Never Work With Kids Or Dragons

Working on Game of Thrones has its pitfalls. There's all the fighting, the cold Winterfell air, and the possibility that your character can get offed at any moment. But, when Peter Dinklage hosted Saturday Night Live on April 2,during a pre-filmed bit, he went into a Game of Thrones occupational hazard that you probably haven't thought of: working with motion-capture dragons.

The sketch was framed as an HBO behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Game of Thrones. Dinklage played his character, Tyrion, of course. Kate McKinnon played Emilia Clarke. And Bobby Moynihan? He donned a skin-tight spandex suit and came aboard as the motion-capture actor behind the dragon. And let's say he was no Andy Serkis when it came to mo-cap performances. There were on-set accidents, out-loud line-readings, technical snags, and general on-set distractions. There were also some genuine dragony moments, too.

Earlier in the episode, during Dinklage's monologues, Moynihan played George R.R. Martin himself (who supposedly wrote some of the monologue jokes). I don't know if Moynihan is really a Game of Thrones fan or not, but he really killed it when it came to doing GoT jokes on SNL. And he makes a surprisingly convincing motion-capture dragon. They should look into casting him on the show.

Then again, Leslie Jones played a dragon earlier in the episode, during the monologue, too. Dragon scales: Who wore them best?

It's a toss-up.

Watch the full video below:

Image: Getty