Julia Louis-Dreyfus gets candid on her 'miserable' time in 'SNL' and its 'sexist' work environment to Stephen Colbert
Julia Louis-Dreyfus opened up about her unpleasant experience as a cast member on 'Saturday Night Live' and its' 'sexist' environment on Saturday.
Dreyfus, 58, had joined the cast when she was 21 years old in 1982 as a comedian and lasted three seasons. As reported by The Daily Mail, while speaking to Stephen Colbert at a benefit for Montclair Film, she admitted that she was very naive when she had joined the cast and "didn't really understand how the dynamics of the place worked."
"It was very sexist — very sexist. People were doing crazy drugs at the time. I was oblivious. I just thought, 'Oh, wow! He's got a lot of energy!" she continued. The 58-year-old also explained to Colbert that she did not understand how comedians could perform while in an inebriated state.
Even though she did not have the best experience over three seasons, the experience had helped her to develop a system that guided her in choosing future projects. "It was a pretty brutal time, but it was a very informative time for me," she shared before adding that she won't do "any more of this crap unless it was fun."
"It is important and so basic, but I just felt like, 'I don't have to; I don't have to do this, I don't have to walk and crawl through this kind of nasty glass if it's not ultimately going to be fulfilling.' And so that's how I sort of moved forward from that moment and I sort of applied that kind of 'fun meter' to every job I've had since and it definitely has been very helpful," she continued.
Due to her being on 'SNL', she made one of the most important connections in her career when Larry David joined as a staff writer. Around four years later, David co-created Seinfield with Jerry Seinfield and cast Dreyfus as the female lead Elaine Benes. She then went on to make several appearances on David's 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and starred in her own shows 'The New Adventures of Old Christine' and 'Veep'.
