Six years, another national election and a new president later, Rob Schneider is still thinking about “Saturday Night Live” and a certain dig at former President Donald Trump.
On Saturday, the “Hot Chick” actor and frequent Adam Sandler collaborator appeared on “The Glenn Beck Podcast.” He sounded off on his religion, political divisions and how he tries not to “indoctrinate people like some comedy shows seem to.”
He referred to “Saturday Night Live,” of which he was a cast member from 1990 to 1994 as one such show, pointing specifically to a 2016 episode right after the presidential election.
“When Kate McKinnon went out there on ‘Saturday Night Live’ from the cold opening — she started dressed as Hillary Clinton and she starts playing ‘Hallelujah’ — and I literally prayed to please have a joke at the end,” he told Beck. “‘Don’t do this. Please don’t go down there.’”
The “SNL” moment in question aired on Nov. 12, 2016, and marked the first episode after Trump was elected president. The performance, which also paid tribute to “Hallelujah” singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, who had died that same month, had some encouraging words for the audience.
“I’m not giving up, and neither should you,” McKinnon said at the end of the show’s cold open.
After there was no joke, Schneider, who declared in 2020 that he’s a “true conservative,” said that’s when he decided “Saturday Night Live” was done.
“It’s over. This is not going to come back,” Schneider remembered thinking.
Elsewhere on Beck’s podcast, Schneider commented on his daughter, musician Elle King, and took shots at late-night TV.
“You can take the comedic indoctrination process happening with each of the late-night hosts and you could exchange them with each other,” he said on Beck’s podcast. “That’s how you know that’s not interesting anymore because…it’s not an independent voice anymore. It’s all just indoctrination by comedic imposition.”
Well, Schneider doesn’t have to worry about McKinnon portraying Clinton anytime soon. The “SNL” staple exited NBC’s sketch show earlier this year after its 47th season, alongside Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson and Kyle Mooney.
