
The cast of SNL learned this lesson relatively quickly, as the actor’s tenure during the show’s weeklong gestation period got off to a bad start. Unlike Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone, who often sent up their macho images with jokes, Seagal appeared relatively humorless. “And you could say that I became an adviser to several CIA agents in the field and, through my friends in the CIA, met many powerful people and did special works and special favors.” (The CIA, being the CIA, neither confirms nor denies such claims-no matter who they’re coming from.)

“You can say that I lived in Asia for a long time and in Japan I became close to several CIA agents,” Seagal told the Los Angeles Times in 1988. Press flocked to Seagal’s stoicism and his claims-which some considered outlandish-about being involved in CIA operations. Seagal had hits with Above the Law (1988), Hard to Kill, and Marked for Death (both 1990), among his many three-word programmers.
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With his swarthy looks and imposing stature, Ovitz thought Seagal could be a movie star.Įxecutives at Warner Bros. The actor, who had been discovered by agent Michael Ovitz a few years prior, was a master of aikido, a Japanese martial art. Listless or charisma-deprived athletes need to be propped up Andrew “Dice” Clay prompted cast member Nora Dunn to walk off the show in 1990 in protest of the sexism present in his stage act Nick Nolte didn’t show up at all, forcing his 48 Hours co-star Eddie Murphy to become the only SNL cast member to host the show while still part of it.

Thanks to its sheer volume of episodes (880 and counting), SNL has sometimes had to cope with hosts ill-equipped for the job. It was one of many reasons that cast members have regularly cited Seagal as the worst host SNL has ever had-an ignoble distinction for a show that’s been on the air for nearly 50 years. Seagal refused to do the sketch as planned, so it had to quickly be rewritten to paint the host in a more flattering light. The very idea of Schwarzenegger getting the better of him was too much for the actor to bear. It was, after all, just a skit-one that was supposed to be ridiculous. As written, the two would insult Seagal, intimating that their idol, Arnold Schwarzenegger, would “flick you with his little baby finger and you would fly across the room and land in baby poop.”Ĭarvey noticed Seagal’s stern expression and asked him if everything was OK.

The sketch in question was to feature actor and martial artist Steven Seagal alongside Hans and Franz, the Austrian bodybuilding duo played by Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon, respectively. In April 1991, the cast and crew of NBC’s seminal late night institution Saturday Night Live were rehearsing for their upcoming show, and its host was seething.
