“Saturday Night Live” alum Ana Gasteyer reflected on her six-year stint on the show on the latest episode of Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers’ “Las Culturistas” podcast, recalling a time when her fellow cast member Will Ferrell interrupted Sean “Diddy” Combs’ closed rehearsal as part of a bit.
Gasteyer was on “SNL” from 1996 to 2002, where she overlapped with Ferrell, Molly Shannon, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph and others. She’s best known for being part of the “Schweddy Balls” sketch alongside Shannon and Alec Baldwin, as well as her recurring Culps skit with Ferrell.
Gasteyer told current “SNL” player Yang and Rogers that the cast at that time had several recurring bits, including one where Ferrell repurposed his Jerry Reed costume to imitate a crew member named Rob, who had recently been fired by the director of the show’s pre-taped segments. In 1998, when Combs was the show’s musical guest, Rob decided to get into some trouble when it was announced that the rapper wanted a closed rehearsal.
Gasteyer said that Combs “shut down the whole building” and “demanded a totally closed set” for his Thursday run-through, which was an unusual occurrence.
“You can tell the five assholes in the six years that I was there when they would be like, ‘So-and-so is in the building. Everybody stay in your dressing rooms!’” Gasteyer said. “Which is applicable if you’re a presidential candidate, but apart from that, it’s really my house.”
Combs shutting down the set prompted a few of the writers to suggest, “Wouldn’t it be so funny if Ron just went in?” Gasteyer said Ferrell accepted the challenge without hesitation, walking on stage as Combs rehearsed his song “Come With Me” featuring Jimmy Page, which samples the Led Zeppelin song “Kashmir.”
“He went on down the stairs and he marched right in,” she said. “I have the video from the control room where Sean Combs is like, rapping … [and] behind him, Ron’s like walking around looking really disoriented.”
Ferrell discussed the moment in 2020 for the “SNL” series “Stories From the Show,” which includes footage of him crashing Combs’ rehearsal. “I didn’t really know what to do once I got up there,” Ferrell recalled, noting that Ron also made an appearance during the closing credits of that episode.
Of course, Combs is currently facing a barrage of sexual assault lawsuits and federal charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and has denied all allegations against him, but has been denied bail and remains in jail. A trial is set for May 2025.
“It is the greatest thing that’s ever happened because what a deserved person to have their ‘Kashmir’ moment interrupted by Ron. And he really did not roll with it. He was very uncomfortable,” Gasteyer continued. “But it was also just like, the artifice of all that faux importance. Like, what’s going to happen?”
Listen to Gasteyer’s full “Las Culturistas” episode here.
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