Every now and then "Saturday Night Live" really surprises me with its castings. The casting of Sarah Sherman (better known in the alt-comedy community as Sarah Squirm) was one example, while the casting of Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett in 2013 remains one of the best decisions Lorne Michaels ever made.

In 2007, the duo launched the comedy group Good Neighbor, along with Nick Rutherford and Dave McCurry, and created some of the greatest sketches ever to appear online for their YouTube channel GoodNeighborStuff. Mooney in particular embodied a kind of subversive alt-comedy brilliance that wasn't so removed from the outrageous rebelliousness at the heart of another early 2000s comedy touchstone: "Tim & Eric Great Show, Great Job" — also launched in 2007 . , and Mooney and "Awesome Show" star Tim Heidecker later performed as leather-jacketed hacker comedian characters, with Mooneys Bruce Chandling eventually appearing for multiple segments on "SNL" (Heidecker's "An Evening With Tim Heidecker" is now on Hulu and a must watch).

Fortunately, during his nine-year tenure on the show, Mooney was given some space to bring his unique humor to the fore, even repurposing specific Good Neighbor sketches as Inside SoCal. But while it was great to see that kind of comedy get a mainstream shine, it also felt a little like some of the edges were, of necessity, sanded down. After all, unlike The Awesome Show, SNL isn't a fringe series with a cult following, it's a damn cultural institution at this point, and it can't constantly indulge in the alt-comedy stylings of its more adventurous Garde employments.

So it's interesting to learn that Mooney found his way into the show's roster by performing as one of its most awkward and decidedly non-mainstream characters, even using "SNL" impresario Lorne Michaels for a kick.

Between his Good Neighbor years and joining "SNL," Kyle Mooney created segments on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and "The Sports Show With Norm McDonald," playing his awkward interview character who constantly stumbled over his words and mumbled in microphone while on assignment to cover some live event. Many of these segments exist independently on Muni YouTube channel and are nothing short of genius, with the comedian somehow successfully faking severe social anxiety disorder for laughs.

It's the kind of thing that would normally be labeled "anti-comedy", with Mooney reveling in the sheer awkwardness that comes from his interactions with members of the public. But there's really no such thing as anti-comedy—if something's funny, it's funny—and Mooney's interview character is a timeless example.

Still, that's not something "SNL" is known for these days, with the show having to maintain at least some sort of broad appeal. However, that didn't stop Mooney from embracing his nervous little interviewee for his audition. The actor, who recently directed Rachel Zegler in the 100% Historically Inaccurate Comedy Y2K talked about his audition for the four-part documentary series "SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night," where he revealed that his performance didn't go so well, especially when he intentionally mispronounced Lorne Michaels' name as part of the act. "I was like, 'Oh, I want to open my audition like I'm hosting Saturday Night Live,'" he said. "I was like, 'Wow, I can't believe I'm here in front of 30 Rockers.' on Lonnie Meekers," and he didn't get any response, and that was the first thing I did, and I was like, "Oh, no!"

Kyle Mooney is far from the only cast member to talk about how they thought they screwed up their "SNL" audition. In fact, almost every cast member who has recounted their audition has a similar story about a certain joke or not getting anything from the producers. But it's clear that Mooney's inventive take on the audition impressed Lorne Michaels and co.

Sarah Sherman talked about a similar experience at "Live with Kelly and Mark" show, telling the hosts how she was worried about the audition because her stand-up routine was "a bit grotesque". She continued:

"I was worried, like, 'Maybe I shouldn't act like this in front of future employers,' but whatever I did, I went for it anyway, it was crazy, and then when they hired me I was like, 'Oh, I guess they're crazy.' .

All of which begs the question of why "SNL" doesn't let comedians like Sherman and Mooney do more of their own thing. During their time on the show, both comedians got a chance to showcase their unique sensibilities, with Lorne even bringing his back to one of the Munis digital shorts when he mistakenly referred to the comedian as "Kevin." But these moments were always sandwiched between some truly awful sketches that would have benefited from a more subversively energetic cast like Sherman and Mooney. That season 50 premiere, for example, was one of the scarier episodes in the show's history. limping through stale parts and wasting the brilliant Jean Smart.

What's more, while we've seen Mooney's interview character several times over his nine years on the show, there's something vaguely offensive about watching some of those segments marked as "cut for time" on the SNL YouTube channel — like, you really reduced something like this and keep it"Real Housewives of Santa Fe?That aside, we largely have "SNL" to thank for giving Mooney the platform to go out and do the wonderful amazing comedy "Brigsby Ar" and "Y2K," without which we also wouldn't have Muni's brilliant marketing video.