Kyle Mooney's SNL audition made a solid use of Lorna Michaels.

Every once in a while “Saturday Night Live” really surprises me with its castings. One example was Sarah Sherman (better known as Sarah Swarm) on the roster, while the 2013 casting of Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett remains one of the best decisions Lorne Michaels has ever made.

In 2007, the duo formed the comedy group Good Neighbor with Nick Rutherford and Dave McCurry and produced some of the greatest sketches ever to hit the internet for their YouTube channel 'GoodNeighborStuff'. Mooney, in particular, embodied a kind of subversive alt-comedy brilliance that wasn't all that removed from the wacky rebelliousness at the heart of another early 2000s sitcom: The Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job — also launched in 2007. , both Mooney and “Awesome Show” star Tim Heidecker later performed as leather jacket wearers. hack comic characters with mooney's Bruce Chandling eventually appearing in several segments on “SNL” (Heidecker's “An Evening with Tim Heidecker” is now on Hulu and a must watch).

Fortunately, during his nine-year run on the show, Mooney was given the opportunity to bring his unique humor to the fore, even switching up specific Good Neighbor sketches like “Inside SoCal.” But while it was great to see this kind of comedy get some shine, it also felt like some edges were definitely polished. After all, unlike The Awesome Show, SNL isn't a sketch series with a devoted cult following, it's a freak cultural institution at this point, and it can't constantly indulge its more avant-garde alt-comedy style. garden rental.

Which is why it's interesting to learn that Mooney made the show's roster, performing as one of his most awkward and decidedly offbeat characters, even using “SNL” impresario Lorne Michaels.

Between his Good Neighbor years and joining “SNL,” Kyle Mooney did segments for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Sports Show with Norm MacDonald,” playing his clumsy interview character who constantly stumbled over his words and mumbled into the microphone while on assignment covering a live event. Many of these segments exist only in Mooney YouTube channel and is nothing short of genius as the comedian somehow successfully plays off severe social anxiety disorder for laughs.

It's the kind of thing that's usually labeled “anti-comedy,” and Mooney revels in the sheer discomfort that comes from his interactions with members of the public. But there's really no such thing as anti-comedy—if something's funny, it's funny, and Mooney's interview character is a timeless example.

That's not what “SNL” is known for these days, though, because the show needs to maintain at least some kind of broad appeal. That didn't stop Mooney from hugging his nervous little interviewer during his audition, though. The actor who recently directed Rachel Zegler in the 100% Historically Inaccurate Comedy Y2K talked about his audition for the four-part documentary “SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night,” where he found that his performance was not so good, especially when he deliberately mispronounced Lorne Michaels' name as part of the act. “I was like, 'Oh, I want to open my audition like I'm doing 'Saturday Night Live,'” he said. “I did something like, 'I can't believe I'm here in front of 30 Rockers to Lonnie Mickers,” and it got no response, and that was the very first thing I did, and I was like, “Oh, no!”

Kyle Mooney is far from the only cast member to talk about how they thought they screwed up their “SNL” audition. In fact, almost every contestant who has talked about their audition has a similar story about a certain joke or bit that didn't get anything from the producers. But clearly Mooney's resourceful approach to auditioning impressed Lorne Michaels and others, which just goes to show that not trying to follow the show's sensibilities is the best way to approach an audition.

Sarah Sherman talked about a similar experience on the site “Live with Kelly and Mark” show, telling the hosts how she was worried about auditioning because her standup routine is “a bit grotesque”. She continued:

“I was worried, like, 'Maybe I shouldn't act like that in front of future employers,' but I, whatever I did, I did, it was crazy, and then when they hired me, I was like, “Oh, I think they're crazy.”

All of which begs the question of why “SNL” doesn't let comedians like Sherman and Mooney do more of their own thing. During the show, both comedians were given the opportunity to showcase their unique sensibilities, with Lorne even recapturing his in one of Mooney's films. digital shorts in 2011, when he incorrectly referred to the comedian as “Kevin”. But those moments were always sandwiched between some truly pathetic sketches that would have benefited from a cast of more subversive energy like Sherman and Mooney. So, for example, the season 50 premiere was one of the scariest episodes in the history of the series, limping through stale pieces and wasting the great Jean Smart.

Also, while Mooney's interview character got to be seen multiple times during his nine years on the show, there's something vaguely offensive about seeing some of those segments labeled “timeouts” on the “SNL” YouTube channel — like, yours truly. this kind of thing and keep “Real Housewives of Santa Fe?“That being said, we owe a lot of credit to 'SNL' for giving Mooney the platform to get started and create the wonderful offbeat comedy “Brigsby the Bear” and “Y2K,” without which we wouldn't have Mooney's brilliant marketing video.