Sarah Silverman is out here reminding us all that sometimes getting fired from your dream job just means you’re about to meet a very tall redhead who saves your career.
In a recent chat with the Sultan of Overshares himself, Howard Stern, Sarah spilled the tea on her blink-and-you-missed-it stint on Saturday Night Live. The year was 1993: grunge was in, pagers were cool, and Sarah Silverman was a fresh-faced comic ready to take on late-night sketch comedy. Spoiler alert: the sketch comedy took her out first.
“I was totally thrown for a loop when I got fired,” Sarah said, adding that she found out in the most dramatic way possible — an ambush call from all her agents at the same time. (Nothing screams “you’re done” like a group call from people who usually can’t agree on lunch.)
“They were like, ‘Yeah, you’re fired.’ And I was like, ‘Wait, is this a prank? Am I on Candid Camera? Where’s Ashton?’” she joked. (Okay, she didn’t say that last part, but spiritually, she did.)
Turns out, Sarah’s one-and-done season at SNL was less “big break” and more “big oof.” But when one door closes, another one opens — and behind that door was Conan O’Brien, America’s beloved talk show host who looks like a friendly giraffe and tells jokes like one too.
“Conan was the best thing for me,” Sarah said, practically throwing verbal rose petals at his freckled feet. “Even after I got fired, he kept putting me on his show. It was like he saw potential in me—or he just needed guests who’d work for scale and snacks.”
Conan, who was also in his first year at Late Night, basically became her fairy godginger. With his help, Sarah found her comedic voice, got a fresh start, and proved that getting axed from SNL isn’t a career-ender—it’s just a dramatic plot twist.
But let’s be real: it wasn’t all giggles and green rooms. Sarah also opened up about how intense SNL could be behind the scenes. “It’s magical,” she said, “but it’s also like being in a pressure cooker that judges you and wears a Lorne Michaels mask.” She described the vibe as constant panic, kind of like being in high school again, but everyone’s wearing wigs and yelling about cue cards.
“It’s hard to be zen at SNL. You walk in, and suddenly you’re like, ‘Am I funny? Do I have legs? Who am I?!’” she joked.
So the moral of the story? Getting fired sucks — but sometimes, it leads to Conan O’Brien putting you on national television, and that’s honestly the best severance package anyone could ask for.