Star Trek: The Next Generation's Brent Spiner revealed he had a small part to play in Patrick Stewart's famous time hosting Saturday Night Live. A story about the Data actor's attempt to get on the show is making rounds after his co-star's death, and I absolutely love it.
Spiner's story popped up in a special video from Dropping Names With Brent And Jonny, which compiled each time the hosts talked about their former co-star and friend, Stewart. This led to a hilarious story in which Spiner tried to get on SNL, only for them to inquire about Stewart instead:
My now-wife, she was a publicist on [TNG], and when she became a publicist she said, 'Is there anything you would like to do? I'll see if I can get that for you.' I said, 'Yeah, I want to host Saturday Night Live.' She said, 'Ok,' and she called them and she said, 'Well, I called them and they said we'd like to have Patrick Stewart.'
Brent Spiner may be the funniest person in Star Trek, which is evident enough from stories from co-stars and the Generations movie. That was enough to get him on Night Court, but Saturday Night Live is reserved for the leads. As such, their staff wanted Patrick Stewart, and as we know, Stewart is who they got.
Patrick Stewart only hosted SNL once in the 90s, but the night lives on in the show's history thanks to a story John Mulaney worked into his stand-up comedy. Mulaney stressed that Stewart's delivery when introducing Salt-N-Pepa was interesting because he sounded surprised by the Pepa bit of it, though people debate whether it really was that silly after watching the clip.
As for other stand-out moments of the Saturday Night Live appearance, there are a few skits that stand out. There's a skit I love that combined Star Trek: The Next Generation with The Love Boat, as well as another about him working in an erotic bakery shop. Both had me laughing out loud when I watched, so those who can seek it out certainly should.
It's yet another story about Stewart appearing on another show, which I found just after writing about Jeremy Clarkson having him on the set of Top Gear. I'll always appreciate the wild Star Trek stories about Stewart, but I've heard a good deal of them already. Learning his experience on other shows is great, and further illustrates what kind of man he was behind the scenes.
Both his Star Trek and Marvel co-stars insist that Patrick Stewart was exceptionally kind. He played a Captain on television and a super-powered Professor in the X-Men, and by all accounts, both were a good show of just how heroic he was as a real-life individual. As a fan, it's great to see the man measured up to all I imagined he'd be.
CinemaBlend continues to offer condolences to the family of Patrick Stewart, and the friends who continue to mourn him. It's been great to see all the stories hitting the internet, and how it's given fans comfort in the wake of a tremendous loss to the Star Trek world.
