Adam Sandler's tenure on Saturday Night Live was cut short in 1995. Even though right now he has established his career as a comedy icon, featuring in various Hollywood productions, there was a time when NBC did not want him on their show.
SNL has proved to be a pivotal force in shaping the careers of various comedians, and Adam Sandler was no exception to the same.
He had joined Saturday Night Live as a writer in the 1990s but was soon promoted to a cast member. He was cast by Lorne Michaels on Dennis Miller's suggestion.
The time when Adam was on the show along with his fellow stars such as Chris Rock and Chris Farley among others, the viewers fubbed the group as "The Bad Boys of SNL."
As for Adam, he is remembered for doing humorous musical skits and Thanksgiving and Hanukkah songs, and appearing as the weekend update host named Opera Man.
But soon, his tenure was cut short, even though Adam claimed he loved his job a lot. It was because the new executives at NBC were not very fond of his work and said they were "tired" of his work. He and Chris Farley were thus fired, and reminiscing about that time, Adam told The Hollywood Reporter,
"It was kind of like them asking us to quit. There were new people at the network, and apparently, they didn't like me and Chris, so they kind of said goodbye to us in a nice way. Lorne was great to us, he wanted to protect us."
Adam Sandler's career after being fired from Saturday Night Live
Despite being fired from Saturday Night Live, which felt like a huge defeat at the time, Adam did not let it dishearten him. He started accepting comedy movie roles and soon, in 1995, starred in the lead role for the first time in a movie called Billy Madison.
Contracts started rolling in for him as the former Saturday Night Live star started touching new heights in his career in Hollywood. After 4 years of being fired, Adam decided to establish his own production company called Happy Madison Productions. The name is derived from his first two films, Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore.
The real reason for his exit from the SNL boils down to the executives not being fond of him, as he claims. Despite that, Lorne Michaels and he were on good terms, and Adam even said that the showrunner was trying to "protect" him from getting fired.
As for his SNL castmate Chris Farley, he passed away in 1997 due to an overdose. It was after the release of his film Tommy Boy. Adam Sandler, in 100% Fresh, the comedic special which he released in 2018 on Netflix, paid tribute to his friend Farley and remembered the times that they shared together on Saturday Night Live.
It was a full circle moment when Adam came back to host Saturday Night Live in 2019 and disclosed the story of being fired by NBC in the 90s via song. Even Chris Rock, his fellow cast member from the Bad Boys Club, joined him for a cameo.
Recently, on season 50, he starred on Saturday Night Live once again and sang a song about the show being on NBC for 50 years.
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Saturday Night Live airs on NBC, and the latest episodes are all available to stream online on Peacock.
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