https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIKsvWgoYss
Auditioning for Saturday Night Live seems like one of the most nerve-wracking experiences a performer can have. You’re all alone on stage 8H, in front of a quiet collection of people who can change your life. All you can do is bust out your best bits in a hope to impress them. Are you impressing them? There’s little applause and only a few giggles.
Clearly, Will Ferrell got the laughs he needed in his audition, which runs the gamut of characters in his arsenal. He opens with Harry Caray, then moves on to Ted Kennedy, the “get off the shed” guy, and ends it as a corporate executive who takes a break to play with toys like a cat. It’s an appropriately bizarre audition for Ferrell and any sketch comedy hopeful, but mostly it’s a masterclass in showing a wide breadth of skills. Ferrel does impressions, he shows his physical comedy, and he shows off his ability to formulate a sketch. It’s pretty damn brilliant.
Here’s what the “get off the shed” ev0lved into once Ferrell was on the show. It’s interesting seeing how the writers filled in the gaps of his audition with some necessary dialogue, and the escalation of the sketch is sharper, but for the most part, it was all there on the lonely stage in 1995.
And of course, Harry Caray became one of Ferrell’s most popular characters. The whole gist of the Harry Caray schtick was on display in Ferrell’s audition, but it truly became great once the writers put him in situations that he should never be in.
Hopefully, we get to see some of these characters come back when Ferrell hosts SNL. Maybe we can see Harry Caray telling some kids to get off a shed?
