SNL alums on their favorite hosts and sketches, worst auditions, and the show's future

Maya Rudolph didn't totally know what she was walking into when she agreed to appear on the most recent season finale of Saturday Night Live, during friend Natasha Lyonnne's opening monologue — an episode that turned out to be the last for series stars Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, and Kyle Mooney.

"I didn't know who was leaving until we got there. It was nice to know what that experience is like and understand that everyone is going through that for themselves and give them that space. It felt like we were walking into something very delicate, and I wanted everybody to be able to have their moment," Rudolph, who was on the variety sketch series from 2000-2007, explains on EW's virtual Awardist roundtable with fellow SNL alums Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Martin Short, and McKinnon, all Emmy nominees this year. "This was a cast that had gone through doing a remote show [during the pandemic], and that had never been done on that show before. So I think it's a very interesting time in life anyway, and then you're leaving something that [Kate has] been at for, what, at least 10 years or something — it's a huge chunk of your life. So I just felt like I was a spectator watching something very important and very moving."

McKinnon describes the immediate minutes following her opening sketch — where her recurring character Ms. Rafferty has her final close encounter and bids earth, a.k.a. the audience and her SNL family, farewell as she boards the alien spaceship — as "sad." "I'm still sad, and I'm also proud and happy," McKinnon says. "I still remember when I was 12 watching SNL and being like, 'Oh my God, I want to be on it so bad.' And then to be saying goodbye to it after 10 years was so surreal and it was overwhelming. It's still fresh."

Will Heath/NBC Kate McKinnon takes her final bow on 'Saturday Night Live.'

For her final season on the show, McKinnon is nominated for supporting actress in a comedy — her ninth in a category which she has won twice before. She's in good company here with her fellow SNL vets, all previous winners and nominees again this year: Meyers for variety talk series for Late Night With Seth Meyers and for that show's digital series; Poehler as host alongside Nick Offerman of their competition series Making It, and another two as director and executive producer of the documentary Lucy and Desi; Rudolph for her character voice-over work on Big Mouth, for which she's won the past two years; and Short for lead actor in a comedy and as an executive producer on Only Murders in the Building.

Over the next 45 minutes or so, the five — as one would expect — elicit a lot of laughs from each other, especially as they share their worst audition stories and what they learned from those experiences, and as they look back on their own memories from the NBC sketch-comedy series and ponder whether the show should continue after Lorne Michaels' rumored retirement in a few years or end when he leaves.

Read on for some highlights from the alum roundtable, and watch the full video above, plus listen to our interview with Kenan Thompson in the most recent episode of EW's The Awardist podcast below.

TOP: Rob Kim/Getty; Paul Morigi/Getty; Todd Owyoung/NBC/Getty; BOT: NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty; Rich Fury/Getty; Jon Kopaloff/Getty

Hosts who surprised them

Rudolph: I'm personally a huge fan of professional athletes. Derek Jeter comes to mind instantly as just like... What a delight. This guy just dove in, just walked right into it. Because my personal theory is professional athletes, their bodies are so trained that they have such an amazing calm. They know how to perform and they have no problem admitting that they are not actors, the majority of them. I'm being general. And Derek Jeter was a great example of just. There was just a humility of like, "Yeah, this isn't what I normally do," and it was delightful. I enjoy that. I also enjoyed Snoop Dogg quite a bit for that reason.

Poehler: He was delightful.

Meyers: I loved Jon Hamm the first time he hosted. I feel like I associated him way too much with Don Draper and didn't realize that he was way closer to one of us than one of them. The first time he hosted I think was when Amy was very pregnant.

Poehler: That's right. That was a really special show because Seth did Weekend Update for the first time by himself and then Maya and Kenan sang a song to me while I was in the hospital holding my newborn son sobbing. It was really amazing.

Short: You should see the list of my year. Jesus. It was slim pickings, I'll tell you that much. We had Jesse Jackson. That was interesting.

McKinnon: He didn't host, but seeing Paul McCartney play 10 feet from my body was... The Beatles were gods in my house, and being in a room where Paul McCartney then was and then getting to say hello to him is so surreal. That's the magic of SNL, baby. That's why it's so special.

Short: Hey, I just remembered Ringo Starr hosted when I was on, and he was fabulous. I forgot. That was intimidating because the same thing you're saying, Kate. It was the first Beatle I'd ever met and it was like, "This is insane."

Favorite sketches featuring each other

Short: I loved the sketch, it was right after the second inaugural of George W. [Bush], and Amy played the Bush twins in a bedroom. And the premise was, "Laura, are you awake?" "Yes." "Do you think Dad's very smart?" "Barbara! It's three in the morning. We're whispering." It was just hilarious. Hilarious.

Poehler: I believe that was a Tina Fey special, and happy to be a part of it. They had their own twin language, which was a lot of fun.

McKinnon: I can no longer say the name Jeff. I can only say Jarf. That has confused some Jeffs in my life.

Rudolph: Oh, you're talking about the Nunis? The Nunis was a wonderful, fun thing where we would just try to figure out how to make Rachel Dratch sit in an uncomfortable chair facing the wall every sketch.

Watch the full roundtable at the video at the top of this post. Plus, listen as current SNL star and 2022 Emmys host Kenan Thompson chats with The Awardist about how the sketch series has prepared him for the coveted but high-pressure job, his hopes and dreams for what he might get to do during the ceremony, the TV show he'd love to appear on, and more.

Check out the latest episode of The Awardist below.

Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV.

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