Horatio Sanz moves on from Saturday Night Live

An eight-year veteran of Saturday Night Live, Horatio Sanz has significant ties to Chicago. The Chilean-born performer was raised here, and he also went up through the ranks at Second City and iO to become a founding member of the influential sketch/improv troupe Upright Citizen’s Brigade. Since departing SNL last year, he’s kept busy with supporting roles in films like School For Scoundrels and Lucky You. Joined by a group of performers dubbed The Kings Of Improv (which includes fellow UCB founder Matt Walsh, MADtv’s Andy Daly, and Late Night With Conan O’Brien writer Kevin Dorff), Sanz will perform at the Lakeshore Theater on Nov. 20. Before he came to town, The A.V. Club spoke to Sanz about leaving SNL, laughing during sketches, and buying pornography.
The A.V. Club: How do you know when it’s time to leave Saturday Night Live?
Horatio Sanz: You don’t really know. It’s such a fun and easy thing once the nervousness of being there [wears off] and you’re not afraid of getting fired. Once you’re finally in a place that you’re really comfortable, that’s when you should probably be leaving, unfortunately. I think most people stay two or three years longer than they should because it’s very simple, the vacations are great, and you get good at what you do. It’s like any job, you’re like, “Oh, I know how to do this.” You walk in and you do it pretty easily. You know it’s a temporary thing, but it’s easy not to walk away from. You find yourself going, “I’ll leave next year, or I’ll leave the year after.” But it’s a job you probably shouldn’t be at for longer than five years, to be honest.
AVC: What did you learn in five years?
HS: Obviously, I don’t get people coming up to me saying, “I hate when you laugh on the show,” but I understand some people don’t like that so much. I get a lot of people going, “That was the best when you and Jimmy [Fallon] would crack each other up.”
AVC: Why do you think that bothers so many people?
HS: I think people are purists about what sketch comedy should be, and I think sometimes having too much fun can be a little annoying to some people. What I’ve learned from sketch is you can get it as perfect as you want and it’s never going to be perfect. Especially my process and Jimmy’s process—it was never to be perfect on camera, it was to show we were having fun.
AVC: By design though, the show can’t really be perfect.
HS: Lorne [Michaels] always said that we don’t do a show because it’s ready; we do a show because it’s 11:30. That’s the truth. People are like, “Oh, the show sucks.” The show doesn’t suck. It’s pretty fucking good for being created on a Tuesday and up on Saturday. I’ll challenge any group of individuals to do anything better in that time. It’s not an easy feat. They’re really funny people, and if something’s not that funny it’s because the host has a word in it, and the producers have a word in it, and sometimes they make decisions for that show that’s not my sensibility or the hipper comic fans’ sensibility. I always wanted the show to be more like Mr. Show, but you can only fight so hard.