Alex Moffat Trades Saturday Night Live for Broadway's The Cottage

After six years as a Saturday Night Live cast member, Alex Moffat is making his Broadway debut in the new play The Cottage, a romantic comedy written by Sandy Rustin and directed by Jason Alexander.

In the upcoming episode of The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal, Paul Wontorek talks with Moffat about his acting career, rehearsals for The Cottage and his journey to Main Stem.

A self-proclaimed longtime theater fan, Moffat has been eager to act on Broadway since he was young. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a really long time so it’s super exciting for me,” said Moffat. He recalls listening to Broadway cast albums in his kitchen growing up, including The Phantom of the Opera and Rent, which instilled an appreciation for theater from an early age. However, it was the new and specific storytelling of The Cottage that shifted his attention to the stage right now.

“For all of its hilarity, it has a very strong feminist undercurrent, which is another thing that drew me to it,” said Moffat. The chance to work with comedy icon Jason Alexander was a significant motivator for him as well. “Being directed by Jason Alexander — get out of town. That’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Moffat continued.

Still, as a member of the exclusive club of Saturday Night Live alumni, having left in 2022, Moffat is no stranger to singular and rare experiences. But the processes of making live, televised sketch comedy and this new stage romp vary greatly.  In particular, Moffat is getting used to the weeks-long rehearsal process for Broadway compared to the couple of hours (or no time at all) at 30 Rock. “We’ve rehearsed this play more than we ever rehearsed a cold open, for example,” said Moffat. “This is a different process, it’s a learning process for me too, and it’s been a ton of fun.”

Prior to joining Saturday Night Live, Moffat had appeared onstage before: working with a comedy group in Chicago on a play called Santa Claus versus the Nazis, in which he played Chameleon the Elf. Moffat said that, at that time, he took every possible opportunity to appear onstage. “Play this role, do some standup, do some improv, try to tap dance for 10 minutes... I’ll take it,” he recalled. “I just craved it. I needed it.”

Now, Moffat quenches that thirst on the biggest stage of them all.