Kenan Thompson Revealed How He Got Robin Williams To Star In An ‘SNL’ Sketch Where He Barely Speaks

In 2010, Robin Williams randomly appeared in a Saturday Night Live sketch that was particularly unusual for the comedic actor because it involved him barely saying a word. When you book Robin Williams, you let him do his Robin Williams thing, which usually entails lots of talking and flying out of his seat.

However, Williams was surprisingly game for the cameo, and Kenan Thompson recently revealed how the whole thing happened thanks to a last minute cancellation. According to Thompson, an unnamed celebrity backed out of appearing in his “What Up With That?” sketch that involves Thompson’s talk show host constantly interrupting his guests and never giving them a chance to talk. Whoever is sitting in the second seat really gets the brunt of it, and that’s the spot Thompson needed to fill.

As the story goes, Lorne Michaels knew Williams was in town and floated the legendary actor as a quick fix.

Via Entertainment Weekly:

“He was like, ‘You should ask Robin,'” [Thompson] said. “I was like, ‘I should ask Robin? I should just go ask Robin Williams to just sit in my sketch and not say a word? Like, seriously?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah.’ I was like, ‘S—.'”

But Thompson need not worry, because Williams instantly accepted the role. “I went and talked — I didn’t even finish my sentence — he was just like, ‘Absolutely,'” he said. “He was just an angel. That was crazy.”

Not only did Williams join the sketch, but he stuck to the concept and only spoke a handful of lines while sitting next to the real Robert De Niro and Bill Hader impersonating Lindsey Buckingham.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)