Our Dream ‘SNL’ Cast From People Who Auditioned and Didn’t Make It

For these seven funny people, the second time could be the charm

History is littered with the names of comedy stars who auditioned for Saturday Night Live but didn’t get the gig. There are lots of reasons why someone might not have been cast — too young, too similar to someone already on the show, a terribly dumb decision by Lorne Michaels and company. But with the benefit of hindsight, we are assembling a dream cast of funny people who coulda, shoulda, woulda been on SNL, but didn’a. 

For practical purposes, we’re limiting our group to seven — just like the original cast! — rather than the overstuffed 20-something crowds of recent years.

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John Goodman

Unassailable. Not only has Goodman hosted SNL an amazing 13 times, he’s shown up for cameo appearances in an additional dozen shows. Consider that there are he was beaten out in the first place by Joe Piscopo.

Donald Glover

A slam dunk, right? The guy would do amazing characters, kill in music parodies and generally be the coolest cast member since… ever">. But we think he could handle the gig now. 

Mindy Kaling

The Office. She made the right decision by staying put, but now? Between The OfficeThe Mindy ProjectNever Have I Ever and The Sex Lives of College Girls, Kaling has proved her comedy bona fides. It’s time to get Kaling in front of the camera again. 

Jim Carrey

For his first episode, we’d just have Carrey do all the same stuff he did when he tried out for Saturday Night Live back in 1980. “Al Franken under the bus for not hiring Carrey.

John Mulaney

The SNL powers-that-be didn’t think Five-Timers Club. We’ll consider all of those hosting appearances as a winning audition to finally the cast full-time.

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