Ana Gasteyer recalls breaking during ‘SNL’ sketch with live donkeys: ‘I kept losing it’

Ana Gasteyer knows how to keep her cool in the midst of utter chaos… except when donkeys are involved. 

While reflecting on her six-year run on Saturday Night Live, the comedian told TODAY‘s Savannah Guthrie, “I’m pretty good at not breaking.” But when asked if she ever fully broke character to laugh, Gasteyer admitted that there was one exception.

“There was this crazy donkey sketch that ultimately did make it to air. It’s called Riding My Donkey,” she shared. “It was a bunch of news commentators sitting on donkeys and debating politics.”

Gasteyer, who starred in the 1998 season 23 sketch alongside Will Ferrell, Tim Meadows, and Darrell Hammond, said that she struggled to keep a straight face during their practice run, ahead of the live taping.

“The donkeys went insane and went to all the wrong cameras,” she explained. “And Will is amazing because when he breaks, it’s the funniest thing in the world because he’ll keep going, but he just has tears streaming down his face.”

Throughout the chaos, Gasteyer said she slipped in and out of character, unable to keep from smiling. “I was doing a newscaster from CNN, and the whole impression was just like a smile. I kept losing it and having to go back and forth,” she said, demonstrating her face going from smiling to serious.

But even though she slipped up during rehearsals, Gasteyer added, “That was the only time. But then I held it together for air.”

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Keeping her cool during the actual sketch is all the more impressive in retrospect. Though the donkeys mostly managed to hit their marks, there was still plenty of chaos during the version taped that Saturday night — including Meadows being thrown from his donkey a minute into the faux talk show. 

The wacky sketch indeed sees the quartet discussing politics — including the then-unfolding Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal — while sitting atop live donkeys, swinging lassos, smoking pipes, and being shot by stray arrows.

Gasteyer also reflected on another of her beloved sketches — “NPR’s Delicious Dish: Schweddy Balls,” in which she starred alongside Molly Shannon and Alec Baldwin. After showing a clip of the sketch, Guthrie praised the actress for holding it together during the sketch filled with dirty puns and hilarious one-liners. Gasteyer admitted that it wasn’t easy to remain in character.

“The audience went so unexpectedly insane because we had done those characters a few times,” she recalled. “But, the genius of putting them in that situation where they were speaking in such a deep double entendre, like, the audience went crazy.”

SNL is set to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a three-hour primetime special airing on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 8 pm ET.