SNL alum Kyle Mooney makes music now, and he’s coming to Pittsburgh

Kyle Mooney hasn’t been to Pittsburgh much, but he did play for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Little Leagues, that is. As per his Instagram, the old jersey still fits.

“It’s probably the only Little League jersey I’ve held onto, so I sort of wanted to show it off,” Mooney tells Pittsburgh City Paper.

The former Saturday Night Live cast member and Y2K director will deepen that connection to Pittsburgh when he plays Spirit on Sat., June 28, as part of his music-centric The Real Me/Fake Me Tour.

Mooney describes the show as a “tribute” to his career, playing various characters familiar to fans, screening videos, and ending with a live performance of music from his new album, The Real Me.

Mooney, best known for his 2013 to 2022 stint on SNL, also directed the A24-produced film Y2K, a revisionist comedy about the hysteria in the lead-up to the new millennium coming true. 

Continuing this varied career path, Mooney decided to delve into music.

“I kind of feel like I’ve gotten to do so many things that were dreams, really, but I will say the music thing is something that was really my first dream, when I was eight or nine or 10 years old,” Mooney says. “So I don’t think too far ahead. I try to be in the moment as much as I possibly can, so right now it’s focusing on this music, hopefully making some more.”

Mooney maintains sincerity in all media appearances when talking about his music career, even though it has raised some eyebrows. Tim Heidecker, another comedian-turned-musician (kinda) who played Spirit, hosted Mooney on his podcast and YouTube show Office Hours Live for a live performance and couldn’t help giving Mooney a hard time. By the end, Mooney expressed dissatisfaction with this treatment, and that he couldn’t tell whether or not Heidecker made fun of him.

The Real Me, credited to “Kyle M,” contains 11 tracks and runs about 20 minutes. A standout track, “Blue Car,” highlights a blue car’s automatic locks, the ability for its cup holder to hold a cup, and the narrator’s lack of a girlfriend.

A warm-up show in Los Angeles went well, according to Mooney.

“People knowing the words, singing along, and it meaning something to them, so it’s been very sweet, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how people react on the road,” Mooney says.

But did people laugh at him?

“I think that there are times when people laugh,” Mooney answers with a sigh, “and then there are times where they’re generally lost in it. For me, it’s all about connection and creativity. So, you know, if they want to laugh, I laugh on stage too at times, so that’s fully fine with me. The important thing is that we’re having this hopefully incredible communal experience together.”

When looking back on his time working on Y2K, Mooney says the collaborative aspect sticks with him most. It’s a personal throughline in much of his creative work, he says.

“With Y2K, what was great is that it was largely inspired by my high school life and my co-writer Evan [Winter]’s high school life,” Mooney says. “We were just about the age of our characters, but obviously, I couldn’t play any of those teenage parts, so you’re getting to work with younger people, and just being exposed and spending time with folks who aren’t my age was really special.”

Toward the end of my interview with Mooney, I asked if he wanted to add anything. This common interviewing technique often yields new, interesting insights, or a better summation of the conversation. With Mooney, it yielded more information about the intersection of his baseball fandom and Pittsburgh.

“Just that, when I was in seventh grade, Jason Kendall was probably my favorite baseball player,” Mooney says, referencing a Pirates player from 1996 to 2004. Why Kendall? “He was a young, hot rookie. I think he batted 300 in one of his first two seasons. He was cool. He was a catcher.”

As my dad and countless other Pittsburghers will attest, the Pirates haven’t done well in a while. Mooney laughed along with this acknowledgement.

“I do want to apologize and say that, if there’s anything I can do for the fans or the team, I’m willing to do my best,” Mooney says.

This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2025.