Did James Marsden Audition for SNL?

James Marsden should be far more famous than he is. He’s successful. The actor has been working for over 30 years. His appearances in the X-Men franchise, a Superman film, and Enchanted helped put him on a more national platform. Westworld was better off for having him as a conflicted robot. Now, he’s getting more attention with his role in the Sonic films and I could not be more thrilled. But, there was a chance for things to turn out way differently.

Part of Marsden’s charm is that he is very funny. The man is Zoolander levels of incredibly good-looking (look at those cheekbones), yet has a sharp sense of humor. It’s not that beautiful people can’t be funny, it’s just worth pointing out because it’s objectively unfair. His recent appearance on Jury Duty was side-splittingly funny. Marsden also had a stint on 30 Rock that used his comedic talents incredibly well. Now, Marsden has revealed that he almost ended up at the actual 30 Rock. Well, not almost, because he really punted whatever chances he may have had.

James recently sat down on Live With Kelly & Mark and explained that he once auditioned for the soon-to-be 50-year-old Saturday Night Live. “They did a nationwide talent search and a friend of mine in my drama class, or whatever, who I used to do these humorous sketches with, said, ‘Let’s go down and audition for it,’” he explained on the show. “I think they made us do … It wasn’t even something like, ‘Create an interesting character,’ or whatever. It was like, ‘Do whatever silly thing you want to do.’ I don’t know why we chose to do this, but we clucked like chickens and just walked around each other.”

Before you say it, Marsden agrees. “Yeah, it was a bad choice,” the actor noted. While he didn’t end up on the show, he enjoyed his adjacent experience. “I did 30 Rock for a bit with Tina Fey, and I said, ‘You know, my dream was always to be on SNL,’” Marsden said. “And she goes, ‘Oh, well, you’ll host at some point.’ And I go, ‘No, as a regular. I wanna be the guys!’ She was like, ‘Well, you probably can if you want to.’ But yeah, I just love doing impressions and different characters.”

I’m just going to pitch it because there is precedent for bringing in big-name cast members. Let James Marsden become a cast member on the show now or this next season. What have you got to lose?! He’s hilarious. People love him. It would make me happy (and that’s all that really matters). The man wasn’t close with his “audition,” but he was near those famed halls. Let’s just open up the door and let him in!