SNL Alum Kevin Nealon Criticizes Castmembers Who Break During Sketches: It Doesnt Work

Former SNL star Kevin Nealon isn’t a big fan of seeing current castmembers break into laughter during sketches.

While the comedian and actor didn’t name any of the cast directly, his comments came after a recent episode of the NBC sketch comedy series that saw host Ryan Gosling and featured player Ashley Padilla break character several times.

“I never broke character on SNL,” Nealon wrote on X. “I knew how much time the writers put into those scripts. You don’t want to be the one who throws it off. Lorne doesn’t like when the cast breaks. Even if the audience laughs, it doesn’t work for the sketch.”

“If I could get through the Chippendales sketch, I could get through anything,” he added, referencing the iconic season 16 skit with Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze.

Throughout the Project Hail Mary actor’s four times hosting SNL, including his most recent turn on March 7, he’s been known to easily crack during the sketches. But it was the “Passing Notes” skit from that episode that had Gosling and Padilla breaking more than usual as SNL decided to prank them.

In the sketch, Gosling plays a high school principal who visits one of his teachers’ classes, played by Ashley Padilla, and they end up repeatedly intercepting notes being passed around by the students. However, as they read the notes aloud, they realize they’re actually embarrassing observations about themselves.

What led to Gosling and Padilla constantly breaking into laughter was the fact that the notes had been changed since rehearsal, leaving them surprised at what they would be reading.

The following day, Padilla took to her Instagram Story to thank the writers behind the sketch for the humorous moment. “Thank you to Mikey, Streeter, and Alison Gates for absolutely destroying me on live television,” she wrote, adding, “P.S. Gosling is the funniest person on the planet.”

Even though it was a planned bit during that show, there have been countless other times that SNL castmembers have broken character over the 51 seasons.

As for Nealon, he anchored the show’s “Weekend Update” segment from 1986 to 1995.