Taran Killam
Welcome to the SNL Hall of Fame podcast! This week on the program we've invited back our dear friend of the show Kirsten Rajala to join Thomas in conversation about the former Cast member Taran Killam! jD and Matt are on hand to handle the rest of the lifting! Thanks for listening to the SNL Hall of Fame podcast!
Transcript:
[0:42] All right. Thank you so much, Doug DeNance. It is cold outside here at the SNL Hall of Fame.
So why don't you take a look down below and you'll see a mat.
No, it's not Matt Ardill, but it's a mat for you to wipe your feet off.
Get that snow out of here. Somebody might slip and fall.
That could be a real lawsuit on our hands.
So there's that. The SNL Hall of Fame podcast is a weekly affair.
Each episode, we take a deep dive into the career of a former cast member, host, musical guest, or writer, and add them to the ballot for your consideration.
Once the nominees have been announced, we turn to you, the listener, to vote for the most deserving and help determine who will be enshrined for perpetuity in the hall.
That's how we play the game. It's It's just that easy.
This week on the SNL Hall of Fame podcast, we are talking about former cast member Taryn Killam.
And we are joined by our good friend Kirsten Rajala, who is a regular on the SNN and a regular here in the SNL Hall of Fame.
Do you know who else is a regular? Our friend Matt Ardill. Let's go down the hall and talk to him.
Track 3:
[1:59] Okay, I am walking down the hallway and I see him leaning on the wall ever so casually.
Look at this cool cat. It's Matt. How are you doing, Matt?
I am doing great, JD, and yourself? You're looking pretty fine today.
Well, thank you very much. It's these new pants.
They're very snazzy, very snazzy. Yeah, yeah.
Track 2:
[2:17] So, Taron Killam.
Track 3:
[2:19] Six foot one, born April 1st, 1982, which makes me feel very old.
Born in Culver City. His mother toured with the Charlie Daniels Band and his father. Oh, my gosh.
Yeah. Singer, songwriter, performer. That went down to Georgia.
Yeah. And his father was a member of the City Garage Theater Troupe.
So he has showbiz background.
[2:46] In his veins. And he was born April 1st, so it's got to be comedy.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
This is the great grandnephew of the actors Rosemary Bow and Robert Stack. Get out.
Yeah, yeah. Like showbiz legacy kind of thing. Wow. If he was joining today, they'd like be shouting Nepo baby.
So, but yeah, he attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and the UCLA Theater, Film and Television Program studying musical theater, which we will get back to.
He graduated from the Groundlings in 2010 and is one of two cast members to be both on MADtv and SNL.
Did not know that. Yeah, yeah. When he joined MADtv, he was actually the youngest cast member at 19 in 2001.
He has 90 acting credits, four writer credits, and two producer credits, along with six soundtrack credits that we will touch on in a second.
His first film appearance was in naked gun 33 and a third the final insult as the character named boy.
[3:54] Very you know big long a big credit there uh it was 1994 and he was at the age of 12 when he yeah so as a child actor he he was also on unsolved mysteries uh the jersey and big fatliar He had a recurring role in Stuck in the Suburbs.
He went on to play Mr.
Rad in Community in their regional holiday music episode.
He wrote the comic book miniseries for IDW called The Illegitimates, which I'm going to have to now cover on my comic book podcast.
Give it a plug. What's the title? know detecting the marvelous so if you want to check out about comics the three comics chatting about comics yeah so he went on to marry colbysmulders and uh is a broadway star taking over the role of king george the third in hamilton in 2017 and he did so well with it yeah yeah and he also played lance a lot in the broadwayproduction of spam a lot Oh.
So, I mean, that's tying his comedy and his musical loves together.
Yeah. Which I wish I could have seen that. I wish I could have seen that.
Yeah, that would have been great. Man, I wish I lived in New York sometimes.
Yeah, yeah. So close, yet far enough away to be a pain in the butt. Right.
[5:19] So, I think we should go to our friend Kirsten Rajula and Thomas down in the basement and And get a sense of what they're thinking about Terran Kill'em.
Looking forward to it. All right, Kirsten and Thomas, take it away.
Track 4:
[6:02] All right, JD and Matt, thank you so much for that.
Yes, we are talking today about a great and sometimes, I think, overlooked cast member, and that is Taryn Killam.
So to join me, not an overlooked guest, in fact, what are you now?
Are you a 20-timer on our podcast at this point, Kirsten? I feel like I'm a 20-timer, a happy 20-timer, though.
Yeah, you're like our Steve Martin, I think. You're just like, you're in the fabric of the show at this point. I love it. Thank you.
Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Kirsten Rayula, thank you so much. Kirsten, how are you doing?
[6:46] I'm doing fantastic. And I, you know, I know I say I love so many of the people that we talk about, but this is a real special one.
So I'm doing great because in re-watching a lot of this person's material, serial it put me in a great mood yeah it really does that it puts you know i the last few days that i've been revisitingtaryn's sketches and and whatnot i've just been in a wonderful mood because of that so so this yeah this this is a good one to talk about uh given the nature of our the format that i like todo on this podcast kirsten i'm going to let you plug stuff up the top so tell us what you've been up to i know you have a storyteller thing that you're doing i know that you've been on a lotof SNL podcasts.
So tell us what Kirsten's been up to. All right.
So yes to both of those.
So my bestie and I, we host a seasonal storytelling event. It's called Generation Women.
There is one in New York. We have the Toronto-based shows. So folks in New York, you can go see it there as well.
And it's an intergenerational storytelling event. So on a common theme, a woman in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s plus all tell us a story.
And they're not professional, but they are formidable women.
[8:05] And it's a really beautiful night. So, you know, if you're in the Toronto area, come check us out. The next one is in April and they happen every season.
Or if you are in New York, check them out there too because the event itself is like a big warm hug.
It's fantastic. And to be able to give a voice to so many people who, you know, we all have a story to tell.
So that's great. And yeah, I mean, my love for SNL grows deeper and deeper the more I engage with all these other fantastic members of this SNL fan community.
And I've just got to check off my bucket list going to see the show because I have not seen the show live yet.
That's hard to believe. I know. Have you entered the lottery? Yeah.
[8:47] That's the thing. I haven't. Okay. You got to enter the lottery or the best way to do it is in the standby line.
That's how my wife and I got into the show. Yeah, it does.
Yeah. The success rate's a lot better than the lottery.
So I'd advise you, honestly, just take a weekend to go to New York and do the standby line. What time did you get there?
Well, they have a new process. So you send an email now and then they give you a number.
Okay. And then you show up about 6 o'clock with your number, and then they slot you in the line.
And then you wait. How we did it, and this may have even changed since then. It was 2022.
But how we did it was we slept on the street for 12 hours overnight.
And then they handed us our cards. We picked live or dress.
And then they handed us our cards. And then you show up to Rockefeller Center and then kind of hope you get in.
And we got in for the Lizzo show two years ago, my wife and I did.
Oh, my gosh. But you slept on the street for 12 hours?
Yep. And it was fun. We made friends.
[9:55] Lizzo bought us pizza. Her backup dancers came out and delivered pizza to us.
So it was a whole thing. Now it's fun. Did you see live or dress? We saw dress.
Yeah, I'd almost rather see dress because I want to see more.
Mm-hmm and we we've we uh compare we were able to compare dress to live see what got cut see what should have got cut that made air and all of that so that's that's what i recommendbut you gotta see the show okay 2024.
[10:22] Yeah. I got to get on this. Scratch that off your bucket list.
Yeah, I got to do it. All right. All right. I'm actually writing this down.
I'm going to, this is happening.
Yes. So also as part of your big appearances on podcasts lately, you were on the first episode of season five of the Esna Hall of Fame in our draft.
So you were one of the drafters. It was me, you, and Matt Ardill, and you chose today's topic, tear and kill them.
So just in general because we're going to kind of deep dive into some of his sketches and work just in general what was it about Taron that compelled you to want to choose him and talkabout him oh that's a great question I will say I read a lot of comments on so many of the videos that I've re-watched and I gotta tell you I don't think I saw a single negative one everyoneEveryone said, overlooked, stellar member of the cast, and Lorne did him dirty.
Lorne did him dirty. We need closure. I know.
We really need closure. He, gosh, he's just so consistently funny and the kind of person that I'd want to hang out with.
I'd want to hang out with him and just laugh and do silly characters.
[11:45] And that's probably part of the reason, although I'd probably say that about people like Bowen too. But special place in my heart.
[11:51] And I think most, apparently all, according to the comments, people would agree with me.
Yeah, Terran comes across as a big old ball of sunshine.
Yeah. I think that's something that came to my mind. He just pops off screen.
He just fills the room with joy.
Even when he's playing almost an unlikable character, it's fantastic.
And he's likable in the process. Yeah, and all chips on the table.
Like, no ego, just attacks each character, which I admire and enjoy so much.
And Kirsten, as far as SNL cast members, a few different categories come to my mind.
So you have cast members who are unquestioned stars that hit in the mainstream.
Mainstream so like your will ferrells your eddie murphy's like those are unquestioned mainstream stars that hit on the show and had a wider reach then you have cast members who arejust not cut out for the show don't want to name specific names but we can think about snl history we know who a lot of those people are you see them they're okay but maybe not totallymade for the show then you have cast members who are obviously very good obviously made for the show but slip through the cracks just a little bit.
[13:15] So I think Taron probably falls into that last category.
Clearly made for the show, but kind of like went under the radar.
So why do you think that happens, Kirsten? Like a cast member can be made for the show, but not 100% hit like on a mass like populist level.
Oh, I wish I knew I would just become an agent in Hollywood.
I think he's got a little bit of so many things.
He's got a character actor sensibility.
He can play the, you know, Prince Charming type role physically.
And then there are some sketches like Overly Protective Brother where there's some Farley characters.
[14:00] So he almost had a little bit of everything, and maybe that was working against him.
[14:09] You would think it would work for him, that they could just, you know, great, bring him in, bring him in, bring him in.
And perhaps the other folks that leaned into those lanes, you know, Chris Farley doing his kind of boisterous, over-the-top, yelling, aggressive, high volume.
And then you've got Sudeikis who really leans into like the smarmy dad or co-worker boyfriend and they really raced hard against those things and he was like I'll do all of them so youknow Jack of all trades master of none is all I can figure no I think that's a really good point I think he didn't have the one thing to latch on to I think you're right he was willing willing todo everything, was capable of playing anything and doing anything on screen.
And you're right, as far as mainstream appeal, SNL nerds watched Taran Killam and knew what we were seeing.
We were seeing a person made for the show who was great at sketch comedy, but I guess he didn't have the recurring character, though I would argue at least one or two of his charactersprobably should be more well-known on the mainstream level.
But you're right, Jack of all trades. I would say master of them, but maybe that wasn't the perception of the quote-unquote average fan or the people who aren't SNL. Not in a Hollywoodway. Yeah, exactly.
[15:33] But we are here to appreciate Taron Killam. We know SNL fans do, and we appreciate him.
So Kirsten, I want you to get this going.
We're going to talk about some sketches. What sketch or character do you want to start with with Taron Killam?
Well, there are some I know we're going to cover them all. But one of my favorites, it may have been one where he really landed my consciousness was Les Jeunes de Paris, the youth ofParis.
And this happened a few times, I think the ones with Emma Stone, really, you know, that was my, the top.
Pop they're a bunch of you know teenage kind of cool parisian kids with their parisian style hanging around a jukebox there's some flirting going on and then this really fun poppy songwhich by the way i shazammed and then put on my spotify and have listened to because it's so fun i think taryn or somebody heard it at a starbucks or something really one time and waskind of like that's where it came from that's a cool groove yeah and then they just do this kind of incredibly.
[16:47] Wacky dance at certain parts of the song and then switch back to playing it cool love love.
[17:05] One of the sketches that I would have loved to have been in as one of those dancers.
Yeah, that looks so much fun. And by the way, my French teacher wife would say magnifique on your pronunciation of Le Jeune de Paris.
Well, you know I'm in Canada, right? Yeah, that's true. You have a leg up.
Yeah, I should. Just a little leg up. But thanks.
No, I'm taking away the compliment. Ah! No, so this was great.
Like kind of an out there concept.
Concept like there it's like almost a parody of like a stereotypical view on like the youth of paris or whatever like so so funny out there concept taryn is such a good physical performer andi think that's going to be a common thread in a lot of the stuff that we talk about is just how he contorts his body the facial expressions after the the look on his face after he gets slappedand he's had kind of the self-pleased look on his face and just such a great physical performer, Kirsten.
I agree. I have some key themes, the physicality of his performance and also very much a vocal performer using Thrall's impressions, kind of volume, tone, cadence, and then face pulling.
He really is in control of.
[18:27] His being and brings all of it. You know, there are some recent episodes of the show where we've had guest stars and such on, and you can see a difference when they're showing upand they are there on their looks alone or their attractiveness or something.
And this is someone who will do anything for the role, pull faces yell and scream as you say twist and contort and I think the fans appreciate when someone really just dives in like thatyeah when I was talking about that the different categories of cast members when I said cast members who are just maybe not cut out for the show that's one of the huge things that sticksout is I almost they they almost have nervous energy on screen and And then I feel sorry for them. They're self-conscious.
Self-conscious, yeah. And I don't want my SNL cast member to be self-conscious.
I don't want to sit there and feel bad for the person on the screen.
With Taryn, that was anything but. He had complete control of his performance.
If he was nervous, which he probably was, especially at the beginning.
Dana Carvey said he was nervous after his five years on the show.
So I'm sure Taryn was nervous, but it did not show. So he was in complete control in his performances.
[19:53] You know where you see that a lot is when a sketch has physical demands for the character.
And I'm thinking of the Maryville brothers.
[20:07] Because a sketch like that requires a very specific type of movement.
They're animatronic characters on this kind of carnival ride.
So in addition to having to use his face and his body in a way, there's a very specific type of movement that him and the Maryville brothers are making.
So I think it's a really, it's a perfect example of someone who can match the movement with the facial expression and that kind of what that character is, which is this, I mean, he almostlooks like slack in his face.
Right, right. And he just does those movements so well, it's hilarious.
But Maryville Brothers, to me, is another one where it's, I actually don't know if he wrote that, but someone had to have created that with him in mind.
That's such a perfect example.
It was almost a way to show off Taron's ability.
Also, Bill Hader was very good in those. Bill Hader's another one who can, yeah, play in the triangle.
He's another one who can do his body like that. When they got the perfect host who can sort of match Taron and whoever else was in that sketch. He did this three times.
Jim Carrey, Justin Timberlake. Surprisingly, Bruno Mars was pretty adept.
Well, maybe not surprisingly because he's a dancer.
So that's like a movement kind of thing. But this is almost like a way for Taron to show off.
[21:36] He's such a good physical performer. He must have gotten A-plus in a movement class.
I'm sure he could teach a movement class at university. He's a musical theater kid, so not that that means everyone excels in movement, but more so than the average person.
But yeah, it was a showcase for him, for sure. My eyes were always drawn to him in that role.
I actually had forgotten that Jim Carrey and Justin Timberlake did it, because I really only think of Taron and then, yeah, Bill Hader with the ding.
[22:07] But Jim Jim Carrey was also like they're also fantastic but it's his show for sure no definitely he's kind of the common thread in those Maryville sketches there's another one towardthe like later in Terran's tenure I don't know if you got a chance to watch this or remember this it's called Undersea Hotel it's the one Peter Dinklage hosted it's another great example ofhow great Terran is it's just odd movements because he plays Terran plays a dead body who's supposed to be floating underwater and the way he's moving his body is absolutely hilariousdo you remember this one yes and i in my recollection thought he must have been dangling he wasn't no he was just you know standing but able to kind of float and kind of bob in thisfake water scene, And it truly looked like he was underwater and or suspended and kind of just, you know, being kind of swung around.
And then he gets hit with the pool cleaner and then he gets brushed up and his face is against the window.
[23:17] And then the eel is eating him. I mean, yes, top marks.
[23:22] The whole sketch really hinged on the believability of him as this kind of dead body floating.
And i don't think anyone else could have done that no not not on that cast i don't think when uh sesley's looking at him as the dead body and she's like is he following me yeah and yeahand taryn of course is like matching sesley's movements and and everything like that jay farrow ended up in the water too but he was on string so see he was on some sort of umsuspension thing but but taryn was on on the bottom of the screen so he was able to manipulate his legs and body that like that that one just totally sticks out like classic Taron Killam andhis movements I'm glad you remember that one that's what that's definitely one that stuck out to me as far as like later Taron that was that was a real big highlight for me yep if peoplehave not seen that one recently go re-watch it and remark at his ability to look like he's floating when he's not floating yeah yeah it's fantastic um there's uh well i don't know what else doyou have on your list to celebrate terror and kill him oh well one that i really enjoyed it was hypnotist oh so in this one we've got joseph gordon levitt he's playing tommy bergamo he's uhuh you know one of those It's like a cruise ship or a hypnotist.
[24:50] Like a Vegas nightclub. Yeah, yeah, kind of really corny.
And there is Taron and Vanessa's wife.
He's got his Tommy Bahama button down and a little mustache.
He's on vacation and he's playing Curtis and Curtis can't be hypnotized.
Um so as joseph gordon levitt or as tommy as he you know hypnotizes him he always is conveniently looking away when it gets so it gives curtis turning character the chance to interactwith the in sketch audience you know like wink wink nudge nudge i'm not hypnotized and he's he's mouthing these words i'm not hypnotized i'm not i'm not and he's giggling and he'sknown as a ham like that's the premise as he goes up there and you think oh what's gonna happen to this guy who's a ham and he's really cocky and is he gonna end up acting like an idiotno no he he sets up this whole thing where he's playing along but he is having so much fun being a goof and.
[25:53] I, it was very believable. Um, but I, yeah, I, I just thought it was so funny.
I don't know what even to say about it. I just made me happy.
Again, one of those things just made me happy.
Yeah. Taryn, I loved his facial expressions in this.
Like when he's, he's so, he's so pleased with himself when he's mouthing to the audience, I'm not hypnotized and he's kind of chuckling.
And then, uh, he's just such so good at facial expressions and the there's escalation.
So we, a lot of times when we talk about sketches and maybe, you know, what sketch worked and what What didn't we talk about?
There's no escalation, but in this sketch, there was escalation.
He stripped down to his tidy whiteys.
Oh yeah. And was walking around.
Yeah. Walking around in his tidy whiteys, pretending to be a dinosaur, humping Keenan, humping people.
He, Taron threw himself. All for the joke. Into this. Yeah.
Yeah. Joseph Gordon Levitt was the hypnotist. He did a great job.
Vanessa bear played his wife. Just a, this was from season 38.
Almost like a lost era of SNL. It was a transition era of SNL after Kristen Wiig and those people and before a lot of the political stuff took hold, before Kate and Cecily and 80 really tookhold in the show.
There was a little transition period and a sketch like this tends to get lost, but this is such a great highlight.
[27:20] You know what else I enjoyed about it is that it ended really well because that is often something I'll complain about, that the sketches don't always have a really nice bow on top.
And in this one, they create an entire scenario where he apparently, under hypnosis, admits that he's cheating on his wife and Vanessa Bayer plays along.
Curtis, when I snap my fingers, you will reveal your darkest secret.
I'm cheating on my wife with her sister.
Uh, no. No, no, Cherie. He told me to say that I was hypnotized.
That's part of the show. Tell him.
Well, happy birthday to me!
Oh, Cherie! Oh, God, you ruined my life! Why? Why?
This is unfortunate, but as you can see, I did, in fact, hypnotize Curtis.
Oh, she's so shocked, and then you see her pop out on stage, and she's clearly, ha-ha, I'm not hypnotized. I'm joking, too. I'm in on it.
So I really liked how that one ended.
You know, there is a great example that I have of facial expression.
[28:25] And this was a sketch called Brother to Brother with Chris Hemsworth.
Okay. Remember this one? So it's treated as like a really, really stereotypical 90s kind of teen sitcom.
And you've got Maddie and Markie and they're twins or brothers.
I don't know if they're actually twins, but brothers. and all the delivery of the lines is in that like, come on brother, time for school.
Like just corny, corny teen stuff or tween even.
And the premise here is that.
[28:57] Chris Hemsworth is bad at math, so Marky is going to go and pretend to be him and take his math test.
He goes in the class. The teacher and all the students clearly recognize that they're very different looking.
[29:12] It's Chris Hemsworth. Yeah, you think about Chris Hemsworth and Taron Killam.
No offense to Taron Killam, but you know. Yeah.
[29:17] And then Cecily, who's the teacher, and the students in the class will not stop making comments about why the two look different and it's very complimentary of chris hemsworthand his physical attributes and obviously not for taryn and he's just looking at the camera while they insult him making so many funny faces like okay yeah that's enough yep yep nogotcha all right cool yep no you figured me out and they won't stop and i don't know if i could stare at a camera and make enough of the faces that he did he had so many that he keptpulling out it was hilarious yeah he could contort his face as well as contort his body it's just such like like i mentioned movement class but he must have the stuff you'd learn in like clownschool and stuff that's like a clowning kind of thing like uh that's such talent not and that that's kind of a rare thing for snl cast members to be able to adequately adequately do that's whypeople who can do that type of movement really stick out to me yep i want to bring up i think this is a good part of the show to bring up uh maybe my favorite recurring character of his,and probably a lot of people's.
It's Jebediah Atkinson, his Weekend Update character.
[30:44] Annie! Oh, great, a needy ginger who breaks into song every five seconds.
Sing as loud as you want, honey. Your parents ain't coming back.
[30:54] Next! Ugh, don't even get me started on cats.
I've seen a less depressing show featuring 100 cats. It's called Hoarders.
You know what that play needed? A first act visit from feline AIDS.
Cats don't care about you. All right.
Okay. Kirsten, tell me in this research you dove into Jebediah Atkinson.
I actually saved it for last because I needed that to be the wonderful dessert.
What an incredible character. And he came back six times, four times in one season.
So Jebediah, our 1860s newspaper critic, the jokes are amazing.
[31:45] But what I especially love about this is oftentimes, Michael Che does this a lot, is when there is a joke that causes groans, is they try to win the audience back over.
You know, they kind of, oh, you know, Jebediah gives zero Fs. He doubles down.
He doesn't give an inch. Like, it's unapologetic. he says the craziest things and he his character does not care if anyone is insulted it is what makes for such a funny funny character andthen he mocks them back at their groaning and he insults them like i yes what have we got here he says they were such such pussies about that cat joke.
The audience went full bitch after the Snoopy joke.
[32:41] Oh my gosh. I think at least two or three times in different Jebediah appearances, he said that the audience went full bitch on something.
Yeah. Audience were such bitches. Yeah.
You know, what's funny too is in this, this character ad-libbed a few times.
There were a few times when clearly he went a little bit off script, but he was able to improvise so well in character that I think he became more beloved because of it yeah there was like aflub that he had when cecily was an anchor did you like any of this year's nominees i haven't liked any tommy i haven't liked any tony nomination ever i got big beef with tommy a bullyand tommy you know who you are.
[33:32] But the tony cecily, she kind of laughed and he's like tommy so he made up this backstory on the spot about how tommy used to bully him or something and and then he got rightback into the character like that's such a great job of taryn like thinking on his feet.
[33:50] Absolutely. And if you can draw your eyes away from him and check out Seth in the time that he was talking about Frosty the Snowman and Charlie Brown Special and such.
[34:02] Seth is captivated by him, I'll say.
So watch it back and again you'll usually want to watch Jebediah but Seth has turned to him and he's just delighted and giggling and so captivated by this performance like it's like he's justwatching a master class himself and you know kind of got out of his his own weekend update hosting character and was just facing him as an audience member also so I thought that waswas really fun because you know making one of your colleagues laugh like that to us always feels like the epitome of nailing it um yeah i think delighted is a great yeah delighted is agreat uh word for it seth looks so delighted and i like that this character were to cross update eras too so he started with seth and then he you could see appearances with jost and cecily andthen he even appeared with Jost and Che he was on there with Michael Che so this character spanned like three different update eras and it worked every time that this was so beloved I Ican't believe he only did it six times but I think that's probably for the best I think you know ration it out a little bit make people want it you know and uh yeah the way he would toss thecards Oh my gosh. Next.
[35:26] I will say out of six times though, it was strong every time.
[35:32] Because often we think, oh, you guys, just cool it with this one.
No, the joke writing was incredible.
You dropped a real Lincoln log when he made a joke.
I don't know who it was about. Someone, I mean, this is like a death that occurred a century ago.
Oh, too soon. Yeah, I think it was Lincoln.
Was it? Yeah. And then Jesus. Yeah, nice fan base. You've got a leper on one side and a prostitute on the other.
And then we, you know, oh, mountaintop fish on a hot day. Like, just the most sarcastic awesomeness.
Yeah. When I... A big topic amongst SNL fans a lot of times is, oh, this cast member's not getting screen time, or they're not being used right.
I always say, they need to look at the update desk.
They need to write update pieces for themselves and try to get on the update desk. Taryn did it right here.
[36:26] Kirsten, I think this is like a template for what an update character should be.
Like this is one of the perfect update, like Jebediah Atkinson, Stefan, there's like a handful of update characters over the years that just really stick out.
And Jebediah is one of them. This is like a classic, like, if I taught a class on SNL and how to do well on SNL, I would show this character say this is what you got to do to make it onupdate. I agree.
I agree. Commit so fully, embody that character through and through so that you can improvise in character that easily.
Oh, yeah. I mean, Jebediah. Is this the best thing Taron did possibly on SNL?
[37:14] Ooh, you know, it could be.
I kind of think looking back, he had a lot of strong work, but Jebediah kind of think it's his thing.
It's what he might be remembered for. And that's a great, like, if an SNL cast member, if their best thing was Jebediah Atkinson on Weekend Update, that's a heck of a career. You didgood.
Yes, if I think of, let's say, you know, we're coming up on the 50th, of all of his work, Jebediah should be in the highlight reel.
Or I'd want Jebediah. I'd want Taryn to come back and do Jebediah like on the 50th celebration, Jo.
Well, say that out loud a few more times. Let's manifest that shit. Yeah.
[37:59] That has to happen and i will tell you this that would give me a little bit of the closure that i need due to his departure oh i know yeah we could talk about that at the end but i knowi i totally feel you but i i would just love to see him egg on all the celebrities that are in the crowd may make jokes about people in the crowd and say oh oh like in a classic jebediah sort ofway i would That's right. That's right.
Well, here's the thing. He also played your more conventional roles.
[38:30] So I'm thinking of Blazer, which is, you know, your kind of retro cop show detective, you know, sliding across the hoods of cars, getting the bad guys, always the shot of likeleaping from one building to the next.
Context every trope from those detective sitcom shows his being named blazer he's tough he's cool he's blazer he runs he punches but it turns out that he's racist yeah and this one also hada great ending where you zoom out and you realize he's watching that footage on a small screen in his boss the police chief's office and getting you know in trouble so you see why i gottafire you right blazer because i only beat up black guys yeah because you only beat up black guys because my partner filmed everything with his body cam yeah also because i edited it alltogether and added music and put it up on youtube yeah all that yeah well had a good run while it lasted didn't we, Chief?
We sure did. We sure did.
[39:53] And then, We see them high five about the good old days.
We zoom out from that and it's the footage of the police chief getting in trouble by the commissioner because he's done the same thing.
So a really fun way for us to resolve that and make it not just be about only the character, but some fun storytelling tricks along the way when it came to the pre-tape.
Yeah, that happened at the end of season 40. and that was such a perfect premise uh yeah the fact that this uh stereotypical detective don blazer he's this badass and he's punching but thenof course like as an audience member starts becoming clear when you're watching like he's only punching black guys like what's going on and then the fact that they call it out and it's likekind of gets meta and that yeah that that's that's one from season 40 that that possibly gets lost too but that's just uh one of my favorites And just the affectation that Taron can put on hisvoice, the kind of airhead-y, but want to be badass kind of guy.
I love that affectation. He did that, too, when he played Brad Pitt.
[41:07] Yes. He kind of put on a similar sort of affectation. He debuted.
It was kind of an odd debut. He debuted Brad Pitt on Weekend Update doing the weather, which was kind of interesting. but there was a four-part runner Kirsten in the Bruno Marsepisode.
I don't know if you remember this or were able to re-watch these. Is this the cologne?
Oh, yeah, the cologne, Taco Bell.
You've been running all day.
[41:33] Sometimes it feels like you've been running your entire life through a vast, hot, sandy desert with lots and lots of dry, hot sand.
[41:44] And then finally, you cross it.
The border. You're at Taco Bell with the new Doritos Taco Loco.
It's like pouring a bunch of loose meat and cheese into a bag of Doritos, which, by the way, is a great way to make a quick meal when you have between 8 and 20 children.
[42:06] Franklin's dog condoms, some random dermatologists, like these were just brilliant.
And it's not often we get a four-part runner in a show, But they obviously trusted Taron and loved this Brad Pitt impression.
Yep, yep. Well, speaking of him kind of looking, I don't know, did you say like kind of dumb? A little bit.
Big Joe is the epitome of that. Big Joe can't do it.
This character is kind of like an early Hodor of sorts, like the farm version of Hodor.
He's got, you know, he's really pumped up. He clearly looks ridiculously and over the top muscular. and Bobby Moynihan's character.
This is back in like Prairie Days, I think.
And Bobby's under a pile of rocks and all the townspeople gather around and they're in little pioneer outfits.
But there's Big Joe and you think, look at this big giant muscle guy.
He's going to lift the rocks.
Hang in there, Daniel. Joe's going to save you. All right, now.
Everybody stand back.
Here it goes.
[43:15] I can't do it. What? Are you sure? Can't be done.
You didn't try for very long. He gonna die. I don't wanna die.
We won't let you, Daniel. Let me give him a try. Ain't no use.
Big Joe can't do that. I got it. All right, well, that's good.
He got little rocks. Come on, keep on going.
He already knew. As it turns out, the rocks are not even that heavy.
And one of my favorite things is, um i don't remember who it was but they kind of pick it up and they skip off with it he's like oh he's skipping like they're all actually not that heavythey're kind of light and then you know there's a fun element where he's trying to pick up one very heavy one because his manly hood or his manhood is challenged by another suitor forour female character and then we see like night day night day night day and he's clearly still trying to lift this rock but no he just can't do it yeah that's a that's great delivery by taryn aswell that's like what a good actor he is yeah right there that's a good example yeah that was a fun one his his not intelligent face his big old oaf yeah face yeah exactly we saw it in that andbrad pitt i guess i guess by By extension, I'm calling Brad Pitt like a non-intelligent, even though he is.
They're making fun of that for sure. For sure.
[44:43] Taron can play weird too. And he does really well in very bizarre, weird sketches.
That's kind of what you were talking about was he can do a lot.
Whatever they needed him to do, he could do it.
And one of the more bizarre sketches from that era is when Anne Hathaway hosted. and it was an earworm.
The song's in my head right now is because I'm about to talk about it.
It was the legend of Mokiki and the Sloppy Swish. Mokiki does the sloppy swish.
[45:41] That's such a bizarre sketch that Taryn and Kenan, both of them just do so well in this.
This is a pretty famous sketch, this pre-tape. It's one of those if you know, you knows.
It must have been dreamed up at five in the morning.
And I often wonder if someone just put on that outfit, like if he just put on that outfit and you know that's kind of because i think he said the dance is what's you know the idea that like adance kind of you do something silly and sometimes that turns into a dance craze.
[46:17] But that outfit also seemed like the kind of thing you might wear around your house between the holidays when you've been inside for so long and you're just walking the dog like itwas very strange one of the things i loved about it is they clearly film him doing this dance irl on the the streets of new york and random tourists and citizens of new york join him yeahand you can tell that it's you know he just showed up guerrilla style and just started doing this dance and then you know watch what happens it's a really funny one and it is weird as allweird could be it's so strange it's almost like they thought of the dance they knew taryn the way he he his physicality that he could do that dance and make it hilarious and it almost seemslike at the last second they had to come up with like a backstory for right and why he was like that so like he was a normal guy who had experiments done on him and now he has thisdance and spits venom and all this but at the last second it almost is like oh we actually got to explain this maybe put that in the song i don't know what's happening here well otherwise hejust looks like he could be you know homeless.
[47:29] Or an unfortunate circumstances but they're like no this was there was some shit that happened to him yeah and the song too like it reminds me so much of a manu chow song so ittakes me back to this time when i would listen to that and yeah there's a lot of memories that you say that i thought of manu chow immediately too yeah i didn't think anybody else wouldunderstand that yeah i got you yeah you my wife my wife's a manu chow fan so yeah these are a few people in the right back to listening to that yeah absolutely that's a total manu chowsounding song yeah and a very memorable perhaps along with jebediah atkinson mokiki and the sloppy swish might be.
[48:09] What Taron Killam, what a lot of fans know Taron for. Yes.
Like if we had a video play next to his Hall of Fame bust, this would be like the second or third thing I think that plays.
I agree. I agree. You know, SNL will do weird things and this one was an instance where it just landed. Like it absolutely landed.
So strange. And the fact that, you know, you've got this beautiful woman who also gets ugly and starts doing the dance in those horrible sandals.
Yeah. With a weird outfit.
Yeah. They also gave Taron, like, political impressions.
He did Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio one time, Ted Cruz seven times toward the end of his tenure. years.
So if they needed him, Taron was there to pitch in with Mitt Romney's son.
I remember him appearing at one point.
So Taron was always a good sketch player and team player in that regard.
But he did great impressions too. Some of those guys that were more, I don't know, they don't have as many things you can grab onto in terms of an impression. Impression.
But then his Matthew McConaughey.
[49:31] Wow. So good. So, so good.
My favorite was the one with the real Woody Harrelson.
Oh, that's nice of you, Colin. We always knew it was going to be a one and done situation. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Can't go on and on till the break of dawn.
Because we are creatures of the night. Vampires.
Blood suckers. When the cock crows, dust in the wind.
[50:08] I couldn't have said that better myself, Matthew. I don't think anyone could have said it like that.
He's cracking Woody up. And they're talking about True Detective and, again, great writing.
I need to look up who wrote that. That fantastic writing, fantastic, again, movement and impersonation of all of the kind of quirky McConaughey-isms.
And Woody's trying to contain himself because he knows.
That was a great impression. I think that was like season 39 or something.
One of Woody's hosting appearances. They were, uh, Taron is Matthew McConaughey.
McConaughey was able to harness the stoner kind of thing and, uh, out dual Woody, I guess in that regard.
A lot of people can do McConaughey with the all right, all right, all right, and that's where it stops.
But he delivered an entire update piece fully in character, maintaining that unique McConaughey vernacular and delivery style.
Yeah, yeah. His Michael Cera was really good, too. Oh, it was so funny.
Just a squirrely little, yeah.
Yeah, squirrely is a great word.
[51:24] He was a squirrely little weenus. yeah he was do michael cera's fantastic but he was he looked even squirrelier in this impression and yes he was making appearances on the beingquirky with uh zoe de chanel fully friend zoned it felt like just in the kitchen doing little thingies and uh his voice in his face the little like that cute little up talk oh my gosh yeah goodimpression don't you just want to hang out out with him i just want to hang out with him and just do silly things and characters and make dumb dances and mokiki version two yeah heseems very well liked by his former castmates i know um that he and vanessa bear are still really tied i listened to vanessa bear's podcast with her brother and taryn's been on he does like alittle production elements he voices different types of production elements for her podcast i know he keeps in touch with a lot of his former castmates they probably really appreciate himappreciated working with him he seemed like a very giving scene partner very easy person to work with yep i agree it's that total commitment when.
[52:35] There are there are always going to be instances where a sketch is not landing the way that that everyone wanted it to.
And you either resign yourself to it and just, you know, stay on the track or you, you lean in even further and just try to push something out of it. And he is that guy.
And I think that's what makes him such a formidable scene partner is there's a level of trust that I will hold onto this no matter what happens.
We're going big or going home. So So the improv background suits him well, musical theater suits him well.
He's one of only two people who did Mad TV to SNL. Right. There's pedigree there.
And so through training and also just obviously the type of character traits and personality he has, you can see why...
[53:33] He really elevated a lot of sketches, but didn't take over, which to his detriment almost gave room for other people to become more memorable.
[53:42] But, you know, here we are on this show talking about why he's fantastic.
So we do, we recognize him. Absolutely.
[53:50] So as far as his departure from SNL, officially on the books, was it a firing officially?
It sounds like it probably was. Yeah, as far as I know, because I also did more research, he and Jay Pharoah were fired.
Yes, their contract was not renewed at the same time.
He on one podcast that i just listened to he alluded to the fact that you know snl really is a young person's game and and there was a period of time when you know you could dedicateeverything in your being to you know being there for it and he had become engaged and he had a child and they he was commuting back and forth from new york to la and it becameharder to give it all of the extracurricular time that is part of the community culture building that happens there, and he said he was not surprised he wasn't blindsided by the fact that hewas fired he I think he he thought it might be another year but he also said because the host said you know did Lauren call you and he's like no no and he said it could have been handledbetter those are my words not his but essentially it could have been handled better and it was a little messy so I I think there's some stuff to clean up, but he's got to be involved in the 50th.
I think people would revolt if he wasn't.
[55:16] Yeah. I would. Oh, no, I definitely agree. And people have to remember, too, that Adam Sandler was fired. Chris Farley was fired.
Norm MacDonald was fired. So that doesn't mean anything.
You're in good company still. Yeah, yeah. Although he hasn't been asked back to host, but.
Yeah. Well, I don't know because he does a lot of guest spots on a lot of different shows.
[55:39] He was in Single Parents. He did 45 episodes of Single Parents from 2018 to 2020.
I watched a lot of that show. My wife and I would put that on because I would point.
I'd be like the Leo meme pointing at the TV. Oh, there's Taron Killam and be excited that he was on screen. Did you ever catch Single Parents?
No, I didn't watch it. He was good in it. It was just like a standard kind of goofy sitcom or whatever.
But I like that Taron was given a starring role.
Like, Taron was the star of this sitcom. But it's been four years. It was canceled in 2020.
Kirsten, like, what kind of show or even movie do you think would play into his strengths? It could maybe push him back into that starring role.
Maybe he could come back and host SNL if he was more of a starring role.
Like, what do you think would be a good vehicle for him?
This idea of a starring role is interesting because.
[56:34] I don't know that he's necessarily a leading man, so to speak.
He might be an ensemble person.
I see him more as ensemble.
[56:45] And showing up the way that Cecily and Vanessa do, where they have decent roles in movies as support cast, but they're very memorable because they give them a bit of an edgeand more than you'd expect from just, you know, so-and-so's co-worker.
Like that co-worker has a backstory.
Yeah you know all about it and they have you know they're a fully developed character so i think that's where someone like hey you know taryn and vanessa and all those folks reallyexcel yeah so he should be more yeah he could make the most of his screen time yeah it'd be super memorable into like a handful of scenes i think you're right i think that's that's hisdestiny he's definitely making a good post snl career he's he appears in a lot of things he's in hamilton now he's on broadway no he's he's a broadway actor he's doing really well forhimself i think it seems like i think he's pretty happy i i know i know he's no matter what he's in he's going to be fun to watch that that's a given i agree i agree so as far as snl and tarynkillam's legacy Like, what do you think his legacy on SNL is?
I would say his legacy will continue to grow because people are rediscovering clips, compilations of Jebediah.
[58:09] I think the comments, I echo so many of them that I saw that he was a little bit overlooked.
And, you know, in hindsight, should...
[58:21] Be more remembered and more celebrated.
And that's not due to any lack of performance ability on his part.
I don't know what kind of weird chemistry didn't result in this, like, you know, shooting off to Hollywood or being asked to host multiple times, but I think there's still time for some ofthat.
[58:42] So I think great character work, great team player, all in commitment.
Like, again, end, I just keep thinking of Vegas, push those chips all on the table. You are in.
I also think that, you know, there's, there's one fun moment that other people remember, even if you weren't a fan of the show.
And it was when he did the Robin video, 4.30 in the morning, we're clearly in one of the backstage kind of writing rooms and you get to see people just hanging out.
Clearly Clearly everyone's exhausted and tired, but man, did I want to be back there with them.
And it gave me a small window, a little peek into the BTS, the behind the scenes of being in the show and him just doing this dance and he's rolling around on the ground, perfectlymatching this Robin video.
And it's very memorable for people. So I think there's a video like that that went quite viral, I think, has over a million views as of a while back, shows that it wasn't just the characterwork, that it was also just him.
[59:56] It was also just him. He just seemed pretty awesome. And, you know, again, I want to see more of him.
I think a lot of people do because he's on screen.
And I say off screen. By that I mean the Robin thing is still technically on screen.
Just really gave you a peek into what kind of human he probably is.
And I hope he lives up to it if I ever meet him.
Track 2:
[1:00:36] So there's that. Thank you so much, Thomas. Thank you so much, Kirsten.
A bang-up job, as always, building a case for Taryn Killam to be elected to the SNL Hall of Fame.
Now, cast members typically have good luck in the voting.
Will Taryn Killam be a first ballot Hall of Famer?
Time will tell. hell did Kirsten and Thomas dig enough information out for you to help you make that decision again time will tell something else that might convince you is a bit of workfrom Mr.
Killam and we're going to go to that sketch right now it comes from Weekend Update his character Jebediah Atkinson atkinson easy for me to say and michael che is the person that he'sgoing to uh, have a conversation with so let's go to that sketch right now.
Track 5:
[1:01:40] New seasons of the critically acclaimed series mad men and the game of thrones will begin soon and many are saying we are in a golden age of television here with his reviews ofsome of these hit shows is a man who has been been around longer than TV itself, 1860s newspaper critic Jebediah Atkinson.
Thank you, Michael, for that enthusiastic introduction. So good to be back.
So Jebediah. Have you been keeping up with all these big TV shows?
Of course I have, Michael. Yeah.
And as always, I think you'll find my reviews to be perfectly moderate and totally rational.
You know, I was worried about that. All TV is excrement.
Mad men, the most likable character in this show is cigarettes.
Hey, AMC, if I wanted to know what life was like in the 1960s, I'd move to Indiana.
[1:02:51] I've been around a long time. It's never been a great state.
Game of thrones oh great a soft core porn with a hundred hours of backstory, at least in porn you know how it's gonna finish, oh and georgia r martin you better hurry up and write thosebooks because from the look of you winter is coming, and house of cards the only thing lazier than the writing is kevin spacey's attempt at a a southern accent.
And when he makes those turns to camera, I haven't witnessed shots that jarring since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Wait, Jebediah, you were at the event that started World War I.
Of course I was, Michael, but I prefer the sequel.
Come on, Jebed. Oh, what, World War II wasn't a better war?
That's pretty harsh, man. There must be some shows that you do like.
I haven't liked any television ever!
It's been 80 years of mind-poisoning refuse, and I've reviewed it all!
Here are a few from the archives.
[1:04:10] I'm listening. Thank you. Want your full attention, Michael.
The West Wing. The best lines on that show were the ones that went up Sorkin's nose. Next.
Good distance on that one. Cheers. Where everybody knows your name.
From the AA meetings. Next.
Oh, and Lost. Sure, it started out good, but I haven't seen a final season that bad since Joe Paterno's. Oh. Oh.
[1:04:49] If you don't like that joke, just do as Joe did and turn a blind eye.
Come on, you don't like anything on TV? What about, like, a classic comedy like Seinfeld? Ugh, Seinfeld.
I'd rather watch Michael Richards do stand-up at the Apollo.
That's right, I haven't forgiven him yet. Hey, Kramer, I can say an N-word, too. Next!
Keep that for a souvenir. Saturday Night Live.
The same tired characters repeating the same tired catchphrases. Next!
The Honeymooners. A gritty depiction of a bus driver from the slums who abuses his wife, it's a comedy?
And who's the genius who said, oh, this is great. Let's turn it into a cartoon, set it in the Stone Age when women had an even harder time.
[1:05:59] And now we come to the worst television show of all time. I love Lucy.
But I don't think I should do this joke after the audience rioted over the Paterno joke.
You know what? I don't think you should. Well, I'm going to, Michael!
It's my thing!
I love Lucy. Hey, Lucy, you got some splainin' to do, like why you'd stay married to a man who rafted over from Cuba just to crush your dreams.
They should've called this show I Love Lucy's Ability to Get Me a Green Car.
Track 2:
[1:06:44] Oh, man. What a great reoccurring character he had in Jebediah Atkinson.
I think, for my money, oh, gosh.
Top 10? Top 10 Weekend Update character? Is that fair to say?
And as somebody who is potentially a top 10 or arguably a top 10 guest on Weekend Update, does he not belong in the SNL Hall of Fame?
[1:07:14] That's a question for you to answer come May when voting opens, and it's going to be very exciting when voting opens.
We've got a lot of voters at this point, and all you need to do is cast your votes for 15 of the nominees that are on the ballot.
There'll be about 35, I would think, this year on the ballot.
And once you cast your vote, we tabulate them.
If you hit 66.7% of the vote, you are in the SNL Hall of Fame, joining a pretty prestigious list at this point, I would say. So there's that.
Next week on the podcast, we're really excited to invite Kalina Stakey, and she'll be talking about host Anne Hathaway. So that should be another great episode.
Ms. Hathaway was always somebody who delivered when she hosted SNL.
And we'll see if Kalina can put together an argument that will get her inside the prestigious Hall of Fame.
That's what I've got for you this week.
Thank you so much for coming out. We really appreciate you downloading, sharing, rating, reviewing this podcast.
You're wonderful, so there's that.
[1:08:39] Now, if you would do me a favor, and on the way out, as you pass the weekend update exhibit, turn out the lights, because the SNL Hall of Fame is now closed.
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