There are few former SNL cast members more ripe for reappraisal than Taran Killam. Joining the cast in the waning days of the third golden age (the Wiig-Hader-Sudeikis-Samberg years), Killam served as a key link and torchbearer for the show before Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong began their dominant run. Despite the versatility of his appearances from 2010 to 2016, his tenure has been overshadowed since leaving, which begs the question: Could Killam be one of the most underappreciated cast members in SNL history?
Take into consideration that this century, when tabulating the cast members who led in sketch appearances per season, only Amy Poehler beats Killam in the number of consecutive first-place finishes. (Killam finished first among his peers for three straight seasons from 2013 to 2016. Not even Kenan Thompson has done that.)
Still, it’s hard to snugly fit Killam’s contributions in a box. He’s not a pure impressionist in the vein of Darrell Hammond, and he’s more collaborative than someone like Mike Myers (though they share a fair amount of creative DNA). Killam’s elastic skill dates back to his early days as a child actor in the ’90s, eventually breaking through in Disney and Nickelodeon productions. At only 41, he’s already a journeyman of sorts, with credits including The Amanda Show, Wild ’N Out, and MADtv. While former castmate Thompson is the poster child for this kind of Zeitgeist-y career arc, millennial comedy fans also grew up alongside Killam as he made teen girls swoon as Jordan Cahill in a classic DCOM (Stuck in the Suburbs) and cut his teeth with small roles in early 2000s projects like Big Fat Liar.
Following the end of his latest run on Broadway (he appeared as Lancelot in Spamalot), Killam reflects on the various stages of his career, from landing a role in Naked Gun 33 ⅓ to his recent homecoming to SNL, his first visit to the show since his 2016 departure.
I read you joined SAG by doing Unsolved Mysteries, which feels like it should’ve been a nonunion kind of gig.
The re-creations were union! It got me eligible, then the next job made me SAG, which was Naked Gun 33 ⅓.
Your uncle is Robert Stack, who helps facilitate Unsolved Mysteries. But my question is, given the David Zucker connection, does he help you land Naked Gun?
The only connection is he helped with the premiere of Naked Gun 33 ⅓. He said, “If you see Leslie, go up to him and tell him that Bob says ‘hi.’” And I did. There was a big line waiting to meet Leslie Nielsen at the premiere. I waited my turn, took all my courage, and went up. I was 12 at the time and had a squeaky voice: “Hi, Mr. Nielsen. Um, I’m in this. I have a small part … My uncle is Robert Stack. He’s my mom’s uncle; he’s my great-uncle. He said to say ‘hi’ to you. That’s just me, I’m just saying ‘hi.’ I’m excited.” He’s just like, “ … What did he say? Could you hear him? I couldn’t hear him.”
To Leslie’s credit, he came up to me after the movie screened, and he’s like, “Good job! You did good. Were you happy with it? How’d we do?” Which I thought was very generous and magnanimous of him. And a week later, I am at home, and I see him in a commercial for a hearing aid. [Laughs.] It made me feel so much better. Like, Oh it wasn’t just me. Maybe. It was probably mostly me.
Did you ever talk Airplane! with Robert?
I only hit up Uncle Bob for stories about when he did Beavis & Butt-Head Do America, and he gave me the gift basket that they sent him with the VHS tape and T-shirts. It was the best thing. Then BASEketball as well.
Airplane! he would talk about a little bit. He liked to talk about Untouchables because that was his heyday. He would talk to me about Written on the Wind, that he was nominated for an Oscar. He was very protective of Judy Garland, who was a close friend of his growing up. He wrote letters of recommendation for me for college. My dad did a lot of work on their place in Bel-Air. That’s where I would spend the most time with him and Rosemarie [Bowe] — my dad would restructure her closet, do a full remodel of her bathroom, and I would be hanging out playing in their swimming pool.
You were back on Broadway — this wasn’t your first rodeo in a musical. So, key question: Why didn’t you sing in Stuck in the Suburbs?
What an important question. Singing was a part of the audition for the role that we all know and love now of Jordan Cahill. I sang Everly Brothers’ “Unchained Melody” for it. It was built-in that this might be a requirement. Around the time of my final audition, I got an offer to test for a network pilot. Stuck in the Suburbs hadn’t offered me the role yet. I go to test at the studio; that day, Stuck in the Suburbs reaches out. It was maybe a week or two later: “Okay, we want him. We’ll give him X amount of dollars if he doesn’t test.” It was a significant check. But my reps very sagely were like, “If you get a series that goes on and on, this check means nothing. And you’re in the running!”
I turn down Stuck in the Suburbs. My sneaky suspicion is they’d offered it to somebody else who also turned it down. Maybe I was second choice or there was a debate. Then I go to this studio to test for this pilot, and it’s me and Jonathan Taylor Thomas. I’m stressed out because this is an icon and holy cow. The next day, I find out the studio doesn’t want either of us, and they’re starting over for casting. And I’d turned down Stuck in the Suburbs! I’m hating my life. Then, a week later, I get a call: “Okay, Stuck in the Suburbs has come back, and they are offering you triple the amount of the initial offer.” I almost started crying, I couldn’t believe it.
All that’s to say there was a significant amount of time that had passed from my final audition to me saying “yes,” then flying out. In that time, they’d already recorded the music. Isn’t that weird? It was locked in because the earliest filming days were the music videos. So by the time they’d shot them, yes, they could’ve had me record for when Jordan performs at the end of the movie, but it wouldn’t match vocally to the music video at the beginning.
It’s the power of Disney that they re-air and re-air those Movies of the Week, that it’s still getting played to this day. Even at SNL and at the stage door after Spamalot when I went out to sign autographs, it’s one of the things that frequently gets mentioned.
Are there any ’90s-era movies that you went out for and almost got?
The Juror was one that I got a few callbacks on. I went in and read for Cameron Crowe for Almost Famous. The audition scenes were about a kid following his politician uncle, running for Senate on the campaign trail. Obviously, that was to protect the rock and roll of it all.
There was a movie I read for a couple of times that I really wanted called The Cure. Joseph Mazzello and Brad Renfro. Really sad but beautiful script. The one I was closest on was in that run of Free Willy kind of movies: The Amazing Panda Adventure. It was literally a flip of a coin, neck-and-neck between me and Ryan Slater, the younger brother of Christian Slater. It would’ve meant moving to China for two months to shoot this movie about this American kid visiting his dad who helps free this panda out of captivity. And they went the other way.
Is Big Fat Liar when you first meet Kenan Thompson, or had you two known each other peripherally during the Nickelodeon days?
I’d met him before. I got MADtv indirectly because of Kenan. I was with Tollin/Robbins Management — Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins, who now runs Paramount. They had their production company, but they also had a talent-management part run by Mike Goldman, who was my manager. He managed Amanda Bynes, he managed Kenan, he managed a bunch of people. Big Fat Liar may’ve been a Tollin/Robbins production, which is how I got priority.
When MADtv called, I was just a freshman in college. They were calling about Kenan and thought he would be a perfect fit. He turned it down graciously, and my management said, “We do have this other kid — he’s young and really funny.” I auditioned kind of on a fluke. So Kenan and I crossed paths then.
The first time I ever went to an SNL show was 2005, and I went as Kenan’s guest, which was very kind of him. Then Wild ’N Out, we were around each other on the set of that too. Kenan’s the best. He is the king of the ’90s. But he is also kind of the king of every decade. I’d like to go on record that Kenan deserves to be king of all time.
I heard you recently returned to SNL.
I did. It was lovely. I took my 14-year-old daughter because she was very interested. It was the Jason Momoa episode. There was some apprehension of, Am I remembered? Do people care? Did I ruffle feathers? What is the reception going to be?
Lorne is a very loyal boss to his crew, so many of the hair and makeup and wardrobe, stage crew are the same faces. It was kind of emotional for me. Vanessa Bayer went with me, which was nice. We said hello to Lorne, and he was beyond kind to my daughter. It could not have gone better. It was actually a beautiful revisit — my first time back on a show night since I’d been gone.
You brought up Vanessa Bayer, and I am remembering the “Acting Camp for Serious Kids” sketch you did with her on SNL. And when you introduced Kids Choice Awards.
With Vanessa on the red carpet? “Right now!” That one?
Yes, “two minutes.” And you did the Disney Channel “Brother 2 Brother” sketch with Chris Hemsworth. It always felt like you were more willing to wade into that spoof territory, whereas at least until recently, Kenan didn’t necessarily want to remind audiences about his Nickelodeon and Disney roots.
I think it’s different for Kenan and me. I think my “mark” on kids basic cable in the late ’90s and early aughts is very niche. You see Kenan, and you remember All That; you remember Mighty Ducks. He was a significant part of very iconic things from that time, whereas I was a bit player in the periphery. It was never a conscious thing to avoid or embrace on my part, but I do understand if it was for Kenan to kind of make a distinction. He’s obviously now made peace with it. I can’t say enough good things about Kenan as a performer, as a human being, as a leader at SNL — always looking out for everybody, always an open door for anybody really struggling, myself included.
Any examples?
I remember shooting a digital short where we were in the car at four in the morning. It’s this one where we’re street thugs and we’re going to break up a drug deal, and we see this beautiful bunny in the snow. His attitude was never to complain. Kenan was always one to be like, “How lucky are we? Look at where we are.” That is a moment where I’m like, “Oh my God, it’s four in the morning!” And he’s like, “Yeah, man, but look at what we’re doing. There’s guys out there making fake snow for us to look at a dumb bunny.” He always just had that perspective of gratitude that I looked up to and emulated.
The “Undercover Boss” sketch with Adam Driver has become a beloved modern classic. What can you tell me about it?
For whatever reason, all parties involved — on the SNL side, the LucasFilm side, the film-unit crew side — wanted that sketch to go as well as possible. So he is wearing Kylo’s outfit — that is not a replica from our brilliant wardrobe department; LucasFilm shipped it out. When I showed up to the set that had been built in less than 48 hours by our film unit, I was shocked. I’d never seen that much passion and care go into a pre-tape from the art-direction side of things. It’s one of my favorite pieces we did.
Who came up with the initial idea?
I think Mikey Day deserves the credit for that concept. That night, Bobby Moynihan and I had already written a full sketch where we were the two maintenance guys working underneath the plankway where the dramatic Kylo-Han Solo scene takes place. And we’re mopping up the floor like, “Yeah yeah, I don’t know, I’m hearing rumbles outside, but I got time off coming up, so ya know.” Then you hear [groans and yells] thud! And Han Solo’s corpse lands in front of us. We’re freaking out, then Kylo comes in and checks on us and is saying, “Don’t tell anybody about this. Nothing happened. You didn’t see anything.”
Mikey was like, “Yeah, that’s pretty good. I think we can find something more fun for Adam to do.” And he just pitched the one line: “Undercover Boss: Star Destroyer?” My memory is Mikey was working on something, so Bobby and I went and outlined a bunch of different bits about him killing my son and him using the Force to bully Bobby. I went home, but Bobby was willing to stay because Mikey was so busy. I came back at 11 and they had a scripted version, then we restructured and rewrote that. And Adam just understood it. His line delivery: “This means something to me noowww.” [Laughs.] Like, why does he put the emphasis on now like that? But it makes sense, and it’s so funny!
SNL’s 50th anniversary is coming up, and I am reminded of back in SNL40 when you shadowboxed with a few heavyweights in the “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketch.
I love Norm — one of my favorite comedians ever. To see him do Burt Reynolds, literally next to me, was surreal. Then have Jim Carrey in it and do McConaughey. If you watch it, there’s a little verbal stumble, like he repeated a word. It was not a big deal; everybody loved it. But afterward, Jim was like [clicks tongue], “You wish you could have it back. That’s the best part of the live thing — it’s out there!” It was me and Jay Pharoah talking to him, kind of venting in a way that we did every week for, at that point, four or five years. We’re really breaking it down with Jim Carrey! And from that he’s like, “Are you guys going to the after-party? Want a ride?” So he gave me and Jay a ride in his car to the after-party at the Plaza.
Any other memorable stories from that night?
My Eddie Murphy moment was pretty beautiful. There was a party the night before at the Top of the Rock. I went from the “Californians” sketch rehearsal that we did that ended with David Spade doing his “buh-bye” guy with Cecily. David and I went up to the party together, so I was talking with him. We are sitting at the Top of the Rock, and he’s telling me his experience of the “Look, Mommy, a falling star!” joke. Then over his shoulder, Eddie Murphy walks in with Brett Ratner. I was like, Dude dude dude. And the first person Eddie Murphy walked up to was David Spade. It was very gracious, a lovely exchange. Then I got to shake Eddie’s hand! My first conscious memories of SNL are his Best of tape. He is the best one to ever do it — the circumstances of what age he was, who he was, what he was capable of doing, the responsibility that was on his shoulders as an ensemble member.
Sloppy Swish was such a big moment — for you, for the show, online. How did you resist the urge to not bring that back? Everything gets brought back!
Erin Doyle, who is a producer on SNL now, to her credit, wanted to try it again. The desire for recurring sketches by the time I got there in an era of YouTube and online … I creatively did not feel the necessity of it. Part of the lifeblood in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s was familiarity — to be able to see those characters again and keep them relevant and alive for a viewing audience that couldn’t access them any other way. I did have ideas for it, but nothing that was so exciting to revisit it.
It was such a special moment just in its production. It was something Matt and Oz [directing duo Matt Villines and Oz Rodriguez] and I just started to shoot on our own. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Matt’s story, but he got really sick. We’d worked on a movie together, but Matt wasn’t able to be there on set due to his health stuff. There is more emotion packed into “Mokiki Does the Sloppy Swish” than one might realize or perceive.
So “Mokiki” wasn’t originally sanctioned?
It’s how we started it, then we presented it the week before Anne Hathaway hosted at the dress rehearsal. Vanessa Bayer was playing the Anne Hathaway character. Because it got enough of a reception just from the footage we shot, Lorne gave us a little bit of money to build it out — redo the vomit, redo the Anne Hathaway stuff.
It’s the rare example of something meteoric, where the show doesn’t scratch that itch. Even “Cowbell” kind of got brought back.
Matt Foley is another one they tried to bring back, where it didn’t quite work. We tried it with “Glice,” too, when Bruce Willis hosted. We didn’t quite capture the same essence or game of it. Maybe the more objective answer is I was not a good enough writer to understand the “game” of these characters structurally. I always wrote from a place of human interaction or feeling, then built off of that. Trying to recapture a feeling as opposed to a structure was not one of my strengths.
We did do a sequel to the French dance [“Les Jeunes de Paris”] with Emma Stone, which was nice. She really got the spirit of what I was going for with that, in terms of any comparison to previous SNL sketches, which is the Steve Martin–Gilda Radner dancing through the studio. That was a tone in the show, if there’s subcategories of sketches within the show: physical humor and absurdity was lacking, I felt, at the time. It felt like something I could slot into. She got it and was willing to rehearse before the table read with me and was an advocate for that sketch. That was the first sketch I wrote that got on the show.
Seth Meyers has shared his breakdown on a potential Stefon movie. Was there ever chatter about Jebidiah Atkinson?
Not in earnest, but there were jokes that he’s a time traveler going through these historic moments, almost loosely Forrest Gump–like in its nature, in that Jebidiah always had the wrong opinion on these historically significant moments in human history. Could be fun — a Bill & Ted-esque “find your way back” to the Civil War era, find your way home to one of the biggest tragedies in American history. But I have never set out to write any SNL-based character movies. Nothing will ever be funnier than MacGruber to me. That’s the apex of SNL character films.
