Never Been More Critical

Other news outlets have retreated behind paywalls. At HuffPost, we believe journalism should be free for everyone.

Would you help us provide essential information to our readers during this critical time? We can’t do it without you.

Can’t afford to contribute? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.

You’ve supported HuffPost before, and we’ll be honest — we could use your help again. We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can’t do it without you.

Whether you give once or many more times, we appreciate your contribution to keeping our journalism free for all.

Whether you give just one more time or sign up again to contribute regularly, we appreciate you playing a part in keeping our journalism free for all.

Support HuffPost

Despite her rocky start at “SNL,” the “Seinfeld” alum got candid with late-night host Stephen Colbert about the crucial lesson she learned on the long-running show, which she called “very sexist.”

“I learned I wasn’t going to do any more of this show business crap unless it was fun,” she told Colbert at a fundraiser for Montclair Film in 2019. “I don’t have to walk and crawl through this kind of nasty glass if it’s not ultimately going to be fulfilling, and so that’s how I sort of moved forward from that [‘SNL’ experience].”

She added, “I sort of applied the fun-meter to every job since, and that has been very helpful.”

Listen to Louis-Dreyfus’ interview with O’Hara below.

<div class="js-react-hydrator" data-component-name="YouTube" data-component-id="9898" data-component-props="{"itemType":"video","index":18,"contentIndexByType":2,"contentListType":"embed","code":"

","type":"video","meta":{"author":"Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus Podcast","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClT31xWVgY0dz9ORVjKYvYw","cache_age":86400,"description":"On this episode of Wiser Than Me, Julia sits down with 70-year-old comedy icon – and star of Beetlejuice and Schitt’s Creek – Catherine O’Hara. Catherine and Julia share their improv origin stories and reminisce about the freedom and experimentation of their early comedy careers. They also swap stories about visiting the Vatican, over-apologizing, and how they both find laughter incredibly sexy. Plus, Judith, Julia’s 90-year-old mom, tries very hard to tell a joke.","options":{"_cc_load_policy":{"label":"Closed captions","value":false},"_end":{"label":"End on","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"_start":{"label":"Start from","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"click_to_play":{"label":"Hold load & play until clicked","value":false}},"provider_name":"YouTube","thumbnail_height":720,"thumbnail_url":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/u1cDqM5SA0A/maxresdefault.jpg","thumbnail_width":1280,"title":"Julia Gets Wise with Catherine O’Hara | Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus","type":"video","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1cDqM5SA0A","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"us","name":"U.S.","link":"https://www.huffpost.com","locale":"en_US"},"originalEdition":"us","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"6723cfc7e4b0871068fe99a9","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffpost.com/entry/julia-louis-dreyfus-cringey-first-snl-rehearsal_n_6723cfc7e4b0871068fe99a9","entryTagsList":"saturday-night-live,julia-louis-dreyfus,@us_huffpost_now","sectionSlug":"entertainment","deptSlug":"entertainment","sectionRedirectUrl":"https://www.huffpost.com/entertainment","subcategories":"celebrity,tv","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"us.entertainment","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc111dcf87c2cd2f5d8bf","overrides":{"front_page_top_videos":{"desktop":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","mobileweb":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d"},"top_media":{"desktop":"60b8e6bdc5449357a7ada147","mobile":"60b8e701c5449357a7ada2ee","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"},"anthology":{"desktop":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","mobile":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"},"content":{"desktop":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","mobile":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"}},"playerUpdates":{"5668ae6ee4b0b5e26955d6a6":"60d2472d9340d7032ad7e443","56aa41bae4b091744c0440d8":"60e869dc7c5f3b17b6741b81","5841b2b5cc52c716ec6e5a7f":"60b8e355cdd90620331ba185","58b5e2b8d85a10302feee895":"60b64316b171b7444beafdb2","58b74698f78ced31417819ae":"60b8e5bec5449357a7ad9b52","58b74ccecebcea57e2c3a3d1":"60b8e5eac5449357a7ad9ca5","58cff690d85a100b9992bc39":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","58cffb3fb6d9b972a49a3c9d":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","58cffdd74d96935d7d6ec180":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","58d03a84f78ced6518eb2fa7":"60b643c82e76be41f112735c","592edf20e0fa177b0c26f7fd":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","5b35266b158f855373e28256":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","5c116f29f79c4171d82b7c2a":"60b64440b171b7444beb040b","5c1170fc600c9a697bf0c6b9":"60b646102e76be41f1127ffc","5c47791afa1b317df8ae0c4f":"60b8e6bdc5449357a7ada147","5c477987a6b48b35f164773d":"60b8e701c5449357a7ada2ee","5c4779ee943c3c2a64f28371":"60b8e747cdd90620331bb861","5c477a26fcd67b26879bc7c2":"60b8e788c5449357a7ada67b","5d8921a78c3ae845f366c9b6":"60ae7be5f3a7c13a30417ff9","58b98b00ba82aa39a6534321":"60d0de7c9340d7032ad1146c","58b9d14cb6d9b96c9ec32af3":"60d0dec19340d7032ad115a0","58cff8eccebcea42931e0436":"60d0e005b627221e9d819d44","592edf5de0fa177b0c26f95b":"60d0e38fb627221e9d81adcf","58cff72fd85a100b9992c112":"60d0e447b627221e9d81b0da","56b4d34fe4b022697697c400":"60d2472d9340d7032ad7e443","60b8e4c0c5449357a7ad957d":"60e869dc7c5f3b17b6741b81"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b","clickToPlayPlayer":"d014396e-b366-4c17-aeac-3ce906fa3fd0","videoPagePlayer":"f010447b-d244-4111-a314-7b4542ae4145","verticalPlayer":"e58cb05a-0bc8-4210-9108-fea82726c065","stickyPlayerControl":"52ea1755-d601-4ad1-bccc-d8cce3f0e5da","stickyPlayerON":"8055e9e5-3bda-4933-8d45-9ad814fb6e22"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"https://img.connatix.com/d4245fda-c83b-4e43-909b-7f07e15bb118/1_th.jpg?crop=629:354,smart&width=629&height=354&format=jpeg&quality=60&fit=crop","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":8},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":1},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"6723cfc7e4b0871068fe99a9","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-us"},"tags":[{"name":"saturday night live","slug":"saturday-night-live","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/saturday-night-live","permalink":"https://www.huffpost.com/topic/saturday-night-live","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffpost.com/topic/saturday-night-live"},"department":{"name":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"section":{"title":"Comedy","slug":"comedy"},"topic":{"title":"SNL","slug":"snl","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffpost.com/entertainment/topic/snl"},{"name":"julia louis-dreyfus","slug":"julia-louis-dreyfus","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/julia-louis-dreyfus","permalink":"https://www.huffpost.com/topic/julia-louis-dreyfus","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffpost.com/topic/julia-louis-dreyfus"},"department":{"name":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"section":{"title":"Entertainment","slug":"entertainment"},"topic":{"title":"Julia Louis-Dreyfus","slug":"julia-louis-dreyfus","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://www.huffpost.com/entertainment/topic/julia-louis-dreyfus"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-1\", \"entry_paragraph_1\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-2\", \"entry_paragraph_3\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-infinite\", \"repeating_dynamic_display\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}”>

[embedded content]