Long before he was Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Robert Downey Jr. took part in Saturday Night Live for a season when he was 20 years old. Downey dubbed his batch of episodes “arguably the worst season,” while talking with The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon. While Downey joked about having some bad ideas for the show himself, having worked on the show with the likes of Anthony Michael Hall, Damon Wayans and Randy Quaid, Jon Lovitz, he threw a little shade at some of the comedians on the show: “They also said I was the worst cast member but, come on, there’s a lot of competition for that.”
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Of course, Downey is probably just poking a little bit of fun at the popular sketch comedy series and those who worked on it.
“The only thing I wrote that almost close to air was this ridiculous sketch called suitcase boy where I came out with a suitcase zipped around my neck and said a bunch of non sequiturs. It was so not funny except to me and my weirdo friends. I was literally sweating mortar shells.” It looks “a little bit more like a laundry receptacle.”
Back in those days, Downey shared a room with Hall in New York while the two worked together on Saturday Night Live and their jokes started before the cameras were rolling. “Anthony Michael Hall and I had the old offices of Belluschi and Akroid,” Downey said. “We asked for bunk beds with NFL sheets. We thought, like, ‘Just give them a long rider like you have a bunch of demands.’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, just give them that.’ Now, write some funny sh-t.”
Since his SNL days, Downey has become an A-lister for his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe through a trio of Iron Man movies, four Avengers films, and appearances in titles such as Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming. He also plays the titular character in the popular Sherlock Holmes franchise. He has also delivered impressive performances in titles such as The Soloist and The Judge.
As for whether or not we should expect him to ever reprise the Tony Stark role after Avengers: Endgame, Downey is not ruling definitively one way or another but seems to believe he won’t be coming back to the part.
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