Saturday Night Live: Steve Martin declines Tim Walz offer
Despite all of the social-media attention around Steve Martin potentially playing Tim Walz on Saturday Night Live, it’s not going to happen. Surprisingly, the decision has also been made in basically 24 hours.
In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, the Only Murders in the Building star and frequent former host indicated that he and Lorne Michaels had already talked about the possible gig — and it is for a pretty particular reason:
“I wanted to say no and, by the way, he wanted me to say no … I said, ‘Lorne, I’m not an impressionist. You need someone who can really nail the guy.’ I was picked because I have gray hair and glasses.”
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What this means obviously is that Michaels and the producers will need to find someone else, and they could easily opt for an internal cast member or some other celebrity. Martin also indicated that the ongoing commitment of such a role would also be a challenge for him:
“It’s ongoing … It’s not like you do it once and get applause and never do it again. Again, they need a real impressionist to do that. They’re gonna find somebody really, really good. I’d be struggling.”
While we know that Maya Rudolph is coming back to portray Kamala Harris for the show, we do think that Martin is referencing something that is pretty important here: What happens if the Harris – Walz ticket wins? Are you then going to see Rudolph around for years? This is something that we’re sure the show has already thought a lot about.
One other thing that we know already for Martin is that he already has some tour dates with Martin Short planned for the fall — though that does not seem to be a factor in his decision.
Related – Who is leaving Saturday Night Live ahead of the season?
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