The 40th season Saturday Night Live cast interviews each other for Gotham Magazine

A lot of 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Live packages are rolling out this month in anticipation of the big SNL40 broadcast on Feb. 15, 2015. Gotham magazine just posted a great series of photos where the current cast cleaned up rather nicely, and during the proceedings, the magazine managed to shoot some video and get the cast members to interview each other. Here are my favorite passages from those exchanges.

Kyle Mooney: What do you like most about the city?
Cecily Strong: I have two favorite things: jaywalking and eavesdropping. That’s real freedom.

Kenan Thompson: What has been your favorite moment with a host?
Kate McKinnon: I did a sketch with Charlize Theron [in May 2014] where we played cat ladies. I wanted her to do an Aileen Wuornos-type thing [Wuornos was the convicted serial killer Theron played in the 2003 film Monster, for which she won an Oscar] and gosh darn it, she did. She out-weirded me, and I was impressed.

Kate McKinnon: Define funny.
Taran Killam: An observation on a universal truth that surprises you with a take or insight that you may not have acknowledged or internalized, but it registers with you so it elicits laughter, a spontaneous reaction.

Taran Killam: How is your Kanye impression similar and how is it different from doing Obama almost on a weekly basis?
Jay Pharoah: Obama is more straightforward. I feel like this is going to get me in trouble, but I want to say, “Obama, you don’t follow me on Twitter, but I want you to, and Kanye, I’ll text you later, baby.”

Sasheer Zamata: I’m still in my first year, and it feels a little like a job, but there are still magical moments. What is the craziest moment you’ve had on the show?
Bobby Moynihan: My first “Live from New York.” That whole episode was a good one, and then meeting Pearl Jam. You’re like, “Did I just do an SNL sketch with Pearl Jam?” High school Bobby would have exploded. And then there are the weird moments, where John McCain comes up to you and says, “Always a pleasure, Horatio!” My most fearful moment ever was the last episode of my first season, coming in and thinking, “This could be it, this could be my last episode.” I got on the elevator and Lorne [Michaels] was there, on the phone. I said, “Hey, Lorne.” I stood there in silence, and then he said, “Oh, I’m sorry. How are you, Bobby?” As he was getting out of the elevator, I yelled, “How are you?” He turned around, and said, “I’m great,” as if to say, “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” I thought I was done, I’m fired. It was so silly, though, he’s such a nice man.
Zamata: I still have moments where I’m like, Does he like me?

Aidy Bryant: There’s a beautiful long line of people who have done “Weekend Update,” and now you are part of it, which is really cool.
Michael Che: And they’re all rich, which is great.

Leslie Jones: I didn’t realize I was a comedian until somebody told me I was funny. All this time, I just thought I was trouble.
Colin Jost: When was that?
Jones: I was 18, and a college friend entered me in a stand-up contest. She made me. I picked up the mic, and I was done. That was what I was going to do for the rest of my life.
Jost: And have you thanked her?
Jones: I see her all the time. A shout-out to Danita Abernathy!

Pete Davidson: Who is your favorite SNL cast member ever?
Vanessa Bayer: That’s a hard question, but I love Chris Farley. I do love the sketch where Chris is reading out of Zagat’s and Adam Sandler is playing his husband, and you can tell that Adam Sandler wants to laugh so bad. There’s so much joy in that scene, and those two really make me laugh a lot.

Read the whole thing and see all the pictures at Gotham Magazine

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Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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