'SNL's Vanessa Bayer on Teaching Miley Cyrus How to Be Miley
Saturday Night Live cast member Vanessa Bayer did a Reddit AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) Wednesday to talk about her Web series “Sound Advice.” Bayer, who has been on the show for three seasons now, is still very down-to-earth. She likes to credit the writers who rarely see the spotlight (such as Marika Sawyer and Zach Kanin who write the Bar Mitzvah Boy sketches with her), her favorite movie is Tommy Boy, and she still doesn’t know how to feel about parody Twitter accounts dedicated to her.
During the chat, she also had some helpful advice for people hoping to get on SNL, what exactly was going on during that flubbed sketch with Louis C.K., and what Miley Cyrus thinks of her impression.
One of the things that people always wonder is how celebrities take it when they’re made fun of on SNL. Apparently, Cyrus doesn’t mind.
[Related: Miley Cyrus Sends Special Message to Dying Fan]
"She’s always been so great about it! In fact, this last time she hosted, we had to talk ‘as Mileys’ in unison, and I actually gave her a couple tips on how to do an impression of herself! She is one of my favorite hosts that we’ve had — super sweet, funny, and professional! She’s definitely pretty cool.
"I auditioned for SNL with an impression of Miley Cyrus, and I think it was actually Seth Meyers’s idea for us to do ‘The Miley Cyrus Show’! It was always very fun to work on, and I would always write it with Rob Klein and Colin Jost, who are amazing writers!”
She also went in-depth about how she came up in the comedy world, going from Ohio to Chicago before finally arriving in New York.
"Well, I always loved comedy and watching SNL, and I have a very funny dad — and mom and brother — so there was always a lot of joking going on in my house! I didn’t actively start doing comedy until I was in college, when I started performing with a sketch group called Bloomers. Once I started doing that, I knew I wanted to do comedy for life!
"I spent a couple summers in college interning at places like Sesame Street and Conan, which helped me to get a sense of what it’s like to work at great, funny shows. And I also took standup and improv classes at Gotham Comedy Club in New York and UCB [Upright Citizens Brigade].
"When I graduated from college, I moved to Chicago to pursue comedy because some of the best comedy is there, and so many comedians that I love came out of the Chicago scene. I studied and performed at iO, the Annoyance, and the Second City theaters. The first time SNL saw me was actually at a showcase at iO; it was really cool.
"There’s no one way to get into SNL or the industry, but I would say to try to perform and write at local comedy theaters and on your own as much as you can. Also, remember there is comedy all around you! It’s hard to support yourself as a comedian right away, but those day jobs are where you’ll find some of your best material!”
The best advice she has for people trying to make it in comedy, though, is this: “Write, write, write! Sketch, standup, whatever you like! And watch the shows you like so you can learn from them! Isn’t it fun when someone tells you to watch TV? I watch so much TV, and I’m always like, IT’S FOR MY JOB!!”
Bayer also talked about where the “very emotional” Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy came from.
"There is no specific Jacob the Bar Mitzvah boy, but some people who know my brother think it’s him! I went to bar mitzvahs almost every weekend in seventh grade, and I’d like to think that Jacob is a combination of all of those bar mitzvah boys — plus my brother, of course."
Another fan favorite, the Flirty sketch, started as an office gag.
"Kyle and I were doing that bit in the office pretty much nonstop. We’re both very into ’90s sitcoms, and it feels like a thing that they always do on those shows — someone gets so close to asking the other person out, and then they chicken out and say something ridiculous. It was really fun to shoot that video!"
Some sketches are inspired by real-life people from her hometown of Orange, Ohio. “Mrs. Meadows is based on my seventh grade English teacher,” she said of her recurring character.
When asked if she could be any other television personality, she was emphatic. “Any of the Real Housewives!” The nice thing about working on a sketch show is it’s pretty easy to make your dreams come true — well, sort of, anyway.
She also revealed what happened when Louis C.K. broke character at the end of their Private Eyes sketch. “His cue card was supposed to say ‘I love you now,’ but it said, ‘I love you KNOW.’ It was so funny that I kept the cue card, and it’s now in my dressing room.”
If you’re jonesing for more Bayer while SNL is in its summer repeats, she has a Web series over at “Above Average” (part of SNL producer Lorne Michaels’s media empire) called “Sound Advice.” Bayer plays Janessa Slater, a clueless media coach who gives advice to various artists: Drake, Fun., and even indie legends Aimee Mann and Ted Leo. Being so clueless isn’t always simple though.
"My brother and I wrote this question for Ted Leo and Aimee Mann’s band, "The Both," where I told them they should make their band name more specific, like, "The both of us are eligible for social security," and we thought it was so funny, and then as soon as we met them, we were like, ‘Oh my goodness, we’re about to say this super insulting thing to these two music geniuses!!’ Luckily, they are super hilarious and awesome, so they totally went with it!"
Saturday Night Live airs reruns of Season 39 through September on Saturday nights at 11:30 p.m. on NBC. The three-hour 40th anniversary special airs on February 15, 2015.
