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Join Thomas, Matt, and jD as they welcome Ashley Bower to the show to discuss the shoo-in candidacy of Kate McKinnon. Do you agree she'll end up in the Hall. Time will tell. Transcript:Track 2:[0:42] Hey, it's J.D. here, and thank you so much, Doug DeNance, for that warm welcome.We are thrilled to be back here in the SNL Hall of Fame.Before we go anywhere, take a look at that mat outside that says, Wipe your feet, sucka.And wipe your feet, sucka. So there's that.Listen, I'm going to get right to it. The SNL Hall of Fame podcast is a weekly affair where each episode we take a deep dive Dive into the career of a former cast member, host, musical guest, or writer and add them to the ballot for your consideration.Once the nominees have been announced, we turn to you, the listener, to vote for the most deserving and help determine who will be enshrined for perpetuity in the hall.And that's how we play the game. It's just that simple.Track 2:[1:30] So, you're chomping at the bit to get voting. You've only got one more week to wait.If you are listening to this in real time, May the 6th is the date that we will be starting the voting and it will run through to May 17th, at which point we will tabulate the ballots and we'll check in with you on May 20th for our finale extravaganza and let you know who made the Season 5 SNL Hall of Fame. name.It's going to be interesting. And today's nominee is about to throw a monkey wrench in all your plans because, well, let's go to Matt Ardill because I've got a question to ask Mr. Ardill.Matt, my friend, I hope you're doing well. I have a question for you.Track 3:[2:22] Where do you start with a girl named Kate?I don't know. There's so much, there's so much Such an incredible talent.I'm just going to have to start at the beginning. I guess that's all I can do.Go for it. All right. Kate McKinnon, height 5'3", born January 6, 1984.78 acting credits, 4 writing credits, 5 soundtrack credits, and 1 producer credit.She was born in Seacliff, New York, and attended Columbia University.University uh growing up she had a pet iguana and she attended ucb in ucb manhattan school and uh yeah she grew up in a funny house full of funny people she and her sister were encouraged to watch mel brooks the producers on a weekly basis always watched snl growing up uh she thought Madeline Kahn was the tops and that that's a fact.You can't argue with that.That is, that is a.Track 3:[3:24] Great choice. Yeah, yeah. Now, her parents, they encouraged her to approach the world through the lens of comedy.Now, Funny runs in the family. Her younger sister, Emily Lynn, is also a comedian and does stand-up and is part of a comedy double act with Jackie Abbott. Check her out on YouTube.Super funny. Unfortunately, their father passed away when Kate was quite young, at the age of 18.Track 3:[3:51] But that didn't slow her down. She's a multi-instrumentalist, able to play piano, cello, and guitar.She can also speak three languages, English, French, and German. She makes me sick.Yeah. Well, that explains why her prime minister is such a good impression, because she can actually speak German.Right, yeah. It's not just making the noises.She knows the language. Her first job was as a little league umpire, but she left because she didn't actually know the rules for little league baseball, which is, you know, that's fair. No, it's foul.Yeah, it's foul. It's foul. She was PETA's sexiest vegan in 2017, but she actually gave that up that title because she just like a true New Yorker missed cheese pizza.Pizza um now she is an extreme introvert which she deals with by adopting funny voices uh which honestly sounds like 72.4 of the comedians i know her comedy heroes were molly shannon anna gasteyer.Track 3:[5:03] She says Kellyanne Conway, but that's obviously a joke because you can't ever give a straight answer like that.Her dream role, and this is another one I would pay good money to see, is Willy Wonka. Oh.I would have rather seen that than Timothee Chalamet.Really? Okay. Yeah, I would have loved to have seen her playing Willy Wonka.Um now before snl she starred in logo's big gay sketch show and uh she took over from the original miss frizzle uh lily tomlin uh who became a professor and a phd and as she started playing miss fiona felicity frizzle uh the original miss frizzle valerie felicity frizzle's younger sister.Track 3:[5:52] Oh i watched a lot of magic school bus with my kids yeah it's a great show uh yeah yeah and the thing is you think with this great education and all this like higher learning she would be you know a muckety muck when it comes to the comedy she finds enjoyable but honestly she said thing says one of the funniest things is a fart wow it's the ultimate bad thing a person can do and you know farts are funny they just they just are this is two weeks in a row you brought farts to the table well i mean it is comedy there you can't really get away from from a good fart um oh so whoopee cushion is a very funny thing if executed properly whoopee cushion and a rubber chicken comedy staples that's right yeah so that's that is uh that is Kate McKinnon.Track 3:[6:46] Well, I think that, um, we should head downstairs and listen in on the conversation this week. Excellent.All right. Take it away, Thomas and Ashley Bauer.Track 4:[7:27] All right. Thank you so much, JD and Matt. Yes, we are talking about a very recent SNL cast member, the most recent cast member that we've ever talked about on this show.This is her first season of eligibility, and I'm so excited to honor the great Kate McKinnon and see if she can make it past the voters, see if she can get into the SNL Hall of Fame.So to chat about Kate McKinnon is somebody who I go back with for over 20 years.We've known each other almost 20, probably 21, 22 years now.We've known each other quite a long time. And SNL was actually one of the things that we really bonded over, my guest and I.And if she slips and calls me Tom, that's how you know that somebody really knows me.Because, you know, I kind of go by Thomas and here and there, you know. But if somebody calls me Tom on this podcast, that's how you know that we go back.So my guest today, Ashley Bauer, if Ashley calls me Tom, then we've known each other for over 20 years.But Ashley, thank you so much for joining me here on the SNL Hall of Fame. How are you doing?Thank you, Tom. You're right. I can't even imagine calling you Thomas. That's so funny.Track 4:[8:45] But no, I'm great. I'm so excited. Yeah, like you said, this is how we bonded.And oh my gosh, talking about Kate McKinnon.I can't be happier. year yeah we really bonded I remember talking about because it was like probably about 2002 2003 that we became friends and we remember we really talked about like the Will Ferrell Sherry Oteri kind of years that was like the cast that that we always laughed about and shared sketches and stuff so I remember having a lot of conversations about those people but I never really knew or maybe forgot because it's been such a long time like your SNL fan origin story so why Why don't you let us know how you became a fan and what cast might have got you into it? What's your SNL origin story?Oh my gosh, yeah. So I grew up, my parents always had some sort of comedy type show on.And I remember being pretty young and my dad had on like...It must have been like a repeat episode or something of like a really old original SNL.Like I'm talking like Gilda Radner, like Jane Curtin.And I kind of just sat down to watch it with him. And I was like, Oh, okay. Yeah.This is kind of funny. Even though I was like kind of young and the humor probably went way over my head.Track 4:[10:01] So those are kind of my earliest memories, but I think when I really fell in love and like the light bulb went off that this isn't my parents show anymore.Like this is my show was, they started to let me watch them when it was Adam Sandler and Chris Farley and David Spade.And of course, I may have been like, eight, nine, 10 years old.So the slapstick comedy humor of, you know, Chris Farley, especially his physical comedy just had me in stitches.And I think that was the lightbulb moment. And when I really became obsessed.And I remember being, I can still picture this today, however many years later, standing in line at a grocery store and looking over and seeing the tabloids when Chris Farley passed away. And I just started to cry.And my mom was like, what's wrong? And I was so devastated when I learned that he had OD'd.And again, I was maybe 10, 11 years old.And that always kind of struck, hits me in my memory of, I think that's when I realized it was more than just a show I liked, that I was you know kind of borderline obsessed I felt like these comedians were like you know my friends so.Track 4:[11:12] But yeah, I guess that's probably one of my favorite casts, again, for sure, because I think that's when SNL really, you know, kind of transitioned into my show.But like you said, too, you know, gosh, it's hard to compare that that cast to like Will Ferrell, Sherry O'Terry, Molly Shannon.And, you know, when they started to kind of overlap with Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon and it kind of started to mesh into that newer generation.Track 4:[11:37] Gosh, it's kind of hard to top that that cast, if you ask me.Yeah i always remember us talking about like will ferrell and anna gasteyer the culps so that i think i think that was one of the ones that we would always laugh about was like all the all the mashups and sharing videos that we found in youtube was even was even around when we when you and i were chatting about snl so we probably had downloaded sketches from like uh limewire or whatever i was just gonna say that i think we shared omia on limewire or like Napster or whatever, you know, that's definitely aging us a bit.Yeah, totally. So, yeah, so I know that, but that's interesting to me because I always associated you, yeah, with like Will Ferrell and Sherry O'Terry and those people.But yeah, you do go back to like Chris Farley and Sandler.And so that's awesome. Most of us SNL geeks remember watching when we were eight or nine years old, sometimes seeing sketches that maybe we shouldn't have been seeing at eight or nine years old.Track 4:[12:33] Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but it helped form form our comedy palettes and our love for SNL. So, so that's awesome. Thanks.Thanks for sharing. So our friends over at the Saturday Night Network, they did like a cast member countdown.So they went like, one through 50 talked about and John Schneider, the Lorne Michaels, essentially of the SNN, he kept asking this question, or he asked the question, like, you know, if you were to build a cast member in a lab, what would it look like?Or was this person and built for SNL.So that got me wondering, I'm interested in your perspective on this.Like if you had to create an SNL cast member in a lab, actually, like what traits would you give that cast member?Oh my gosh. You know, I'm such an SNL nerd.So I've actually thought about this before. I know what you're talking about.I saw that, that post in that episode.I mean, I think it goes without saying, obviously the improv skills, even, you know, I don't think you necessarily have to come from, you know, the Groundlings or Second City or anything like that.But I think just the ability to...Track 4:[13:39] Be able to go with the flow and take something and not be stuck to a script.I think having that trait, I think being a good writer too, I think understanding how a sketch is created, even if you don't necessarily write that one for yourself, but understanding, I think, the science behind it and what your writer wants you to contribute to that sketch, I think is a really good trait.I remember seeing an interview too, too.I think it was with Ana Gasteyer, actually, like you were mentioning and talking about, like musical abilities and how, you know, being on a show like Saturday Night Live, you don't necessarily have to be like a Mariah Carey or a Beyonce type singer who's really good, but just enough to kind of make it through a sketch.And I think Ana Gasteyer again, like with you know, the cults and anything else where she would have to sing, it was just good enough to get by and make it funny.So I've always thought I agreed with that assessment that having some sort of musical ability, you know, to make it through a good sketch and execute it. Timing.I mentioned, you know, I really liked the physical comedy and physicality of Chris Farley.But even if you don't throw yourself into a wall or a table like he did.Track 4:[14:58] I think Molly Shannon did a really good job of that.You know, Mary Catherine Gallagher would throw herself into something but um sally o'malley would even just stretch and pull her waistband up and i think just knowing whatever little physical ticks your character would have i think really kind of makes that more well-rounded you're not just reciting you know a line or like i said a script for a sketch but you're really creating a person and i always thought that was kind of fun.Track 4:[15:25] Um something that i think kate our girl kate was really good at was having zero modesty i think I think you have to be able to not take yourself too seriously and be okay looking like a fool on live TV.That's such a good point. I never thought of it that way as far as having zero modesty. But you're actually super right.That type of commitment to the character and the bit.And I know over the years, oftentimes there's cast members that come along and something doesn't feel right about the fit of the cast member.And I think a lot of times it's that they seem self-conscious up there and it makes me feel bad for them.And I don't want to feel bad for somebody who I'm watching on SNL.I want them to be completely confident and I want to feel like as a viewer, I'm in good hands with the person on screen.And sometimes I don't get that with certain cast members over the years.And those seem to be the ones that kind of like peter out as far as cast members.But you're right like it's just like that lack of.Track 4:[16:31] Being self-conscious, like, you know, the lack of modesty, the, the commitment.And I think our subject today, Kate McKinnon exemplifies that to a T along with like a lot of the other traits that you mentioned, like, Hey, she could sing a little bit, right? Ashley.Track 4:[16:47] Yeah. Again, I think just, just well enough where you're like, I mean, I'm not, maybe not like a Cecily strong, you know, type where Cecily could actually sing, but, um, I think enough.And she definitely sunk herself into a character like yeah you're right kate was like maybe one of the least self-conscious cast members that i could ever think of on the show and her physicality was great i mean we'll probably get to all of that but i think if you built a snl cast member in a lab it would look a lot like kate mckinnon honestly yeah no i agree i kind of thought that when i was you know going through my head and thinking about them like wow it sounds like i'm just describing kate you know like this is a shameless plug just for this topic but no like Like I genuinely believe that those are really good traits and that, yeah, she embodied all of them. And I think that's what made her so great.Yeah. And do you have a recollection of like what your reaction was to Kate when she joined SNL? She joined in 2012.So it's like April. We…
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