The latest SNL marked a major milestone: the return of Adam Sandler. The comic and film god got his start on SNL at 23 years old, his tenure running from 1990 to 1995. Apart from a cameo in 1996, he’s never returned since, and for good reason: He was busy being one of the biggest movie stars in the world.
Sandler’s opening monologue was thus an emotional affair, filled with touching recollections. “I lost my virginity to a woman in this very studio,” he waxed nostalgic. “I don’t kiss and tell, but it was the Church Lady.”
He then revealed the reason he left…in song. Sandler — who was known for his goofy songs, usually played on Weekend Update — picked up a microphone and broke the news: “I was fired/I was fired/I was fired, so sad to tell/I never saw it coming/I got fired from SNL.”
Is this true? Apparently! Sandler’s bitter, not very sweet song, filled with barely veiled anger at the gig that led to a more lucrative life. “I guess NBC had enough of Crazy Spoon Head Man and the songs I got on the news/Maybe they were sick of Canteen Boy/But I think they just hate the Jews.”
It was then that Sandler’s compadre and fellow early ’90s SNL alum swung by, to reveal, also in song, why he left: “I got fired/I was fired/I was fired by NBC/Then I went on In Living Color/Three weeks later they took it off TV.”
Pete Davidson, who’s known to have played Sandler on , also came on to sing about getting fired, to Sandler’s bewilderment. “You weren’t fired,” Sandler told Davidson. “I wasn’t? How is that even possible?” Davidson replied. “I don’t know, be patient, because it’s coming soon.”
Sandler then twisted the knife: “Then I was fired/NBC said I was done/Then I made 400 billion dollars at the box office/So I guess you could say I won.”
