Live From New York - James H. Miller [164]
TERRY SWEENEY:
I think the writers came to think of me as just the gay guy. They’d go like, “Oh well, he’s a hilarious gay guy, so if we want a gay guy, we’ll just put him in this sketch where the guy can be really effeminate — the guy’s really gay. But if it’s a regular role, let’s give it to Jon Lovitz or Randy Quaid” — who were very talented, but it’s just a question where I would feel like, “Hey, I can do this too.” So I think I felt the brunt of some prejudice.
Later on, I came to realize — as one matures, one realizes it’s not always the homophobia; it’s a lot of times just that’s not your world. If you’re straight, you’re thinking about a straight guy and a husband, and it’s not — it’s just not something you’re thinking about. You think that you find a gay guy over there, and a straight guy’s over here, and it doesn’t occur to people that they’re ever in the same place.
CAROL LEIFER:
I really don’t think during the season Lorne said much of anything to me. I never requested to speak with him by myself. I’m different now; if I’m getting the cold shoulder from somebody — at that time I’d stay out of your way — but now I’d want to investigate more to see how I could help the situation.
I do remember a very valuable Lorne lesson that I still use today. I remember him really clearly in one meeting saying he always hated the funny-name joke, you know, when a character had a funny name, like a punny name. That kind of thing. It’s such an indicator of an amateur.
DAMON WAYANS:
I was so glad to be off the show. I was so relieved. I finally felt like I lived on the edge. My problem with that show is, and I used to say it all the time, we’re so rehearsed, where’s the thrill of being on live? I had an improv background, hung out with Robert Townsend and my brother and Eddie Murphy. We’d go onstage and play around, and I didn’t feel we were doing that on SNL. And the group of actors that they had — great actors, but they weren’t improvisational actors. You say a different line during rehearsals and they go, “Cut!” What about playing around? So when I got fired, I was thrilled, I was relieved, I had knots in my stomach, I was angry, and I would cry when I got home.
But you know, to Lorne’s credit, he’s never spoken bad of me. I think in his mind he respected me or something. He’s actually given recommendations for me in films and stuff like that. And that was right after this happened.
TERRY SWEENEY:
I’m really happy. I’m still with my lover that I was with back then, who was a writer on the show. I have a great personal life and I actually was a writer too, you know. I went back to television writing and movie writing, and so I’ve made money and done well, so I’m really actually happy I had the experience. The training is invaluable and I’ve used it, you know. I’ve just used it in everything I’ve ever done since then.
DAMON WAYANS:
I was brought back for the last show of the season. There’s a sick side of Lorne Michaels; he loves the rebel. Once he got over his own ego — what I did on the show that time was basically a “fuck you” move — he sat back and said, “Well, the guy’s talented. I just don’t think he’s ready to be a Prime Time Player.”
It was great except Dudley Moore was the host and I was doing this joke about — I was born with a clubfoot, and so I used to do this whole routine about when I was young, how I used to wear orthopedic shoes and I had a shoe with like a five-inch heel and I used to walk with a limp. And I did me walking with the limp and said people that knew me thought I was cool. Thank God I was in the ghetto. I did this thing about how I wasn’t a fighter at the time, I was just a very passive kid, and I said you don’t find many handicapped bullies, and I did, you know, “Imagine some crippled dude coming up to you, ‘Gimme your lunch money!’”
But Dudley Moore walked with a limp too. When I started doing the guy walking with the limp, he walked over to Lorne and like, “You’re not going to let him do it?” So Lorne also killed that bit. But then at the end, he let me do it. Dudley