The ‘Yes’

FERRELL [Mr. Michaels] never really has a moment where he says, “So, welcome to the show.” He phrases it, “So, we’re bringing you to New York.” And I thought, God, another audition? And he goes, “Cheri’s going to be there, too.” And that’s when it hit me: Oh, my God. I got the gig. But I didn’t have a celebratory moment with him. Then I got self-conscious, like it came across that I didn’t care about getting the job. So I stood up real quick, and I’m like: “Well, gosh, thank you. I just want to shake your hand.” And he said, “Do whatever you have to do.”

OTERI I waited for [Mr. Ferrell] outside, and we said nothing to each other. We held each other’s hands and walked to the parking lot and then jumped and let out the biggest scream in the world. We stopped at a restaurant and called our dads.

HADER I knew I had been hired, and I knew that Andy [Samberg] had been hired. Then I get on the plane with him, and I’m acting like: “Hey, can you believe this? We’re going to be on ‘SNL.’ ” And Andy was like, “God, do you think it’s going to be both of us, or are they just going to pick one of us?” And I started to realize: “Oh, they haven’t told him yet. Do I tell him?” So I just sat there talking with him this whole plane ride, as he’s like, “What’s going on?” I knew, and it was awkward.

ARMISEN That night everyone who auditioned went to dinner, and Marci Klein called me on my cellphone and said, “I think we’re going to make this work out.” I saved the number on this little Nokia phone as “Best Call Ever.”

SHANNON I went from being a waitress to doing “Saturday Night Live.” I also went from doing these little stage shows, where I would cold-call people I met at my restaurants, making 500 calls to get 200 people to come to my live show. When I got “SNL.” I took my box of names and phone numbers and I threw it in the trash.

HADER I went from kindergarten to Harvard. I took the attitude of: I don’t really know this, so don’t try to pretend you know more than you do. At an after-party at my fourth season, Lorne said: “Hey, you know, you got the job. Relax. You can stay as long as you want. Have fun.”