The SNL Actor Who Caused A Strict Wardrobe Rule For The Whole Cast

"Saturday Night Live" is, as the name implies, mostly a live show, which means it's important that things go according to plan in the live sketches. That means no major improvising, no missing your cue, and no accidentally flashing the camera. So it makes sense that the show has a rule that the actors have to be wearing underwear at all times, unless of course they're making a pre-taped sketch about a very revealing style of men's jeans.

Even when a character in their sketch is wearing underwear, cast members often wear their real underwear underneath it. Such was the case in a recent sketch (watch below) with Heidi Gardner, where her character was wearing an old-timey, exaggerated bra, but you can see another bra underneath it that goes unacknowledged by the other characters. The reasoning for this precaution becomes clear at the end of the sketch, where the globe prop that's stuck on Heidi's head falls off before it's supposed to. When the globe prop falls off and reveals her head, that's just a fun little mishap; if the bra prop falls off and there's no other clothing underneath it, the show's getting a fine.

But the actual reason for the "SNL" underwear rule had less to with accidental live exposure and more to do with esteemed cast member John Belushi going commando during behind-the-scene wardrobe changes. Former "SNL" costume designer Frannie Lee, who worked on the show from its early days, explained in a 2021 interview why she once put up a sign in the halls of Studio 8H reading, "All Cast Members Must Wear Underwear On Sunday. This Means You!"

The gist was that cast members often have to go through quick costume changes between sketches. John Belushi apparently did not wear underwear often during the show, so the wardrobe team constantly had to see him in the nude, and it was making them uncomfortable. The diplomatic Frannie Lee chose to put up a sign telling all the actors to wear underwear, although the sign was really just a giant subtweet towards Belushi. 

Although Lee made sure the cast members were wearing underwear during her time on the show, there have since been plenty of occasions where the rule was not necessarily broken, but it was certainly bent a bit. Will Ferrell once did a sketch where his character dressed in a thong decorated with the American flag, and there was no back-up underwear underneath it, leaving very little to the audience's imagination. The episode's host, Seann William Scott, who starred alongside Ferrell in this sketch, once jokingly recalled about the scene, "I got a little view of Will's penis and testicles playing peekaboo how do you do... I'll wake up in a cold sweat, and I'll have Will Ferrell nutsack flashbacks."

Another thing we've learned over the years is that the underwear rule may not apply to musical guests. That might explain why musician Kacey Musgraves was able to sing a song in the nude, with just some boots and her guitar to keep the censors happy. "She was nude," Musgraves' publicist confirmed to Variety soon after. "Precautions were taken, and this was the first time it's happened on the show."

Of course, for the most part the "SNL" cast seems to have stayed true to the rule, even in pre-taped sketches. My personal favorite is probably the "Naked & Afraid" sketch with Leslie Jones and Peter Dinklage, who hosted in 2016. The sketch uses the blur effect to make it seem like they're both nude, but in her very first scene, Leslie immediately adjusts her underwear and kills the whole illusion. But hey, at least Jones is wearing underwear, just as Frannie Lee once insisted. The sketch itself may joke about how much of a perv she is, but Jones in real life was at least a step above Belushi.