Zach Galifianakis has revealed he was fired from Saturday Night Live, just 2 weeks after starting as a writer, over a joke about Britney Spears.
Keep scrolling to find out what he said.
Now, Zach Galifianakis is much-loved actor, comedian, musician, and writer.
Best known for his role in The Hangover.
Galifianakis came to prominence with his Comedy Central Presents special back in the early '00s and his career has been on the up ever since.
But it hasn't always been plain sailing for Galifianakis.
In fact, just 2 weeks after starting a job as a writer on Saturday Night Live...
He got fired.
And now, he's revealed why...
Now, SNL is one of the most popular shows on TV.
When it comes to original comedy, there's really nothing better.
The show has a rich history.
It first launched in 1975 and has had a recurring cast of talented comedians and celebrity guest hosts ever since.
The show is responsible for launching many careers.
Tons of hugely popular comedians and actors got their start on SNL, including Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Tina Few, Will Ferrell, and Pete Davidson.
It's also given us some of the most famous sketches of the past decades.
Like Alec Baldwin's iconic take on Donald Trump.
And of course, they're well known for ruffling feathers.
Comedy always comes at a price and in the age of "cancel culture", it can be hard to know where to draw the line.And what better show to be controversial on than SNL?
Well, it turns out, some sketches can be too controversial.
While on Rob Lowe's "Literally! With Rob Lowe" podcast, Galifinakis explained why he was fired just 2 weeks after starting his job as a writer for Saturday Night Live.
Turns out, it was to do with Britney Spears.
And are people very unamused by it...
Wow he is not even funny except from the Hangover movies. I admire her for still being polite, i would have walked out of the room and never would've returned
— Justtobii (@Justtobiii) March 28, 2021
It's time to stop making fun of Brittney. These ideas are gross.
— 𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚎 𝙼𝚜. 𝙳 (@ShortnSassyII) March 26, 2021
So stupid.
— lyladiaz (@lyladiaz) March 26, 2021
While on the podcast, the star looked back over his career revealing his short stint on SNL.
According to Galifiankis, all the ideas he pitched during his brief stint "bombed very badly."
When Britney Spears hosted SNL back in May 2000, he was tasked with coming up with sketches for her show.
One particular rejected sketch involved her belly button.
He said her "belly button was always exposed then and I thought she needed to protect it."
And so, in order to keep her belly button safe, Galifianakis' sketch would have featured Will Ferrell as a tiny security guard who would "shrink" via a green screen.
"It felt like a tumbleweed went right across the writers' room table, and a cricket riding it," he explained.
"I'm not offended that no one liked it. It was probably bad."
But, it gets worse...
Galifiankis also told Lowe about another sketch idea that he pitched to Spears.
He told Spears the idea was for her to be interviewed by Entertainment Tonight.
"There's no jokes. And during the middle of the interview you just start bleeding from the mouth," he explained.
We're sure you can imagine how that went down.
"She looks at me, and then she looks at the ground, and then I looked at the ground, and she looks back up at me, I look at her, and she goes, 'Yeah, that's funny'," Galifianakis said.
Galifianakis also revealed during the podcast that while SNL was his dream job, he wasn't ready for it.
"To be a fly on the wall in the writers' room. I didn't know what I was doing," he admitted.
"I was a standup, I had never written sketches to turn in."
"It was not easy, I don't know if 'supportive' is necessarily the word I would use there. But you're new there, and in show business, especially as a standup, you get a thick skin."
You can listen to the podcast here.
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