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Jennifer Aniston is opening up about the time she nearly joined Saturday Night Live, and why she walked away from the opportunity long before Friends made her a household name.
Appearing on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast, the Morning Show star, 56, recalled being in her early twenties and feeling overly confident when she met SNL creator Lorne Michaels in New York. "I always thought I was such hot s---," Aniston said with a laugh. "Honestly, today I'd have to ask Lorne, because I remember running into [Adam] Sandler and [David] Spade right outside his office. I knew Sandler forever."
At the time, Aniston had just finished the short-lived Ferris Bueller TV adaptation and was still years away from landing Rachel Green. Looking back, she admitted that her youthful mindset might have cost her a career-defining break.
"I don't know why I had this self-righteous attitude of, 'I don't know if women are treated the way they should be treated on this show,'" she explained. "It was such a male-dominated environment. I would've loved to be there in the Gilda Radner days."
Aniston reiterated the sentiment she first shared in a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, where she remembered telling Michaels that she wanted the SNL culture to feel "more like the days of Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin." Reflecting on that moment now, she laughed, "Who the f--- was I to be saying that to Lorne Michaels? I was such a young twit."
The Emmy winner went on to find her footing on Friends, which debuted in 1994 and ran for ten seasons. She later returned to SNL as host twice, in 1999 and 2004, experiences she now cherishes.
"I love it so much," she said. "It's one of those full-circle moments where you realize how things work out exactly how they're supposed to."
Aniston's full conversation on Armchair Expert is available now for Wondery+ subscribers and will release widely on Oct. 20.
