Saturday Night Live alum Adam Sandler recalled his bittersweet departure from the Lorne Michaels-helmed show, saying he couldn’t watch the late-night institution for a year after he left.
“When I left the show, the first year I couldn’t watch it,” he told Timothée Chalamet in front of a crowd of fans at a recent Vanity Fair awards season event. “I couldn’t watch it — it just breaks your heart. I guess it’s like when you play sports or whatever, and all of a sudden, you leave, and you see the game keeps going. You go, ‘Oh, they didn’t need me, man.’ It breaks your heart a little bit.”
During the conversation, in which both actors rewatched their popular projects, Sandler also reflected on the ways SNL has changed throughout the years, including helmer and executive producer Michaels’ stance on players breaking.
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“Oh, back then, he didn’t like that, yeah,” he said as he recalled how often late co-star Chris Farley would try to make him laugh. “You weren’t supposed to break. I think the first cast — Dan Aykroyd, [John] Belushi, Jane Curtin, Gilda [Radnor] — they never broke; they kind of frowned upon it … The first cast on SNL was like, ‘We’re not The Carol Burnett Show. We take this serious. If you laugh, you’re out.’ It was kind of a rule, and somehow that rule got broken. And now everyone’s laughing all the time.”
However, the Happy Gilmore 2 actor noted the show has retained its core vibe and has “always been the same.” He added of the live format and need to stay present within sketches: “You’re having the best time of your life, and you’re also panicked out of your mind.”
“It’s like being on a team,” he concluded. “It’s like you guys got this weird little connection the rest of your life, it’s cool.”
Sandler, who was a cast member from 1990 through 1995 alongside the likes of Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade and Mike Myers, has returned to host the show once in 2019, which garnered him an Emmy nomination. He’s guested and cameoed on SNL since, most recently on Chalamet’s last hosting stint in January of this year and during SNL50, during which he performed a moving tribute to comic legend Norm Macdonald.
SNL returns for a three-episode run ahead of the new year tonight, featuring host Melissa McCarthy and musical guest Dijon.
Sandler can be seen in Netflix’s Jay Kelly, starring George Clooney and directed by Noah Baumbach, streaming now.