Seth Meyers dove into the SNL archives to reveal an axed sketch that cast Brian Williams as famed Spanish singer-songwriter Julio Iglesias.
Meyers recited an excerpt from the nixed sketch during the latest episode of The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, which looks back on the November 3, 2007 episode hosted by Williams, who was then the anchor of NBC Nightly News.
“I do think there’s value in me dryly reading a [Will] Forte sketch,” Meyers explained as he teased “A Couple Minutes in the Van with Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias.” The sketch, written by Forte and John Solomon, would have paired Williams’ Iglesias impression with Forte as Nelson. But according to Meyers, neither one’s imitation was quite on point.
“I will say, [Willie Nelson is] an impression Forte thinks he has,” Meyers joked. “And Julio Iglesias was an impression that Brian Williams definitely didn’t have, but it was fun to watch him do it.”
Naturally, the sketch opened with Don Pardo announcing, “And now, A Couple Minutes in the Van with Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias!” before opening on the two singers belting out their hit duet “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.”
“Whoa, Julio, that was two coats of wonderful,” Forte’s Nelson says.
“Gracias, Willie. You are a true amigo,” replies Williams’ Iglesias. “And I could sing this canción every day for the rest of mi vida.”
Nelson goes on to ask Iglesias if he’s ever heard of biodiesel, prompting an extended back-and-forth about the fuel source that was particularly topical in 2007. “I think this biodiesel could really change the world for the better,” Nelson says. “I mean, guess what this van runs on.”
“Biodiesel?” asks Iglesias.
“Close! Biodiesel,” Nelson responds.
Unfortunately, Meyers ended the reading around the time Nelson suggests he and Iglesias perform a duet to get the word out about biodiesel fuel.
The sketch ultimately didn’t make it past dress rehearsal. “I don’t remember it going well enough to even be in the conversation between dress and air,” Meyers recalled.
Later in the podcast, Andy Samberg texted Solomon to ask about any recollections he might have of the ill-fated sketch. “Ate sh*t so hard,” Solomon texted back. “In my recollection, all we had was that he says ‘biodiesel’ a bunch… which, to be fair, is more than enough for a four-minute sketch.”
“A Couple Minutes in the Van” was just one piece of material left on the cutting room floor that week. While the episode gave viewers memorable moments like the “Brian Diaries” Digital Short, Meyers and The Lonely Island did note that the anchor was careful about what kind of material he could involve himself in, despite being game for a lot.
“He was also respectful of his position as a newscaster,” Jorma Taccone said, “because I do remember him being like, ‘Certain things I cannot do.’” That included being part of the initial staging of Forte’s sex offender character Jeff Montgomery, which made it to air with Jon Hamm the following year.
Akiva Schaffer also recalled Williams opting not to deliver a certain joke from behind his Nightly News anchor desk. Williams explained “that there’s a value to the desk, meaning it’s a place for the truth, and [he didn’t] want to besmirch it by sitting behind it and doing a goof-off.”
