Shortly after Martha Stewart's release from prison in 2005, she received a call from "Saturday Night Live's" head honcho, Lorne Michaels, inviting her to host the sketch comedy show. But to Stewart's disappointment, she had to turn down the offer, for legal reasons.
During an appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” on Monday, Stewart spoke of the letdown, saying, “I wanted to, and they asked me as I was coming out of Alderson, that camp I was in for a while . . . and my parole officer wouldn’t give me the time to do it … That b****rd! I still have his name and his number.”
The missed "SNL" opportunity came shortly after Stewart had served five months at the Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia for fraud and conspiracy in an insider trading case in 2004. After her 2005 release, Stewart spent five months in home confinement and two years of supervised probation.
Under parole, Stewart says she was only allowed to be out of her house eight hours a day, which would have made it next to impossible to navigate the comedy series' demanding hosting duties and rigorous schedule.
"I’m so pissed," Stewart told Fallon, reflecting on the offer. "But maybe someday.”
Numerous "SNL" cast members like Amy Poehler, David Spade, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Chloe Fineman have impersonated Stewart for sketches throughout past seasons, and the chance to see Stewart appear in one herself in an upcoming episode is something fans would love, including Fallon.
“You’d be a fantastic host,” Fallon said.
“Oh, I would,” Stewart agreed. “I would be amazing. Start a campaign.”
In her recent Netflix documentary, "Martha," Stewart opens up about her experiences with her high-profile fraud case and her subsequent prison sentence, which included a day stint in solidarity confinement.
“It was so horrifying to me that I had to go through that to be a trophy for these idiots in the U.S. attorney's office. Those prosecutors should’ve been put in a Cuisinart and turned on high,” she says in the documentary.
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