We’ve all done embarrassing things in the hopes of impressing our teen crushes. For Malcolm in the Middle’s Frankie Muniz, the price of puppy love involved snubbing Lorne Michaels.
During a recent appearance on Joe Vulpis’ Lightweights podcast, Muniz revealed that he was approached to host Saturday Night Live back in 2000, a pitch that initially confused the then 14-year-old star. “‘It’s huge,’” Muniz remembered FOX executive Gail Berman telling him after he asked what SNL was. “‘You’ll be one of the youngest people ever, it’s this big deal.’”
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Muniz was on board to make SNL history until he realized that his Studio 8H debut would conflict with another important event: the Kids’ Choice Awards. Before hearing from Michaels and company, the actor had previously agreed to co-host the Nickelodeon awards show alongside his then-crush, fellow child star Amanda Bynes. “I was like, ‘I’m gonna meet Amanda Bynes,’” he explained. “Huge deal.”
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Staring down two major TV gigs, Muniz did what most teenage boys would do in this situation, and let his crush on the actress serve as the tiebreaker. “I’m like, ‘Oh hell no, I am going to the Kids’ Choice Awards,’” he told Vulpis. “‘I don’t care, I’m meeting Amanda Bynes at the Kids’ Choice Awards.’”
Muniz didn’t say that exactly, though. Instead, the actor insisted that he wanted to stick with the Kids’ Choice Awards out of a sense of obligation and commitment to Nickelodeon, an answer that still failed to please his parents and TV bosses. “For about a week and a half, I had every executive, every producer, everybody in the history of FOX TV, Regency TV, going ‘What are you doing? You don’t understand,’” Muniz recalled.
But for the most part, it worked out. “I met Amanda Bynes, briefly,” he joked.
Child stars: They’re just like our teenage selves.
