Jason Sudeikis Reveals the Surprising Reason He Made the ‘SNL’ Cast on ‘Today’

As Ted Lasso returns, Jason Sudeikis is taking a look back at the beginning of his Saturday Night Live journey.

Sudeikis chatted about Season 4 of Ted Lasso on the Wednesday, August 5, episode of Today. Craig Melvin praised how the character of Ted has become a motivational figure thanks to his “Lasso-isms” and his iconic dance.

“Is it true that that dance also landed you your gig at SNL?” Melvin asked the actor.

Sudeikis joined the SNL crew as a writer in 2003 but was upgraded to a cast member in 2005. Before joining the cast, Sudeikis made his first onscreen SNL appearance in a 2005 sketch with host Tom Brady, during which he broke out his famous dance moves.

“When I was doing that part, that was just me making a bold choice as a writer,” Sudeikis told Melvin. “I co-wrote that sketch with a few folks, including our buddy Joe Kelly, who’s one of the co-creators of Ted Lasso.”

He continued, “At some point during the meeting on Friday, the conversation among the producers was like, ‘That should be a cast member in there.’ And hypocritically or actually, Tina [Fey] was like, ‘Well, who else is gonna get those laughs?’ And then, Lorne [Michaels] was like, ‘No, it’s a good point. Let’s just keep him in.’ And I stayed in.”

Once the show returned from a two-week break, Sudeikis said he got the call to join the cast. “Lorne was like, ‘We want to put you in the cast.’ I was like, ‘Oh, dang!’” he shared.

Sudeikis said the dance “has been like a little good luck charm throughout my life,” and credits its creation to watching music videos on MTV as a kid.

The dance is something he carried over into his role as Ted on Ted Lasso, which returned for its fourth season on Wednesday. On Today, Melvin asked Sudeikis what inspired the show’s return, as Season 3 previously wrapped up several of the show’s storylines.

“Those voices of those characters just kept talking to me, just non-stop. Makes it very difficult to fall asleep when you’ve got Rebecca Welton [Hannah Waddingham] in one ear and Roy Kent [Brett Goldstein] in another one and Keeley Jones [Juno Temple],” he quipped. “And then, other voices started to show up that were people I didn’t know who they were yet. And then, we had to find out if the enthusiasm that I was feeling within me and the ideas were maybe not just within me. And so, I started talking to my friends Joe and Brendan [Hunt], and they were like, ‘Yeah, we could do more.’ And then, talked to the other writers, and yeah.”

Sudeikis also credited the “ascension of women’s sports” in pop culture as inspiration for the new episodes, which will see Ted return to AFC Richmond to help build the club’s women’s soccer (a.k.a. football) team.

“It’s a tremendous responsibility. We want to hold ourselves accountable on the creative side and see what we can do,” Sudeikis said of bringing the show back. “But yeah, I think that sometimes that fear leads you — if you follow that fear sometimes, it’s taking you the right way, hopefully not off a bridge or anything.”

Ted Lasso, Season 4, New Episodes, Wednesdays, Apple TV

Saturday Night Live, Season 52 Premiere, Saturday, September 26, NBC