The Fox’s Fifi, Fev & Nick, managed to nab Saturday Night Live cue card handler Wally Feresten (pictured0 for a chat after SNL’s 50th-anniversary special. He shared some of what happened behind the scenes that night, including that Ryan Reynolds’ quip after being asked how he was by Amy Poehler was not what was on the script. Listen below:
Wally has been part of the show for 35 years and also revealed that athletes are the most likely to struggle the reading cue cards, although Adam Sandler gave Wally a loving dig at his own abilities in the wonderful song below.
Fifi Box: “Who’s been the biggest challenge when you’ve been holding cue cards?”
Wally: “(laughs) Athletes! But here’s the thing though if you’re a beloved athlete – like Charles Barkley (former NBA player) has been on the show many times and he is a terrible cue card reader, he doesn’t get any better – but for some reason, he can stumble through a set-up, stumble through a punchline and the audience still laughs because they love him so much.”
Brendan Fevola: “How did Travis Kelce go?”
Wally: “Travis was good actually. You get guys like Travis and Peyton Manning who prepare for the show like they do a football game. Travis really, really put a lot into it; he was running lines between sketches. He was ready, he was really good, I really liked him. We became close.”
He then was asked about Ryan Reynolds’ taked about line, which referenced the rumoured feud between Blake Lively and actor Justin Baldoni:
Fev: “Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively have been in the news a lot. We want to know was that line scripted or improv that he (Ryan) did?”
Wally: “He had a different line in rehearsal, and he pitched that (line) to replace it. That was his idea to do it. We wouldn’t want to do anything too controversial, so that was his line, his idea to do.”
It certainly caught Blake offguard!
You can hear Fifi, Fev & Nick on Melbourne’s 101.9 The Fox from 6-9am weekdays and on LiSTNR.