Steve Martin Turns Down Offer to Play Tim Walz on 'SNL'
"I said, 'Lorne, I'm not an impressionist. You need someone who can really nail the guy.' I was picked because I have gray hair and glasses."
UPDATE (8/8, 9:20 a.m. ET): In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, Martin revealed that Lorne Michaels called to offer him the role, but he turned it down. "I wanted to say no and, by the way, he wanted me to say no," the actor told the publication. "I said, 'Lorne, I'm not an impressionist. You need someone who can really nail the guy.' I was picked because I have gray hair and glasses."
"It's ongoing," Martin added of the SNL gig. "It's not like you do it once and get applause and never do it again. Again, they need a real impressionist to do that. They're gonna find somebody really, really good. I'd be struggling."
"I just learned that Tim Walz wants to go on the road with Marty Short," Martin posted on Threads, referring to his longtime partner in comedic crime and Only Murders in the Building co-star Martin Short.
CNN opened up the debate on who should play Walz, citing Vanity Fair's nomination of Al Franken, Jim Gaffigan and The Office's Jim O'Heir alongside Martin. "I don't mind being in the mix but that's the best pic of me that they could come up with?" O'Heir wrote on Twitter. Damn it, Jerry!