Marcello Hernández, ‘SNL’s Latest Secret Weapon, Could Definitely Use a Nap
Marcello Hernández’s work week starts Monday evening with a pitch meeting in Lorne Michaels’ office and doesn’t end until Sunday morning at 1:02 a.m. after Saturday Night Live wraps.
In between sketch writing (and re-writing), read-throughs with that week’s host and days of rehearsals, the SNL breakthrough castmember also finds time to hit the Comedy Cellar in the West Village or other comedy clubs in New York City to maintain and perfect his stand-up routine.
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“If you open yourself up to being tired, you can get a lot more done,” the 27-year-old tells The Hollywood Reporter, laughing.
Hernández joined the SNL cast in 2022 and, since then, has become one of the show’s secret weapons, starring in several sketches that have made waves online, including “Protective Mom,” “Nightclub Line” and “Dune Popcorn Bucket.“
Through his very successful stand-up career, the comedian also regularly sells out shows across the country while SNL is off and has opened up for major players like Dave Chappelle, Colin Jost and Jo Koy, among others.
Below, Hernández opens up about bringing Latin culture to SNL in a new way, his thoughts on whether or not anything is off-limits in comedy and why he never thought he’d be at this point in his career less than 10 years after beginning stand-up.
How involved are you in writing the SNL sketches that you’re in?
I would say quite a bit, honestly, especially something where it’s a lot of Spanish, but I always like to be very involved. I know watching Kenan [Thompson] work at the show, you see him kind of trying to be as helpful as he can with lines and try to make things more concise. The writers, as well, are really cool about being collaborative with the castmembers that are going to be saying the stuff. So, I would say I’m pretty involved. Especially when it has to do with our culture, I do feel like a responsibility to do it right. I don’t want my mom to call me and be like, “You had many grammatical errors last night.”
In addition to SNL, you also have a very successful stand-up career. How do you balance the two?
By being open to not sleeping very much. [Laughs.] If you open yourself up to being tired, you can get a lot more done. I have always been like somebody that has trouble standing still. Sometimes, I’ll be at my apartment standing still, and then I’ll be like, “This is horrible.” And then I will go do stand-up. It’s something I’ve been doing since I was 18, and I just love doing it. I do feel rejuvenated right after I do it. And then the next morning, I’m like, “Wow, I was out till late. I’m tired.” It was always my dream to have the opportunities I’m having now, which is to do stand-up as much as I want or can. I’m just kind of blessed that I get to do it as much as I’m able to.
Do you have a preference between stand-up or doing something on SNL?
Noooooo. I love everybody and everything. When it comes to entertainment, I guess I would say stand-up was my first love. I’m still learning a lot about sketch writing and writing in general for television. Stand-up is like my wife, and sketch writing is something that I really feel like I am learning so much for the first time these past couple years, and there’s no better place to learn, probably, than SNL. So I don’t think I have a preference. I just think that one of them is something I’ve done for almost 10 years, and the other one is pretty new to me.
Why do you think comedy is so important right now?
Every person is different, and every person engages with comedy in their own way. However they do it, whatever makes them laugh — whether it’s SNL or somebody falling down in like a fail compilation — however you take your coffee. I’m just glad that people want to laugh, and I am honored to be a part of a show that the focus is laughs, which feels so weird and crazy, like the point of the show is to make you giggle is wild to me. That’s all I really care about. Even just in conversation, I just want to make people laugh, and it’s cool to be a part of a huge thing where people are working and taking it very serious. But, at the end of the day, the goal is to make people giggle. That’s just kind of ironic that some people show up in a suit to my job, and they’re like, “God, I hope they giggle.”
Would you say there’s anything that’s off-limits when it comes to comedy?
Once you say something, whether it’s a joke or not, it’s not yours anymore. It’s up for discussion. There’s definitely things that are off-limits when you’re in a relationship, like stuff that you shouldn’t say, but it’s because you know that person real well, and so you know what not to say, what buttons not to push. But when you’re trying to do comedy for everybody, I think you just kind of have to say stuff and see what happens. And if you get consequences, then you get consequences.
By the way, that’s a very deep question. I think you try to make people laugh and you see what happens. Do you remember when you were little in school, and you would try to make people laugh, and then your teacher would be like, “You can not say that.” You’d be like, “Oh no.” And now you’re in the principal’s office, and you’re like, “I didn’t want to start a problem. I just wanted to make my friend laugh.” It’s kind of like that, and you don’t know people’s intentions. I mean, that’s a true mess of a question because you just don’t know, but everybody’s different, and everybody is entitled to their opinion and how they feel. The same way that a comedian is allowed to say a joke that they want to say, somebody’s allowed to react the way they want to react.
How do you feel like growing up in Miami plays a part in your comedy and life in general?
I just grew up in a cultural bubble. It’s like all my friends are somehow connected to their Hispanic culture. You write about what you know about, and because I’m 27, and I started comedy when I was 18, and I had just moved from Miami to Ohio for college, my material is kind of about that. It’s about being from Miami and then exploring places that aren’t Miami. When you grow up the way I did — because Miami isn’t exactly America, it is kind of its own country in a way — I think that you see some of that in my comedy, just kind of my views on how I grew up and how different I found that it was from the way that other people I met later in life grew up.
[In exaggerated Latin accent] It’s so crazy. Miami is so fun and so crazy, so Spanish, so much dancing, so many people speak in Spanish, in like the streets.
A few weeks ago on SNL, you absolutely nailed your Bad Bunny impression. How did you perfect it?
I just went into a flow state. That’s a guy we all watch so much, and I’ve had the joy of getting to hang out with him a few times. I think it just kind of worked out, and the outfit was awesome. Shout out to Tom Broecker [SNL costume designer]. I had fun doing it.
You also brought Spanish-language game show Sábado Gigante to SNL two weeks ago, which host Don Francisco praised on Instagram. How does it feel knowing you’re bringing Latinos to SNL in a way that hasn’t really been done before?
I love it. Obviously, people know how close I feel to my culture, and also I have to mention [SNL writer] Steven Castillo, who came up to me this week and said that he’s been trying to get Sábado Gigante on the show for years and hasn’t been able to, and kind of gauged my interest. I was super into it. He and Bryan Tucker, who’s a writer who’s done [recurring sketch] “What’s Up With That?” with Kenan and Dan Bulla, who’s another amazing writer who travels with Adam Sandler and is just such a talented guy. The four of us kind of came together and put the sketch together. And I’m just glad that it was fun and that people are liking it, and that we can speak so much Spanish on TV.
Where do you hope to be down the line in your comedy career?
Ay dios mio. I’m trying this new thing where I just go one day at a time, and I want a lot of things, but I don’t want to say it. I want to just do it. It’s good for my mental health to just stay focused on the challenge that each day brings, and try to stack good days, days where I feel like I’ve done something to make myself a little bit better at stand-up or at sketch writing or film writing, or acting, and then just little by little, become a more complete entertainer or comedian. I want to do more stuff, but I just want to stay focused and not be overly concerned with the future and just try to get better right now in the present.
Also, I will say interviews are hard. Interviews are not easy. Your brain is like, “Wow, what is the best way to answer this question?” And it’s over. Once you answer it, it’s over. The question is gone. Goodbye. Goodbye question. No more. It’s done, and then you just have to be like, “I hope that what I said in that second was exactly how I felt.”
When you look back at your life five, 10 years ago when you were starting up in comedy, could you have ever thought that you’d be at this point in your life now?
No, dude. Not at all! I ran into this guy last night who kind of lived on the street where I used to sell tickets. He’s out there panhandling every night. And we had a moment like, “Holy crap, man!” He was like, “Dude, I was telling these people about you. You used to sell tickets, and now you’re on TV, man.” I was like, “Isn’t it crazy?!” He’s like, “Yeah, man, it’s insane.” Truly. I’m sure people were like, “Marcello, you’re doing good, kid. You’re gonna be a big thing.” And I’m like, “Yeah, OK. Leave me alone.”
But it is really crazy, and I could have never imagined any of this stuff. That’s why it’s like so hard to talk about the future because when I was selling tickets on the street and just trying to make it, I was never really thinking specifically about what I wanted. I was just like, get funnier every day, get a little bit better every day, and then eventually things will happen. Now I’m a little more purposeful with my time, but I definitely still think that there is value in just getting a little bit better every day and kind of staying in your pocket of work and seeing what happens, because I think that if you do great work, hopefully, people will notice, and that will lead to opportunities that can open up doors for you to do more great work.
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