Saturday Night Live produces stars, and many of its sketches live on in the pop culture zeitgeist for decades. That’s bound to make the comedians in the cast feel great. I’m sure it can also inflate egos. However, according to David Spade, there’s a piece of advice Lorne Michaels gives that helped him keep his ego in check while on the show.
This came up while Spade, Dana Carvey and Marcello Hernández were chatting about recurring characters on SNL during an episode of Fly on the Wall. Hernández, who famously has gone viral multiple times for playing Domingo, specifically mentioned that it can be tough to pitch a sketch about a character that’s already been done, because it can feel like there’s a “little bit of entitlement” behind it. That led to Spade recalling a tough piece of advice Lorne Michaels gave him:
But you can’t be the one, because one time Lorne said to me, which I didn’t say it, but he goes, ‘Everyone’s going to tell you you’re the funniest person on the show. You’re not.’ They say that to every cast member, because [people] do; everyone goes, ‘Why aren’t you on it more? You’re actually really good.’
While brutal, the point totally makes sense. There’s a lot of chatter about who gets the most screen time on Saturday Night Live, and breakout stars, like Ashley Padilla from the season that aired on the 2026 TV schedule, get lots of adoration online. However, along with the praise comes criticism too, as the way people react to sketches on SNL tends to fluctuate.
So, one moment you can be up, and the next moment you can be down. It makes sense that your ego would need to be in check to deal with all that. Therefore, a brutal reality check from Lorne Michaels can probably be helpful, as David Spade explained:
I was victim of just only people I would see, whether they thought it or not, they go, ‘You should be on more.’ And so I didn’t say it, thank god, but I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s fucking brutal and true.’
“Brutal and true” seems to be the name of Lorne Michaels game. He clearly loves his cast, and he’s helped so many of them both professionally and personally. However, he also knows how to make tough calls, and he isn’t afraid to show he doesn’t like something, as is shown when he reacts to sketches under the bleachers in his documentary Lorne and the Written By documentary (both of which you can stream alongside SNL with a Peacock subscription). So, the fact that he’d tell Spade and other cast members that they’re not the funniest people on the show feels on-brand.
Plus, while brutal, it feels like a good thing to remember. SNL is full of incredible comedians. Every week, any of them could shine the brightest. And while the show has its massive stars, from episode to episode, the best player of the night tends to change. Meanwhile, sketches get cut mid-episode, and working on this program is notoriously difficult. So, staying humble and keeping that ego in check feels important.
So, yeah, the advice Lorne Michaels gave David Spade was pretty harsh. And I can’t imagine it’s easy to hear. However, it also helped the comedian keep his ego in check while working on Saturday Night Live.
