After hosting Saturday Night Live on thirteen occasions, John Goodman is the third most frequent star to have stepped up head the comedy variety show, but The Righteous Gemstones star recently revealed to Jimmy Fallon that his cast audition for the show wasn’t exactly the greatest thing he has ever done. Appearing as a guest on The Tonight Show, the much-loved actor talked about a monologue he performed on the show and how cast members came to watch Will Ferrell when his skit was bombing, but most interesting was when he mentioned the 1980 audition for SNL that fell apart because he wasn’t prepared for it.
John Goodman has been one of Hollywood’s most loved actors for decades, whether for his role in Roseanne, his many movies or his more recent work such as The Righteous Gemstones, but it seems that way back in his early days, things didn’t always go according to plan. Talking about his Saturday Night Live audition, Goodman told Fallon, “It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done in front of people in my life. I wrote something about 15 minutes before I went over there. Oh god, it was awful. It’s not that I had any material to show or anything. I just knew they’d hire me … because I’m a nice guy.”
While that audition may have hurt his pride, Goodman went on to discuss his recent work on The Righteous Gemstones and how he managed to injure himself while filming a fight in a parking lot. He said:
“I was trying to be a stunt boy. I’m not 69-years-old. I’m 23 and I’ll do this all night if I have to. I’ll prove my worth. But yeah, it was always late in the night and I was too tired to actually be doing this stuff, so I slipped in the gravel and flew headfirst into the back of a truck. Went to the hospital. They give me a bunch of screens. They couldn’t tell if I’ve got a concussion or had a concussion. So I guess I’m OK.”
John Goodman Wasn’t Able To Pass Up On The Righteous Gemstones
John Goodman has found a new hit in The Righteous Gemstones, and the 69-year-old recently revealed that as well as coming at just the right time in his life, the script for the series was far too good for him to even consider not taking on the role of Eli Gemstone, the wealthy televangelist with a family full of corruption. Speaking to EW, Goodman recently said:
"I was on a situational comedy that shut down about two days before I got the offer from Danny [McBride]. So I had nothing better to do. But the script was so good that it was no thought, you got to do it."
The decision to take part in the series was clearly a good one, as The Righteous Gemstones proved to be hugely popular with praise from both critics and audiences alike. The second season premiered on HBO Max on January 9th, and with season three already having been given the green light it looks like Goodman is going to be playing Eli Gemstone for a little while longer.