Chris Evans’ friends told him he wasn’t funny and now he refuses to do Saturday Night Live
Chris Evans admits his anxiety has also prevented him from appearing on Saturday Night Live
Aux News Saturday Night Live
Is this an act of uncalled-for bullying or the kind of benevolent guidance only close friends can bestow? Chris Evans has been megafamous for more than a decade, and many of his Avengers cohort have appeared as hosts of Saturday Night Live. (Scarlett Johansson even married a cast member.) Yet Evans has never hosted himself, apparently having been gifted with self-awareness by some buddies of his. “I’m not a funny person,” he admits to ET Canada. “Maybe I only feel that because I have very, very funny friends who once told me I’m not a funny person.” Imagine how different the history of SNL would be if more hosts considered whether or not they were funny first!
Opinions on Evans’ comedic talents may vary; certainly, he’s played comedic roles. He is, at this moment, promoting a romantic comedy, Ghosted, starring alongside upcoming SNL host Ana de Armas. Asked if he’d show up to the episode for a cameo, he says, “Well, now a cameo I can handle. … A cameo sounds great, that’s perfect. In and out… get your toes wet. But hosting, I tip my hat to her. She’s going to be amazing. But it would provide a lot of sleepless nights for me.”
You see, not being funny isn’t his only reason for staying away from Studio 8H: “I’ve avoided hosting SNL like the plague for years now just because I’m so scared. It’s terrifying to me,” he explains. “To me, it would just be one of those things that every single night I would wake up in a cold sweat.”
“I just know how I would feel… it would just be an everyday anxiety, constant regret,” he says. He then shares his utterly relatable inner monologue: “‘Why did I do this? I could have been comfortable at my house, in my bed, not worrying about this.’”
52 Comments
I can imagine SNL could be especially difficult if you suffer from anxiety so this is more than fair enough but for something not live, Chris Evans has shown great talent for comedy in undoubtedly his greatest role, that will he will likely never surpass. I of course refer to Not Another Teen Movie.
Not Another Teen Movie Is A Legitimately Great Comedy™, hearty laughs, raucous guffaws, real comedy lover vibes, ha ha he ha crew
Also, he acquitted himself grandly in Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. (Though being funny in an Edgar Wright movie is 75% editing, so that may not be the most reliable yardstick.)But it sounds like the fear would have hobbled him for the monologue.
That’s actually hilarious.
Also pretty funny in the Losers and (maybe unintentionally so) in Knives Out.
My partner is cool on watching NATM (a movie I bought on DVD years ago) because they are under the impression its like the Friedberg and Seltzer fare. I am trying so hard to convince them that it is legitimately solid and that Chris Evans does a pretty good job of playing a goofball.
Oh man, NATM is great; I’ve watched it a couple of times. At a distant glance, yeah, it can be mistaken for Friedberg & Seltzer garbage, but it’s actually quite clever and fun.
It’s sad that the Hollywood’s relentless pandering of the Chinese/international market means that teen-oriented movies have fallen by the wayside. What would a contemporary Not Another Teen Movie even make fun of? Booksmart?
Not Another Teen Series could tackle all manner of Riverdales and Bridgertons.
For that matter, parody movies seem to have fallen by the wayside too.
That’s exactly the comedic role I think of too.
Jake Wyler is an all-time great performance in a classic film full of great performances.
I feel ya Chris. Not like I’m in a position to do so, but if I was offered a hosting job at SNL, I’d decline for the exact same reason. Anxiety sucks.
Maybe he could do a funny short cameo? But good for him for his self actualization.
Chris, those friends whose judgement you trust wanted me to pass on the advice that they think you’d be really good at making out hard with me and then flipping me over and obliterating my poop-shoot.
His cameo in Free Guy did make me laugh:
I mean SNL isn’t funny either so he’d fit right in?
SNL is bad at least half the time. It will be up to the writers if he is funny.
Not being funny has not stopped people from hosting before!!!!But I get it, Evans has been very open about his mental health struggles and anxiety and I totally respect him not wanting to do a live show like SNL. Not enough actors recognize what they would be good or bad at and just assume they can do everything
Is it just me or is he another mediocre white guy a la Chris Pratt, Ryan Reynolds, et al, coasting by on traditional good looks?
Mediocre in what way? As an actor? He’s a pretty good actor. As a person? He seems like a nice guy, and he backs good causes.
It’s weird, because when I’ve seen him in other things, I haven’t thought much of him as an actor (see especially Knives Out), whereas when I’ve seen him play Captain America, he’s amazing, and not least because that character (I would think) would be really hard to not play (as an actor) winking or overselling or in some hammy, condescending way. Christopher Reeve managed it as Superman, and likewise Evans is amazing in each appearance in what I would think is a really difficult role.
He’s great in Not Another Teen Movie, and I enjoyed him as Johnny Storm and in Snowpiercer
Snowpiercer was outstanding. I didin’t even recognize Evans in that part. I’d like to see more of that.
Wow, loved him in Knives Out and relevant to this discussion, he was hilarious in the, “Eat shit,” scene.
I didn’t think much his acting till I saw Snowpiecer, he was excellent in that and a good Captain America. I think his main problem is he’s been in a lot of very shitty movies, especially in the early 2000s
Hot take: I’ve always thought Evans as Captain America was actually a bit better than Downey Jr. as Iron Man, because Downey got to be the entertaining quippy guy with serious moments to sell, all of which is really in his wheelhouse, while Evans had to be decent and stalwart without just becoming a boring slab of beef. In all fairness though, I can’t see either role being filled by anyone else now.
Yesh, RDJ just played himself, essentially. Sam Rockwell was originally considered for the role (can’t even imagine), but the director decided on RDJ right after his audition.
Chris Pratt was popular on Parks & Rec when he was schlubby-looking.
No? He does pretty good in everything I’ve seen him in.
Chris Pratt does not have “traditional good looks.”
Hey, SNL isn’t funny either!Thank you! You’ve been great!
We were all thinking it.
Somebody had to do it.
More like Saturday Night Deadbra!
Sounds sensible to me.
I don’t know, it was pretty funny when he accidentally showed his dick to the entire world.
I think you have to be someone who doesn’t know or care enough (like an
athlete) or someone that has some sort of stand-up or theater experience
to be comfortable. Just reading about what that week is typically like stresses
me on behalf of all parties involved. Having some sort of professional reputation to uphold and being someone who takes their work seriously (let’s assume he does), would make this a non-trivial decision.
He dated funny person Jenny Slate for a while.
Maybe that’s who told him he’s not funny.
Hopefully not in bed.
Evans strikes me as the kind of actor who’s mostly funny playing the straight man who gets funny lines,
rather than a goofy comedian type. So I can see why he’d be nervous
about doing something like SNL where in order for him to be funny, the
writing has to be really sharp.
I would say he could just be the straight man reacting to wackiness around him but that seems to be the responsibility of at least three of the cast members at this point.
“Can you believe this guy’s just reacting to the wackiness around him?” – Mikey Day
“Did I just see a white man react to another white man reacting to the wackiness around him?” – Kenan Thompson
Lucas Lee, pretty good skateboarder turned pretty good actor, is most certainly funny.I still find myself saying “that’s actually hilarious” more times than I care to admit.
More people should refuse. That show’s a couple decades past its expiration date.
“I’m not a funny person.” – Chris Evans“I fail to see the issue here.” – Elon Musk
“What, you don’t think painting over the w in Twitter is the funniest thing ever?”
I don’t know if he’s funny or not, but his friends are doing him a favor in any case. He doesn’t need SNL on his resume.
They’re really pretty good at protecting people when they want to, have them just wear costumes and play easy parts tailored to their strengths while the cast does the work. Which is important, I mean if everyone who wasn’t a great comedy sketch actor humiliated themselves hosting, more people would think like him and not want to do it, but yeah, the really special moments are when they have somebody like Adam Driver in the sketch where he plays the old oil man at the school, where the guest can 100% do all the lifting and carry it.