Will Forte details grueling return to “SNL” for Glen Powell's MacGruber sketch: 'It really was like the old days'
- - Will Forte details grueling return to “SNL” for Glen Powell's MacGruber sketch: 'It really was like the old days'
Wesley StenzelFebruary 7, 2026 at 10:30 PM
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Will Forte as MacGruber on 'Saturday Night Live'
Esther Kuhn/NBC
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Will Forte tells EW he got "very little sleep" as he prepared to revive MacGruber for Glen Powell's Saturday Night Live hosting gig.
The comedian first played the character as an SNL cast member, then for a film and TV series.
"It really was like the old days," says the actor, who's currently partnering with Teva to promote awareness for Huntington's disease.
Will Forte makes writing MacGruber sound as stressful as, well, being MacGruber.
The Last Man on Earth star tells Entertainment Weekly about the whirlwind saga that led to his signature Saturday Night Live character's return while promoting his Huntington's disease awareness campaign with Teva.
Forte says that Glen Powell was instrumental in getting MacGruber back on the air when the Running Man actor hosted SNL in November.
Glen Powell and Chloe Fineman on 'Saturday Night Live'
Esther Kuhn/NBC
"It came pretty late in the game," Forte says of the sketch. "I know Glen a little bit through friends and so he had reached out. My friend put us in touch 'cause he was coming to host for the first time and just had a couple questions about what the week was gonna be like. So we had a nice chat about that. And he said he had a MacGruber idea."
Forte explains that he was working on the second season of Netflix's The Four Seasons with fellow SNL alum Tina Fey in Beacon, N.Y., when conversations transpired about reviving MacGruber for Powell's episode.
"I was like, 'Okay, I don't think I could even do it if they wanted me to,'" he remembers. "But I didn't know what they had in mind. I thought, 'Oh, maybe they just want MacGruber to come walk out in the monologue' or something like that."
The comedian knew he was in for something more involved when he heard that the SNL team wanted "a traditional MacGruber," which ultimately ended up being a six-minute sketch in which the title hero (Forte) tries to evade questions from his allies (played by Powell and cast member Chloe Fineman) about his presence in the Epstein files.
"So me and my buddy John Solomon and Jorma Taccone — the original MacGruber team — we just started working and stayed up super late," Forte remembers. "It was really like old times, 'cause in those old SNL writing days, you are so sleep deprived. So it felt like home."
Forte says that juggling SNL, Four Seasons, and his Huntington's awareness campaign was no easy feat.
"It was a couple nights of getting very little sleep and having to try to write in the cracks of Four Seasons stuff, and then go act in some Four Seasons scenes and then run into the computer and writing, and then going into the city, staying up til 3 to write, and then waking up at 6 to shoot MacGruber and then shooting it, and then going right up to Beacon again to do this night shoot," he remembers.
Will Forte as MacGruber on 'Saturday Night Live'
Esther Kuhn/NBC
"And then I had to come back down on Saturday for this Huntington's awareness campaign with Teva. We were shooting something that Saturday, and that's the day you're editing it," he continues. "And then as soon as the Teva shoot was over, I raced over to 30 Rock and tried to edit it. So, man, it really was like the old days."
The comedian reflects on how the new MacGruber experience compared to his original SNL run. "Back then, when all you're doing is focusing on SNL, you're always thinking like, 'Oh man, if we could have only had even 30 more minutes!'" he says. "But this was tough 'cause it was also all three of us — me, Jorma, and John — spread out all over the place. John was in California in Lone Pine with very bad reception. Jorma had been in an accident where he fell off a ladder. So he was still on pain pills every once in a while. But we did it! It was really fun."
Forte, an SNL cast member from 2002-2010, first played the character on a Jan. 20, 2007 episode of the legendary sketch show. A spoof of 1980s adventure series MacGyver, MacGruber recurred nearly a dozen times during the actor's run on the show, and again when he hosted in 2022. The fan-favorite character launched a less successful feature film and, later, an eight-episode series on Peacock.
Will Forte in Los Angeles on Aug. 14, 2025
Amy Sussman/Getty
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Forte partnered with Teva to raise awareness for Huntington's disease after his brother-in-law, Douglas, was diagnosed with the condition, an inherited disorder in which nerve cells in the brain decay over time, affecting movement, cognitive ability, and mental health.
"More people have Huntington's than have ALS, but everybody knows ALS, so that's why we're trying to get the word out about it," Forte explains. "We're trying to get some support and a bigger community going to support the people who have Huntington's, and to teach the people who don't have it about it."
Forte offers his perspective on supporting the Huntington's community. "The more you can be there to support your loved ones who are going through it and create a big community around them, the better," he says. "And to talk about it. Just talk about it. The more you talk about it, the better. 'cause It's easy to just get scared about, 'Oh, am I gonna say the right thing? What do I say?' But saying anything is better than saying nothing."
You can learn more about Forte's family's experience with Huntington's disease on the HonestlyHD website.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
