Rob Schneider Says ‘SNL’ Was ‘Done’ After Kate McKinnon’s ‘Hallelujah’ Performance


In a conversation on Glenn Beck’s podcast, Schneider said McKinnon’s post-presidential election open on piano, during which she sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” dressed as Hilary Clinton, was the beginning of the end. of the show.

“I hate to shit on my own show,” he said. “When Hillary Clinton lost – which is understandable. She’s not exactly the nicest person in the room. And then when Kate McKinnon came out on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in the cold open and all that, and she started out dressed as Hillary Clinton, and she started playing ‘Hallelujah’, I literally prayed, ‘Please make a joke at the end.'”

He continued, “Don’t do this. Please don’t go down there.” And there was no joke at the end, and I was like, ‘It’s over. It’s finish. It won’t come back.'”

McKinnon often played Clinton on the show over the years, before announcing that this final season would be her last on the show.

Schneider went on to say that late night TV hosts were openly partisan, saying they all had the same ideas.

“That’s how you know they’re not interesting anymore,” he said.

Schneider was hired as a screenwriter on “SNL” in 1988 and was a main cast member from 1990 to 1994.