While promoting the reboot of his sitcom, Malcolm in the Middle, Frankie Muniz appeared on the Lightweights Podcast with Joe Vulpis. In the September 7 episode, he spoke about his offer to host SNL when he was only a teenager.
Although it was a huge opportunity, he ultimately turned it down because of his crush on Amanda Bynes. He was scheduled to present with her at the 2000 Kids' Choice Awards and didn’t want to miss out.
The actor explained that when he first moved to New York, all he wanted to do was work with her. “I was like, ‘I want to be on All That. I want to be on The Amanda Show,’” he recalled. “Because I had a huge crush on Amanda Bynes as a kid, but I thought that those were the funniest, most amazing shows. That was my dream, I wanted to be on All That with Amanda Bynes and all them.”
Eventually, he was presented with the opportunity he had been waiting for. “I got asked to co-host the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards April of 2000,” he explained. “And Amanda Bynes was one of the other co-hosts. And I was like, ‘I'm gonna meet Amanda Bynes, right?’ It’s this huge deal. So I'm so excited, right? I'm like, this is my chance, you know?”
However, that wasn’t the only offer Muniz received around that time. He eventually got a call, when he was only 14, to host SNL. “[My mom] goes, ‘You got asked to host Saturday Night Live,’ and I'm like, ‘What's that?’” he admitted. “And she's like, ‘It's huge. You'll be one of the youngest people ever [to host], it's this big deal. Blah blah blah.’ I'm like, ‘When?’ She's like, ‘April 3rd.’ And I'm like, ‘Oh, hell no! I am going to the Kids Choice Awards. I don't care. I'm meeting Amanda Bynes at the Kids Choice Awards.’”
His mother pushed him to choose SNL over the awards show, but he refused. “I was like, ‘No, no, no. I don't back out of obligation,’” he recalled. “‘I committed to it, I'm not going to back out of the kitchen. They've been airing my commercial saying I'm going to be co-hosting.’”
Two years later, in 2002, the pair met again to film Big Fat Liar together. The movie is currently streaming on Prime Video.
