When It Comes to Being Fired From 'SNL,' Adam Sandler Truly Has No Hard Feelings About It
We're pretty sure Adam Sandler did okay after he was fired from 'Saturday Night Live.'
Updated July 29 2025, 12:38 p.m. ET
The Saturday Night Live character-to-movie pipeline is rich with incredibly hilarious examples. While The Blues Brothers is technically the first SNL-inspired film, many point to 1992's Wayne's World as the breakout movie that showed everyone that a character can stretch beyond a five-minute sketch.
Although Wayne's World 2 wasn't nearly as popular, it was still an excellent time. After that, no SNL movies ever quite reached the success that Wayne's World had. However, a ton of SNL cast members went on to make some of the best comedies to date. This is especially true for Adam Sandler, who was fired from SNL in 1995. What happened? Let's get into it.
Why was Adam Sandler fired from SNL?
In December 2019, Adam opened up to Howard Stern about his abrupt exit from the sketch comedy show. While it seems crazy that the undisputed king of '90s and early-2000s comedy would ever be fired from a TV program, Adam pretty much confirmed that both him and Chris Farley were released from the show amidst falling ratings and a radical decision to shake things up for viewers, which ushered in a new crop of talent in Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, Cheri Oteri, and Chris Kattan.
"At the time, I was hurt because I didn't know what else I was going to do," the actor said to Stern. "I know it wasn't Lorne [Michaels'] decision. The NBC head dude, I know he didn't like our gang." Luckily, Adam has been extremely successful post-SNL.
Back in May 2019, the comedian returned to his roots for the first time since being let go to guest host the iconic show. When asked by Stern if this was a mic-drop moment for him, Adam told the long-time radio personality, "I might have been like that 15 years ago if I came on and did well." He went on to say, "I'm f-----g old enough now. I realize what Saturday Night Live did for me." Adam is also known for his musical skills. Let's revisit some classics.
"Lunchlady Land" is an ode to an unsung hero.
Adam was a huge fan of musical comedy, not in a show-tunes, toe-tapping broadway style, but the man loved whipping out his acoustic guitar and singing some beautifully weird and hilarious songs. A huge hit was Lunch Lady Land, a track that he performed with Chris Farley, who, dressed like a cafeteria server from everyone's public school ever, absolutely killed it with audiences and is still a favorite today.
The Operaman character was always a confusing joy.
If you've ever watched a single Adam Sandler movie, then you'll know that the man is no stranger to some pretty off-kilter and weird comedy. Opera Man is one of those characters who'd show up on Weekend Update and leave audiences simultaneously laughing and scratching their heads.
"The Chanukah Song" is all about representation.
Adam's greatest musical hit, however, came in the form of a famous holiday song that celebrated Chanukah. There's plenty of Christmas songs, and a lot of them were mega hits, but what about the Festival of Lights? Why hasn't Chanukah gotten its own radio play? That's what Adam probably asked himself before he penned the smash hit that was on radio stations everywhere.