Marcello Hernández Lives His Stand-Up Comedy Dreams Performing on The Tonight Show
Jimmy Fallon revealed that Hernández was set to debut on The Tonight Show ahead of landing SNL, which the cast member joked "is a great consolation prize."
From telling jokes on "Weekend Update" to performing stand-up on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon stage, Marcello Hernández is living any comedian's dream.
On Thursday, March 8, 2024, Saturday Night Live cast member Hernández made his stand-up debut on The Tonight Show. But Host Jimmy Fallon revealed that Hernández's road to Studio 6B took a bit longer than they both originally intended.
Fallon shared that before Hernández first joined the SNL cast as a Featured Player in 2022, Tonight had tried to book him for a stand-up set. Yet his SNL casting "just happened too fast."
"It's obviously a dream of mine to do stand-up on this show—and I got SNL which is a great consolation prize, Lorne [Michaels], I'm very grateful," Hernández joked.
Breaking into comedy certainly hasn't always been easy for the Miami native. The New York comedy scene is anything but glamorous, which Hernández experienced for himself when he had to sell tickets to his own comedy show.
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As if that wasn't hard enough, he told Fallon that he sold them next to people who were offering a different type of high. "I did that for three years. I sold tickets on the street," he told Fallon. "And it's a hard job, because I sold tickets next to drug dealers, and no matter what I'm selling, they have a better product."
Watch SNL's Marcello Hernández perform stand-up in his Tonight Show debut
This is The Tonight Show, where dreams come true, so Fallon invited Hernández to do a short stand-up set on the fly.
"We actually have a little time left," Fallon said. "Would you want to make your Tonight Show stand-up debut?"
Hernández excitedly accepted. Leaving the interview desk, he re-entered through the curtain to perform for the excited crowd like any other comic billed on the show would.
Hernández, who brought his mother with him to The Tonight Show taping, performed a set featuring stories about his parents. He recounted how it went when he brought his dad to SNL, and how he answered his mom when she asked him, "What is the difference between a butt dial and a booty call?" It's a valid question!
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Hernández made his "Weekend Update" debut back in October 2022. In a "Behind the Sketch" video, he revealed he "was definitely super nervous, for sure. This was also an old stand-up joke of mine that I had done for a long time, so that made me more comfortable. But I think it's my first time doing a joke of mine on TV."
While Hernández keeps busy on SNL, co-writing popular Spanish-language sketches starring Pedro Pascal and Bad Bunny when he's not starring in sketches himself. Hopefully, the "Baby-Faced Dude" will return to The Tonight Show stage for more stand-up sooner rather than later.
