Ryan Reynolds rewrote his joke about Blake Lively’s feud with Justin Baldoni for Saturday Night Live’s anniversary special at the last minute, the show’s veteran cue card handler has revealed.
Wally Feresten, a beloved character on the show in his own right, was speaking to Australian radio show The Fox’s Fifi, Fev & Nick, after the 50th anniversary episode last weekend.
During the SNL special, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler called on Reynolds, whose wife Blake Lively has drawn him into her legal battle against her It Ends With Us co-star Baldoni, asking: “Ryan Reynolds, how’s it going?”
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Reynolds replied: “Great—why, what have you heard?”
Feresten said there were a total of 3,000 cue cards for the 50th anniversary, which were being amended up until the very last minute.
Asked if Reynolds’ line was improvised or rehearsed, Feresten said: “He had a different line in rehearsal, and he pitched that (line) to replace it. That was his idea to do it. We wouldn’t want to do anything too controversial unless they were in on it, so that was his line, his idea to do.”
Kevin Costner appeared unimpressed and scowled as Reynolds made the gag, while Lively herself seemed bemused.
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman later said in an interview with Billy Bush: “I’m unaware of anybody, frankly, whose wife has been sexually harassed and has made jokes about that type of situation. I can’t think of anyone who’s done anything like that. So it surprised me.”
