Nerding Out with Taran Killam on Hamilton, Get Out, and his Post-SNL Career
He’ll tell you this himself, but from 2010 to 2016, Taran Killam was living the dream. As a key cast member on Saturday Night Live, he performed an endless number of memorable skits and shorts, while working alongside his heroes and role models on a weekly basis. Even after his abrupt exit from the show last summer, it shouldn’t be a surprise to hear that Killam is just as bright and optimistic about the future as ever: he’s currently starring on broadway and wrapping up his directorial debut and passion project, which will hit theaters later this year. After all, this is a guy who’s been working in show business since he was a teenager: I first knew him from a bit part in Nickelodeon’s The Amanda Show, while others may recognize him from the Disney Channel original film Stuck In The Suburbs, or a short run on MADTV that preceded his more visible run on SNL.
Right now, the 35-year-old is finishing up his Broadway debut, a three-month run as King George on a show you may have heard of called Hamilton (his final night is April 13), before focusing solely on finishing up and releasing Why We’re Killing Gunther. In his debut as a director, he also plays a starring role (alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others). After seven years in the big apple—a relocation that came along with the gig on SNL—Killam, along with his wife, actress Cobie Smulders (of How I Met your Mother fame), and their two children are also planning on a late-summer move back to California, from where the comedic actor hails.
Before all of that, though, I had the chance to hang out with the very funny actor, writer, and director at Budin, in Greenpoint. Killam was a joy to talk with, touching on everything from the stuff we’re mutually geeking out on (superhero movies, Get Out, and Star Wars), to his experience with Trump, the Los Angeles Rams, and now his own post-SNL career.
Brooklyn Magazine: I know you’re a big fan of nerd stuff, like me. Did you see the new Spider-Man trailer?
Taran Killam: It’s so good, isn’t it?
Yeah, it looks so cool.
It’s so good.
I’ve loved everything Michael Keaton has done since Birdman.
He’s the best. The original Batman, that movie made me want to be in movies. The line in it where he goes “I’m nothing without the suit.” “If you’re nothing without this suit, then you shouldn’t have it.” That’s so good. It’s such a good moment, already, in the trailer.
I’m excited.
And Justice League… just blowing it. I just think they’re just blowing it, because, like… there is no reveal that they’re saving, because at the end of their movie [Last year’s Batman v Superman: The Dawn of Justice], they reveal it. They show the rocks, and [Superman] is still alive. They’ve already revealed that he’s still alive.
Exactly. I don’t know who they think they’re fooling.
People are saying the movie is so far off, but, still—what this trailer should have done is: [MAKES KABOOM SOUND], and you see him land, and you don’t show him, but you show the fist, or you show whatever. And then in the next one you can do a little bit more if you want.
And you know they’re thinking about it so much, like, damage control, after last year’s fiascos.
Oh my gosh. Totally. Yeah, I know. I’m curious to see what’ll happen with The Batman, and all that stuff too.
A few weeks ago I spoke with Alex Karpovsky from Girls, and he did a lot of scenes with Adam Driver, so I was kind of subconsciously hoping something related to Star Wars would slip. But I doubt he knows either, with all these NDAs and stuff.
Lena [Dunham] was hosting (SNL) when it was first announced that he was in [the new Star Wars films], and I remember her saying [in a pretty solid Dunham impression for such impromptu notice] ‘I asked him, and he won’t tell me anything. And I said, well, what’s your character’s name?’ She said she asked him “Are you a [sic]wickie?”… and that was disappointing to hear. And then she’s like, “He said his name was, like, Ashcore Rockney,” And I was like, that is not the name [LAUGHS].
It’s believable enough though!
It’s pretty close—Kylo Ren. Yeah.
Whenever I’m reading or watching the news and see Reince Priebus’s name, I always think how Star Wars-y that name is.
[LAUGHS] He is a trade federation senator for sure.
So, switching gears a little bit, but I’m 24, so when I was growing up and watching Nickelodeon and first getting into comedy shows, one of the first ones I watched was The Amanda Show.
Amazing! That’s so cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEJpFjPFULA