Frankie Muniz turned down hosting Saturday Night Live so he could meet his childhood crush Amanda Bynes.
The 39-year-old actor-turned NASCAR driver had a chance of being amongst the youngest presenters of the hit NBC sketch comedy show, but he declined and agreed to host the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in 2000 because former actress Amanda, 39, was also co-hosting the awards bash.
Frankie – who was aged “13, 14” at the time – said on a recent episode of the Lightweights Podcast: “When I was acting, and I moved to New York, I remember going into my new agent in New York’s office, and I was like, ‘I want to be on All That. I want to be on The Amanda Show,’ because I had a huge crush on Amanda Bynes as a kid.
“But I thought that those were the funniest, most amazing shows.”
The Malcolm in the Middle star continued: “I got asked to co-host the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards [in] April of 2000. And Amanda Bynes was one of the other co-hosts.
“And I was like, ‘I’m going to meet Amanda Bynes, right?’ It was a huge deal. So, I’m so excited. I’m like, ‘This is my chance.'”
After declining to host Saturday Night Live, Frankie’s mom, Denise, and TV bosses urged him to rethink his decision – but Frankie was too focused on meeting Hairspray film star Amanda.
He added: “My mom gets a call one day, and she’s freaking out. So excited. It’s Gail Berman, who at the time was the President of Fox.
“She goes, ‘You got asked to host Saturday Night Live.’ And I’m like, ‘What’s that?’ And she’s like, ‘It’s huge. You’ll be one of the youngest people ever. Like, it’s a bit deal.’
“I’m like, ‘When?’ She’s like, ‘April 3.’
“And I’m like, ‘Oh hell no. I am going to the Kids’ Choice Awards.’
“How old was I? 14, 13, 14, right? And my mom was like, ‘No, no, you don’t understand. This is a really big deal.’
“So 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. It’s Amanda, guys.’ But I was like, ‘No, no, no, I don’t back out of obligation.
“I committed to, I’m not going to back out of the kitchen. They’ve been airing my commercial saying I’m going to be co-hosting …
“So that’s the story of that. I met Amanda Bynes briefly.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com ’
