A number of key MadTV players sat down for a special reunion podcast, during which an awkward conversation about salaries came up.
In a recent TigerBelly episode, comics Debra Wilson, Aries Spears, and Mo Collins joined host and former MadTV castmate Bobby Lee, who was on the Fox sketch comedy series from 2001 to 2009, for a reunion chat.
Around the 1:13:00 mark, Lee discussed how current television roles can pay very little, adding that he's familiar with show regulars that "don't make any money."
"They make less than what we made on Mad, which was the lowest that you can make," he said.
Wilson, who was a pioneering MadTV player, left the show in 2003 after an alleged pay disparity with white male cast members who were brought onto the show after her.
"What I wanted to do and what I wanted to create on that show did not hit a glass ceiling," Wilson told Comedy Hype News in 2021. "But when I was told that ‘All the things you want to create and be on the show has a monetary value, and we don’t value it as much as the new people coming in,’ that’s when I left."
This made Collins curious about how much Lee made during his time on the show, which lasted for fourteen seasons from 1995 to 2009. "In the beginning? $4,000 an episode," Lee answered.
While Collins was "genuinely curious" about the maximum Lee made, she shared that her highest salary was $15,000 an episode, $5,000 less than Lee's biggest episode paycheck.
"Fuck my life," Collins joked after hearing that Lee eventually made $20,000 an episode.
Wilson added that she also "ended up at 15[000]," while Spears, who didn't share how much he made, was apparently hurt by Lee's confession.
"They're just numbers," Wilson scoffed. "In comparison to my life, they're just numbers."
"I don't know why, my agents just did it–I didn't ask for it," Lee insisted.
"Really? They didn't even have to try?" Collins joked.
Lee clarified that he received a salary increase in his "seventh or eighth year," after Collins departed MadTV. The comedian, who was on 10 seasons, agreed that compensation on shows has "gone way down."