HE’S A JOLLY GOODFELLA
Ijoke that forever lowered the bar for celebs hosting Saturday Night Live. According to that’s no joke. “He didn’t want to be on sketches,” Macdonald told us of the bloated martial arts star’s 1991 visit. In 2014, “SNL” creator told New York magazine that one night when was hosting, the actor worried aloud during his monologue that he would be “the worst host ever.” Michaels came onstage to assure Cage, “No, that was Steve Seagal,” but later insisted that line — which he didn’t write — was all in good fun. Though according to Macdonald, who is promoting his satirical pseudo-memoir, “Based on a True Story,” it’s a fact. The comic was part of the “SNL” cast during Seagal’s visit and says the “Hard to Kill” star was a nightmare behind the scenes. had this great story that he came out of his dressing room and (Seagal) said, ‘I just read the greatest movie script ever’ and Rob Schneider said, ‘Who wrote it?” and he said, If actors love working with it’s because he loves them back, says “Ghandi” star
“He has great affection for actors,” Kingsley, who worked with Scorsese in the 2011 film “Hugo,” told us at the Friar’s Club star-studded Scorsese tribute at Cipriani Wall Street Wednesday. “He understands the process. He’s not patronizing, he’s very supportive. He knows exactly what he wants and it’s a pleasure to give him exactly what he wants.” ‘I did!’”
Shocked by Seagal’s arrogance, Macdonald asked Schneider if the witless “Under Siege” star might have been kidding and Schneider assured him “No, he definitely wasn’t joking.”
The trouble didn’t stop there. Macdonald says the ponytailed tough guy — who’s drawn criticism for meeting with controversial strongmen including Russian President Chechen leader Belarusian President
— was not a gentleman on set. “Just not a nice guy,” he said. (Seagal’s reps, who did not represent him at the time of his “SNL” appearance, declined to comment.)
Macdonald says the reason he wrote “Based on a True Story” was to make sure history remembers him as a good guy — or at least remembers him, period.
“One time I was in a hotel room in Edmonton, Canada, and my manager called and told me that on my Wikipedia (page), it said I was dead and I looked on Wikipedia and sure enough, someone had changed my Wikipedia and said that I had died of a morphine overdose in the very hotel room I was standing in,” he said. “Reading my obituary… it sounded very chilling. Even though it was a joke.”
Macdonald says that after laughing at the idea that anyone still uses morphine, “That’s when I decided to write the book,” he said. and