Inside Aubrey Plaza's Epic, Failed 'SNL' Audition

View in Browser  SHOP EXCLUSIVE SUBSCRIBE We Almost Had Saturday Night Live! Cast Member Aubrey Plaza Occasionally, I'll read the news and think that we're actually on a better timeline than the potential alternatives. It may be a headline like, "Aubrey Plaza Set for Saturday Night Live! Hosting Debut" rather than, "Aubrey Plaza Enters Her 20th SNL Season," but you have to pick your battles. This week, the White Lotus star revealed that she once auditioned for Saturday Night Live!, but failed to advance to the much-talked-about final Lorne Michaels round. And with ideas like these, it's not hard to see why. Read More Finally, a Dresser You Can Put Together Without Tools Thuma makes easy to put together furniture that's changing the game. Read More Republican States Continue to Persecute Trans People to Score Cheap Points A governing philosophy is based in fear and hate can't do much good for anybody. Read More Created by Esquire for Glenfiddich Esquire Endorses: Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky A whisky worth slowing down for. READ MORE A Dior Helmet Saved My Skull (and Maybe My Life) in Antarctica "Hectic" is a word heard often in conversation in South Africa, a sort of reflexive slang response to describe something as amazing, extreme, or crazy. I heard it a lot during a short trip to Cape Town this past December, not only in preparation for a trip to Antarctica, but also in the daily sounds of the city. This being said, hectic is also a good word to describe the decision to bring cold weather essentials from some of our favorite fashion labels all the way to Antarctica in an effort to test them against the hyper-harsh conditions of the Seventh Continent. How would Dior's collaborative POC Ski Racing helmet hold up in the barreling wind? It turns out: Far better than expected. Read More The Best Sports Documentaries on Netflix Will Make You Go Full Rocky Sport documentaries are timeless. It's precisely why—even though the new Netflix tennis docuseries, Break Point, won't return until June—I'm still glued to the TV for any true-story treatment I can find. And while I am always quick to argue that the ol' talking heads format needs an update, the reality is that I'll watch just about anything that continues to celebrate wonderful athletes such as Rafael Nadal, Michael Jordon, and Simone Biles. Thankfully, many of Netflix's sports docs keep the action moving, retelling unbelievable stories that will inspire even the laziest among us to rise from the couch and take on the impossible. Read More 'A Felony Just to Own': The Sleazy Story Behind Penthouse's Most Controversial Issue Because my mind is in the past (the mid-eighties) and in the gutter (the porn biz) for reasons that will become clear, I've spent a lot of time thinking about the September 1984 issue of Penthouse. How to convey the magnitude of the frenzy? Maybe this. Peter Bloch, Penthouse's then-executive editor: "It was the best-selling issue of Penthouse of all time. Hands down. A complete sellout in, like, two days. You couldn't get a copy. So there were guys paying—and this is something I saw with my own eyes—a dollar for a peek. A peek!" A queen was dethroned because of the issue. One scandal would've been enough. Read More Follow Us Unsubscribe | Privacy Notice/Notice at Collection esquire.com ©2023 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019