"Everything happens for a reason": Adam Sandler Was 'Hurt a lot' When SNL Fired Him, Got Back His Revenge on NBC in the Most Ridiculous Fashion (2024)

Adam Sandler got a fax machine from NBC after getting fired from SNL

Actor and comedian Adam Sandler is a man with many accolades to his name. From being a quintessential rom-com lead to bringing his humor to the screens since he was in his early 20s, Sandler has a pretty impressive portfolio. But did you know that before he started doing movies, he was part of Saturday Night Live, the comic sketch show on NBC?

Adam Sandler was a cast member on SNL from 1990 to 1995, and part of many hit sketches in his tenure as a writer and eventually a featured artist. But in 1995, even before his contract expired, he was shown the door by the show executives. Till date, no one really knows what happened behind the scene that led to Sandler being fired from the show. But he got his revenge on NBC soon, and how!

Adam Sandler Was Fired by NBC From SNL

Soon after leaving SNL, Adam Sandler began working in movies, and found success as a leading man. But still, no one ever knew why was kicked out of the sketch comic show. But in 2014, in a conversation with Daily Beast,he revealed that he was indeed fired from SNL, along with cast-mate Chris Farley.

“Yes, we were [fired]. We kind of quit at the same time as being fired. It was the end of the run for us. The fact that me and him got fired? Who knows. We were on it for a few years, had our run, and everything happens for a reason. We kind of understood because we did our thing. It hurt a lot at the time because we were young and didn’t know where we were going, but it all worked out.”

Back in 1995, he appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, right after being fired, and found the perfect way to take revenge on the channel.

Adam Sandler Had NBC Buy Him a Fax Machine

To everyone’s astonishment, Adam Sandler demanded a Fax machine from NBC, when they asked him to appear as a guest on their talk show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien. In a way, it was the perfect revenge, metaphorically, right on the spot. Given his firing came out of the blue, getting a fax machine was his way of saying a simple fax, communicating the problem, would have sufficed.

Appearing on CONAN , he recalled the incident with the host, who was doing his own show on TBS by then. O’Brien asked the 57-year-old about him coming back to NBC to do the talk show, and how he agreed, but on such a weird note.

”I got fired by ‘Saturday Night Live’ and then that summer … I loved doing your show … but my manager called me and said, ‘NBC want you to do Conan,’ and he goes, ‘It sweeps,’ and I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he goes, ‘Well it sweep sweeps.’ He said, ‘They want you on there,’ and I thought, ‘They don’t like me, they just fired me,’ and he was like, ‘No, no it’s for ‘Conan’ though and it’s not ‘Saturday Night Live’.'”

He further added,

”To make a big stand, I was young and I was angry, I said, ‘Well, you tell them I will do Conan’s show but they have to buy me a fax machine.’ A week earlier I asked my brother, ‘Everybody’s got these fax machines man, can I get one?’ and he goes, ‘They’re like $400,’ and I went, ‘Whoa … let’s wait on that but eventually I want to get one.’ And then this came along and I was like, ‘There it is, baby!'”

Adam Sandler can be seen in his most recent release Spaceman, a science fiction drama, available on Netflix.