
The comedian behind one of the Saturday Night Live docuseries’ most talked-about moments is telling his side of the story: Henry Zebrowski, aka “the naked guy.”
His ill-fated audition first came to light last week after it was featured in the first episode of SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, which dives into the history and process of auditioning for SNL. In the episode, former producer and head of talent Lindsay Shookus recalls the memorable audition. “Three minutes in, he came out from the wall and he was completely naked,” she remembers as the documentary shows the footage. “It was such a shock. I have no idea what he did at that point… He was ‘the naked guy.’”
Now Zebrowski is telling his side of the story on a new episode of Side Stories, a sub-series of his popular comedy-horror podcast Last Podcast on the Left.
According to Zebrowski, his audition’s nude moment wasn’t as unexpected to SNL’s producers as the documentary suggests. “It’s just funny because they knew what I was going to do,” he says. “Everything that happens on the 8H stage does not happen on accident. My audition was ran several times. They all had my tapes. They saw [Zebrowski’s sketch group] Murderfist… They’d research you. They know you extremely well by the time you hit that stage.”
Zebrowski also reveals that the audition went over well enough in the room. “I was on hold for the entire year,” he reveals, referring to a deal in which the show reserves the right to hire him.
“I made the sound guy laugh, which is how I knew I’d got something somewhere,” he went on. However, a bigger accolade would soon follow. “I’ll always remember Lorne Michaels’ favorite bit was the naked bit. I’ll always remember that was the specific note he gave. Loved the naked monologue.”
Shookus notes in the documentary that the nudity was not why Zebrowski wasn’t hired, and the comedian details their decision a bit more on his podcast. “The note I got back was… ‘We don’t do you anymore,’” he says. “The vibe of the show changed… It’s basically more current-events-based, hardcore-impressions-based.”
“I was a sloppy clown… and it was a thing that [SNL] sort of liked before,” he explains. By 2010, however, “They just kind of weren’t going for that angle. They were going for very clean-cut people with that style of, like, they can go straight from this to a Revlon commercial to a network sitcom, and there’s no alt in there.”
Zebrowski hadn’t known ahead of time that he was appearing in the documentary, and recounts how he found out. “I’m sitting in the airport in Detroit,” he explains. “I get one text that was like, ‘Oh my god, Henry. I’m watching you naked.’” He didn’t immediately think much of it, however, because he’s also appeared nude on Netflix Presents: The Characters and on YouTube.
“All of a sudden my inbox explodes,” he recalls.
Despite the unexpected vitality of an audition he performed 15 years ago, Zebrowski makes clear that he has largely enjoyed the experience. “I am just so tickled that this f*cking happened,” he says. “The only thing I would take umbrage with… It felt like they introduced my audition and then it sounded like I just died. Like I never did anything ever again… But I also still act, and I still perform.”
Indeed, since the audition, the actor and comedian has starred in shows like Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell and Heroes Reborn, landed a role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, and scored that episode of The Characters. Last Podcast on the Left, which he’s co-hosted since 2011, has also become a success in the podcast space.
Zebrowski was given the opportunity to audition after being cast on the 2010 sitcom pilot Beach Lane, which was produced by Michaels and Marci Klein.
When it comes to the audition itself, Zebrowski doesn’t voice any major regrets—particularly surrounding the naked bit and its inclusion in the new SNL docuseries.
“ I’m happy it happened. It’s crazy that it happened,” he says. “It made me realize… every single thing that I tried to destroy about myself, or change about myself, that I wanted to make like somebody else, is why I have this job now, and why I have this life now.”
“I’m extremely thankful this happened, and it’s f*cking hilarious,” he adds. “It sort of feels like a revenge. It sort of feels like, ‘Well, in the end, you had to include me.’”
Zebrowski also clarifies that there’s no bad blood between him and Shookus for bringing up the story in the documentary. “ Lindsay Shookus, I have no problems with. I got some information. I talked with some people. It was not meant to hurt me. It was not meant to be upset with or be angry at me.”
You can hear Zebrowski’s full recap of his now-storied Saturday Night Live audition on a new episode of Side Stories, out now on YouTube and podcast platforms.
Thank you for referencing the prolific career that Henry Zebrowski has had after this one off audition. I started the SNL Doc last night, but I had not gotten to the episode w his audition. So when I turned on this weeks “Side Stories” on the Last Podcast network earlier today, I was taken completely by surprise when they talked about Henry’s audition tape and its reaction. He is such a familiar voice, as I’ve been listening to LPOTL since 2018, and have seen him in Wolf of Wall Street, his adult swim show, Crashing with Pete Holmes … the notion that people are referring to him as “the naked guy” like he’s some “never was” is kinda mind-blowing. But he really seems to be taking it all in stride. 2 Real 😆