For our Alumni Q&A series, we caught up with Jon Rudnitsky BFA ’12 about his time on Saturday Night Live, transitioning between acting and stand-up, and the benefits of applying comedy to everyday life.
In the last year, you’ve appeared in major motion pictures while also touring your stand-up comedy. What strategies do you use to flip between these two performance modes?
Honestly, I don’t really have a strategy—which might be a mistake—because I’ll find myself trying to make the boom guy laugh instead of focusing on the scene. But I genuinely believe that stand-up and acting complement each other and work a lot of the same muscles. Especially when I’m shooting comedy, stand-up has helped me stay present and feel comfortable improvising. And acting feeds into stand-up, too—because at its core, stand-up is theatre. It’s storytelling. So those tools make my act feel more performative and layered than just joke-telling.
You’ve performed with The Groundlings and on Saturday Night Live. What aspects of your USC education helped prepare you for sketch and improv comedy?
The late, great Michael Keenan was an immediate mentor to me at USC. Being in his classes and his shows was like a masterclass in comedy. My freshman year doing A Flea in Her Ear was formative in learning about farce, physical comedy, and timing. He also really instilled in me the confidence to trust my innate instincts and lean into what makes me funny. So much of acting school is about losing yourself in a role, but Keenan encouraged me to find what’s inherently funny about myself and bring that to the character. That was a lightbulb moment, and also so encouraging for an 18-year-old with imposter syndrome.
Clown class was another game-changer. In most acting classes, you’re crying or feeling bad that you’re the only one who didn’t cry. In that class, we were encouraged to fail spectacularly. Committing fully and embracing failure continues to be the most useful thing. Comedy demands risk. You can’t half-ass it. It either lands or it doesn’t. And I’ve learned way more from bombing—including at SNL table reads in front of my heroes—than I ever did from doing well in a room.
Also, the late Paul Backer gave us a final that was simply “express yourself.” And the performance I did for that ended up being the routine that got me SNL and that I ended up doing on Weekend Update. The encouragement from the professors in the School of Dramatic Arts has informed my professional life immeasurably.
Since your time on campus, USC has grown its comedy curriculum. What are some of the most important skills or qualities for students who want to succeed in this field?
It’s not original advice, but it’s the truth: do it over and over and over again. With stand-up, with writing, with sketch, with improv—it’s all about repetition. Failing, learning, trying again. Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. If something scares you, that’s usually a sign you should do it. On the other side of a terrifying show is proof that you’re capable of conquering it. And even if it goes badly, you realize that you survived and you learn from it. And the next time you do a rough show, you’ll know how to better navigate it. I think progress, particularly in stand-up, grows in centimeters. Sometimes you’re hitting a wall after 100 shows in a row and then suddenly you have a breakthrough. It never happens all at once. But patience is key as well! Just chip away at the thing, get good, and don’t worry about getting the show or the movie right away. You want to just be undeniable, and then the opportunities will come. It takes time! I got SNL at 25 and only lasted a season because I didn’t have the tools or experience to survive. Be patient. The opportunity will come, and when it does, you want to be ready and know how to handle any curveball that comes your way. You want to be able to walk into any room and feel capable and confident. Also, when you’re creating – do what makes you laugh. Not what you think other people will like. Trust your comedic instincts, because that’s what makes you original.
What do you miss about school, SDA specifically?
I miss my classmates and having fun all day. Just focusing on acting without the pressure of needing to make a living. It’s such a precious time in life. Cherish it!
Was there a class or professor that was especially meaningful during your time at SDA?
Michael Keenan, of course. Also, Steph Shroyer was incredibly influential. She’s a singular mind and exceptional human being. From her, I learned the importance of spatial awareness and physicality—all the stuff you can’t read in an acting book. And for someone like me, who doesn’t really have the attention span to read but loves to get up and do the thing, her class was a dream. Acting is a visceral experience, and she really tapped into that. For me now, when I get a part, it’s so helpful to start thinking about a character just by walking like him or thinking of the character as an animal and channeling it that way. She totally broke open my brain in ways that have continued to inform my approach to a role.
Has your training in comedy and performance helped you in any other aspects of your life?
Absolutely. Comedy has helped shape my confidence—socially and creatively. Also, emotionally—pursuing comedy innately makes you observant of the world around you and of your own feelings and thoughts. And then it becomes this outlet where you get to vent about life and the world, and at its best, people laugh—and it allows you to know that your thoughts resonate and you’re not alone.
Comedy has become the one thing I feel I have control over. I get to act and write and perform my own little plays every night, and it’s the most rewarding thing. Not to say it’s not difficult and emotionally taxing, but on the other side of that is something that feels greatly fulfilling in that it’s all my own. It’s a craft I’ve hacked away at, and a point of view I’ve developed that continues to evolve as I get older. Comedy informs who I am. It’s a constant check-in with myself and a way to cope and evaluate life. It makes you incredibly self-aware, perhaps to a fault, and also better helps you understand people and the world around you. Also, I get to travel and see the country and gain a great deal of perspective, which I’m incredibly grateful for.
What advice would you give to current students hoping to make a career in acting or comedy?
There is no set path here. There’s no mailroom. There are no promotions. Your trajectory is all your own, and it’s bumpy for most—including myself. So don’t ever convince yourself that you’re behind, or that someone else’s success is any indication of your career.
Trust that if you keep working at it and doing it from a place of joy, that you’re doing the thing. Jobs will come and go. I’ve been on big shows and been terribly depressed, and I’ve done shows for eight people and felt very fulfilled. I still do shows for eight people all the time, by the way. Don’t be above anything. Have blinders on. Focus on getting better, and being curious and collaborating with people who inspire you. Immerse yourself in it. Trust in the process. Trust that it’s different for everyone. Don’t grip the bat too tightly. Creativity comes from joy, not from fear or envy. Study the greats.
And push yourself to keep going even when it feels like you’re sending self-tapes into a vacuum, or performing for a handful of other open-micers at a coffee shop, or writing a pilot but you don’t even have an agent to send it to. Just keep doing it. There really are no rules—especially now. You can make the thing and put it into the world without any guardrails. Don’t ask for permission. Look at the careers you admire and do your best to work towards your version of that. Don’t compromise integrity along the way if you can help it, although we all have to do a Tide commercial or play a dead person on CSI, so no judgment there. Get your rent money. But also do whatever it takes — as long as you believe in it, then it’s worthy. And write your own shit! Because the waiting game is rough and the right role for you written by somebody else is a lottery. So get after it and build a community of other inspiring people, which luckily you’re currently immersed in at USC, and create from a place of joy!