SNL stars look back on their auditions in a new docuseries

Five minutes. That’s how long it is Saturday Night Live audition last.

The high-stakes audition process for the sketch show, which celebrates its 50th anniversary on February 16, is infamous in its own right. Comedians and writers who want to make it on SNL perform their best bits, characters and impressions for a chance at stardom.

In an episode of the four-part documentary series SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Nightout now on the Peacock, longtime SNL producers lift the curtain on the audition process. The episode, “Five Minutes,” features SNL alums watching their audition tapes and reflecting on what it was like preparing for the all-important moment.

We see Tracy Morgan laughing hysterically as he watches his tape of him pretending to be a little boy named Biscuit reading a Christmas poem while decked out in a rainbow beanie hat with a propeller on top. Bobby Moynihan is in disbelief and sees his younger self in a rugby polo shirt and jeans punching his prey repeatedly. Bowen Yang literally screams when he sees footage of his younger self. Part of his audition was meta; he posed as an actor trying to be the choking victim on posters all over restaurants.

Celebrity impersonators — a staple of SNL — work when they bring something unexpected to the table, producer Lindsay Shookus explains in SNL 50. For example, Bill Hader pretended to be Al Pacino who lost his mind over a cantaloupe. Kate McKinnon pretended to be Penelope Cruz advertising a L’Oréal moisturizer while moving seductively around on a chair. And Kenan Thompson had won over producer Michael Shoemaker with his Bill Cosby impersonation and the shrill way he produced the name of Cosby’s wife Camille.

Many bits used by comedians in their auditions have ended up being iconic Saturday Night Live sketches, from Kristen Wiig’s overzealous Target clerk to Ana Gasteyer’s smooth operator voice, which landed her a role as a radio host interviewing Alec Baldwin about his famous Schweddy Balls recipe.

Hands-down, the craziest audition is the one where Henry Zebrowski showed up completely naked and holding his genitals in his hands. He didn’t get the part, but throughout his career he has had many TV and film roles.

Producers give an insight into how the process works, revealing that some cast members were shoe-ins before even auditioning. With Amy Poehler, series producer Marci Klein says, “We knew we were hiring her before she did this (audition), it was more of a formality.” Aspiring cast members would likely land an audition through word of mouth. According to “Five Minutes,” showrunner Lorne Michaels liked to get endorsements from cast members, writers and other celebrities. Andy Samberg joined the show because Jimmy Fallon recommended him. Gwenyth Paltrow called in to recommend Maya Rudolph.

Now-famous comedians who auditioned for the show but didn’t make the cut, like Jennifer Coolidge, Kevin Hart and Mindy Kaling, are also featured. Stephen Colbert is released when he watches his apparently failed audition tape and at one point yells, “It doesn’t matter I wasn’t in Saturday Night Live!”

Successful auditions didn’t always mean you’d be in front of the camera. Some comedians who auditioned for the show were hired as producers and writers, as a way to keep them in SNL‘s talent network, according to doc. John Mulaney and Jason Sudeikis originally auditioned for the cast, but were hired as writers (Sudeikis later appeared as a cast member for nearly 10 years).

Some of the SNL cast members get emotional when they watch their audition tapes. Heidi Gardner asks, “Do other people cry?” She begins to cry after watching her tape and explained: “I was a little afraid that I would just be a little too critical and there are things I think I could have done better, but I can’t believe , I did it. That’s a lot of pressure.”

With tears in his eyes, Moynihan recalls how Seth Meyers congratulated him on his successful SNL audition and said he will talk about what it’s like to be a member of the SNL cast for the rest of his life. “That is absolutely true. It’s the first thing that pops up at every dinner. That was all. And it still is. I loved that show. I was on it.” But comedians can’t get sentimental for long without cracking a joke somewhere. After wiping several tears from his eyes and putting his glasses back on, he deadpans: “I murdered someone this morning, too. I feel terrible about it.”