Jim Gaffigan kept 'secretly hoping' Tim Walz would do something more newsworthy for his “SNL” impression

Gaffigan also said his manager lied about him having a Walz impression to get him the part: "I've been saying that you're sending me videos of you."

Jim Gaffigan was thrilled to make his Saturday Night Live debut as Tim Walz this season — so he crossed his fingers that Kamala Harris' VP pick would do something interesting enough to get more time on the show.

The comedian reflected on his time playing the Minnesota governor during an interview with Dana Carvey and David Spade on their podcast Superfly. “Dana, were you secretly hoping like I was? I was like, 'Oh, hopefully Tim Walz will also do something like, to get some news,'" Gaffigan said. "I don't want him to humiliate himself. He'll, you know, be in some [sketches], but they're competing for attention. And even when he would — I think in a different time, him even playing Fortnite with AOC, that would be newsworthy, but we live in such chaotic times."

Carvey confessed that the real Walz made such an insignificant impression on him that Gaffigan and the politician are essentially interchangeable. "To me, Tim Walz has been not around that much," he said. "I just saw a speech or two or whatever. So I couldn't, when I see you, I see, 'It's Tim Walz.' I mean, no one knows the idiosyncratic speech things he has. I mean, you have the prayer hands and pounding the heart."

Related: Dana Carvey says Kamala Harris 'bent over laughing' as he did Joe Biden impression for her at SNL

Elsewhere in the interview, Gaffigan explained that his SNL casting stemmed from a little white lie from his manager. "I was shooting in the U.K., actually, and so then he called me and he said, 'Hey, you know, I've been talking to this person about you for Tim Walz. And I've been saying that you're sending me videos of you for the impression of Tim Walz,'" Gaffigan recalled. "And I go, 'Really?' And he goes, 'Yes. So, now they're kind of saying, Can I see those videos?'"

Gaffigan then had to scramble to put his audition tape together, despite never cultivating a Walz impression prior to that moment. "It was like 10 o'clock the night before I was doing one day on a movie," he said. "And then I kind of just went around my hotel room and put on a jacket and took off a jacket and put on a sweater and things of Tim Walz, which is — essentially I'm portraying my brother Mitch, who lives in Indiana, who has a very Chicago accent.”

Related: SNL sparks a JD Vance and Tim Walz bromance in VP debate spoof: 'Why are they vibing?!'

However, Gaffigan said that he thrives when his work comes down to the wire — which is why he enjoyed performing live on SNL so much. “I actually love the last minute aspect of it," he explained. "Because it reminds me of like when you're about to go on stage during stand up and you have an idea, or you're on the subway and you have an idea that adjusts a joke that you've been working on for an extended period, and it's that adjustment that really helps."

Related: Jim Gaffigan lost a role in an M. Night Shyamalan movie because the director saw him in a Sierra Mist ad

The comedian said that he was left to his own devices when shaping his impression. "I was just always watching Tim Walz videos and I would see him do a behavior and then I'd be like, 'All right, I'll bring that in' because again, there's so many moving parts," he said. "It wasn't like people were like, 'Tim Walz does this. Can you add it?' It was left up to me, which I know is surprising.”

Listen to the full conversation between Gaffigan, Carvey, and Spade above.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.