The View co-host Joy Behar once auditioned for Saturday Night Live. It did not go well.
The 81-year-old recalled the 1975 moment Wednesday on The View’s companion podcast, Behind the Table.
“There was a period I tried to get on, because I had this funny character that I did. I had to audition for [SNL creator-producer] Lorne Michaels,” Behar told View producer Brian Teta. “He never laughed, and after I was done, he said, ‘That was funny.’ I said, ‘You didn’t laugh,’ and he said, ‘I don’t want to laugh because then you’ll think you have a job.’ I said, ‘That’s okay, don’t worry about it.’ I didn’t even want the job, to tell you the truth.”
Michaels is famous for purposely not laughing during SNL auditions. Behar admitted it was still “a little depressing to have to audition for somebody and they don’t laugh.
“I was so not-ready for the stress of a job like that, that I prayed that I didn’t get the job,” Behar said. “And I didn’t!”
Behar won her seat at The View for its inaugural season in 1997. She has since appeared on every season of the long-running talk show, except for seasons 17 and 18.