Why did Jennifer Aniston turn down SNL before Friends fame? Details explored

Before making her face familiar on the television screen on Friends, Jennifer Aniston had nearly joined another great television series, Saturday Night Live (SNL). The actress stated that once she was given an opportunity to become a part of the NBC sketch comedy series, she rejected it.

In a recent episode of the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepard, Jennifer Aniston discussed that choice in her career when she was young. She said the opportunity had come when she was not even cast as Rachel Green on Friends, and looking back, she said the experience was somewhat confusing and a bit unclear in her mind.

Jennifer Aniston once revealed that she visited Saturday Night Live in New York to meet Lorne Michaels, where she also ran into Adam Sandler and David Spade, both already part of the show at the time. Though she was on friendly terms with Sandler even before that meeting, Aniston ultimately decided not to join the SNL cast. Instead, she chose a different path, one that would soon lead her to her breakout role on Friends.

Jennifer Aniston's concerns about how women were treated

During the podcast, Jennifer Aniston recalled having a meeting with SNL creator Lorne Michaels in New York City. She ran into comedians Adam Sandler and David Spade before the meeting, both of whom were part of the show at the time.

Aniston said she had known Sandler for years and even joked, “We met at Jerry’s Deli in like 1912.”

Looking back, she admitted she had certain ideas about the environment on SNL.

“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 said. “It’s a very male-dominated [show]. I would love to be here if it was in the Gilda Radner day.”

Her comments reflected a concern that the show wasn’t giving enough space to female performers.

In earlier interviews, she shared that she told Michaels directly, “I hear women are not respected on this show.”

Though she acknowledged being young and inexperienced, Aniston stood by her belief that women deserved better treatment.

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Reflection on her decision years later

In her 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Jennifer Aniston described the meeting as a moment of youthful boldness.

“Who the f--- was I to be saying this to Lorne Michaels?!” she laughed, admitting that she didn’t realize how unusual her comments were at the time.

She added that she wasn’t lecturing Michaels but expressing what she hoped for if she joined the show.

“I was like, I think that women need to be treated better here. Because it was such a boys’ club,” she said on The Howard Stern Show in 2019.

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Jennifer Aniston later went on to host SNL twice, once in 1999 and again in 2004. Former cast member Molly Shannon recalled that Aniston was “very laid back” during her hosting gig and remembered her as “an easygoing professional.” The experience showed that despite her earlier hesitation, Aniston came to appreciate the show and its creative space.

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