In June 2020, I reached out to Piotr after seeing his name mentioned in an article about auditioning for SNL, alongside John Mulaney and Nick Kroll.
We exchanged a few emails, which are listed below. Piotr’s (absolutely amazing) story & responses are in purple, & my questions comments are in royal blue.
In the year since, he’s appeared on WandaVision, Pixar’s ‘Soul’, the reboot of the Animaniacs and as the obscure, unknown Scranton, Pennsylvania politician Joseph R. Biden, on the small-town, local cable public access show Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Piotr’s Complete SNL Audition Story:
I auditioned for SNL in 2008. It was a TEST in person at the 30 Rock Building.
When I auditioned, I believe there were a total of 20 of us who were there. From those that I can remember, I auditioned with Nick Kroll, Kyle Dunningan, John Mulaney, Bobby Moynihan and a female YouTuber named “Lana” or “Laura” I can’t quite recall. I may also have auditioned alongside James Adomian, but I’m not 100% certain about that, even though I’ve met him in person later and we both recall it vaguely.
My experience was a thrill! Before NYC, I was literally just a college student at home in Hawaii, doing impressions on a new platform called “Youtube” and was asked to submit a tape after getting some viral attention. I sent in 36 impressions on a 6 minute tape and 5 days later was asked to fly out to 30 Rock. The producer Mike Shoemaker was my go-to contact, helping me chisel down my list of impressions and incorporate some more relevant ones.
The experience was overwhelming because it was a comedy dream of mine but I had never got to pursue it in the traditional sense. So I was nervous but excited, and also very confident because Shoemaker was a great coach and was really supportive. I had written out a “stand up” set essentially of 5 minutes of rapid fire impressions, about 25
celebrities! Mike told me to only do impressions.
When I got there, I was put into the hair and makeup room and had a touch up. Then I was brought into a cafeteria which was a makeshift common area. I saw that the other comedians were pacing, nervous, laughing, or keeping to themselves. I remember John Mulaney turning to me saying, you must be the “Hawaii Kid”. Word must have gotten around in a few days since my tape was sent in and agents/managers/interns were spilling the beans on who else was auditioning.
The 20 of us were separated into 2 groups of 10, and we were waiting for several hours. When it was my “turn”, I was escorted downstairs from the common area. I was then put into a green room and waited for another 30 minutes. Then afterwards, into a makeup room for 15 mins. In retrospect, I believe this was a way they psyched us out, prepping us for that unpredictable feeling that is SNL. To me it felt torturous, so I just kept rehearsing my little set of impressions and tried not to listen to the other auditions going on in the theater.
It was the 2008 Olympics, so we didn’t test on the SNL stage, it was occupied for some other event, we auditioned on the Conan O’Brien stage.
When it was time, I was urged into a hallway, asked if I needed anything, I said only a mic and barstool, and then I was put behind a curtain. An old stage hand told me to hit my mark on the center tape and play to the camera. “No one is going to laugh” he said. A lot of people told me this. Mike Shoemaker, the hair and make-up people, the other people auditioning. “No one is going to laugh, so don’t worry about it!”
I was nervous, but excited, I knew this was a shot in the dark and that I hadn’t pursued this like the other comedians on the roster, so I had the foresight to know I should try to enjoy myself. I was also very green, this was literally my first time auditioning in person ever, the first time on television cameras, the first time sharing my impressions in a public setting and the first time doing stand up!!!
I walked up to my mark, slated my name and gestured my arm up and began my audition, opening up with an impression of Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown from Back to the Future and suddenly I was thrown off course because… they were laughing. I could see very little with the lights, but I did see Seth Meyers, the head writer at the time, rocking back and forth in his chair. The laughter threw me off!! After I composed myself I kept going, did my other impressions to great effect and said thank you and popped back behind the curtain.
Suddenly, I felt a strong hand on my should grab me, “That was amazing! You’re incredible! Great audition! Great job!” The same stagehand who was a little grumpy was now elated and slapping me on the back. I was stunned and speechless, and all my energy had been drained, I felt like I was walking in a haze. People were slapping my back, shaking my hand, running down hallways to say “Bravo!” I immediately thought, “Oh, they say this to everybody!”
I went back upstairs to wait some more, in case they needed us for whatever reason, as they had to officially “release” us when they deemed it appropriate. After waiting for a bit, Nick Kroll had come up from downstairs, having finished his audition saying something to the effect of, “I blew it! I went on when they were on break and Lorne said to come back later and it was awkward, they didn’t like me!”. I felt strange hearing that… I suppose I did OK?
After a couple more hours they finally let us go, but before I could press the elevator button down to street level I heard an old page being me say, “Wait, wait!” He ran in, and pressed the button for me… “I wanted to serve you!” he said. It was awkward but very sweet and earnest, I don’t know if he saw my audition, or was just bored. It was about 2am or 3am and I was so excited and filled with energy, that instead of calling a taxi back to my hotel, I ran 10 blocks!
I didn’t get the show, but I did get my tape passed around to many people in the business and eventually found my way into acting and comedy full time. SNL was a dream that rushed into my lap and although I wasn’t prepared for it at 20 years old, it did jumpstart my career and I am forever grateful for the opportunity I had. Who knows… it may come around again!
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Piotr was kind enough to answer some questions after he shared his unbelievable story.
When did this all take place?
I auditioned for SNL in 2008. It was a TEST in person at the 30 Rock Building.
I’m still somewhat unclear about the different types of “tryouts” they give – a true audition, a video audition, a video submission and then a screen test – unless TEST is something different?
Everyone on your list of “almost” cast members like Jim Carrey, Donald Glover, Etc… those are people who TESTED. That means, they sent in an audition tape, or auditioned at a comedy venue and were asked to test in person at the SNL space. I’d consider that more of the AUDITION for the show. The test is comprised of finalists from that year of hundreds of taped auditions. It also comes around every year and most agents/managers request that I resubmit. I’ve submitted another 4-5 times I think after my initial test. They want to see who would gel best with their cast lineup.
I do know from listening to podcasts, that Bobby Moynihan had already been sought after for the show, but wasn’t able or available before 2008… so my year was almost a showcase of extra folks to consider. I think the only other people that joined the show then were John Mulaney and possibly someone else as another writer.
Also – was TJ Miller there?
Yes! I forgot about that, I am pretty sure he was.
Did you just happen to get paired with Mike or was it through a selection or something?
Mike reached out to me through Youtube, that’s how everything started, so it was from his personal interest and eagerness to get an impressionist in there.
Curious, do you know your own “total”? Like how many good (by the standards you set for yourself) impressions do you have?
I work predominately now as a voice actor, because I can transform with other worrying about physical mannerisms and makeup, so I have nearly 250+, but if it came down to impressions for on camera performances, at least 100+.
Just insane and insanely cool – you might be the only person in the world to be able to claim those “firsts” during an SNL audition. I wonder if you have the “record” so to speak for shortest time between beginning to perform comedy, and then auditioning.
I don’t know about that… I do know Mike Shoemaker told me not to worry about my experience, as SNL was basically a “school for comedy” so they may very well pick up RAW talent like me to try out all the time. Also, they’d have no knowledge that it was all new to me.. but maybe it read that way on camera during my audition.
Did you do 25 or did you narrow it down?)
I did 25 impressions. Typically they ask for 5-6 characters and 2-3 impressions.
So, first – can this story be the first blog we do?
If you’d like to sure, I’ve spoked about my experience on a few podcasts like “The About Last Night Podcast” and Melissa Villasenor’s podcast I think. Feel free to fix any typos if you see any!!