With Saturday Night Live's exciting 40th anniversary rapidly approaching, former and current cast members are coming together to honor the show that, for some, made their careers and for others, are just launching it.
Former and current comedians are appearing in Glamour, The Hollywood Reporter and Gotham to talk about their time on the hilarious show, even spilling some fun secrets about life backstage! And the women of SNL have gathered together to be featured in Glamour's March issue and dish on everything from their "terrifying" auditions to the inspirations behind their most iconic characters—we're looking at you, Mary Katherine Gallagher.
Laraine Newman, Kristin Wiig, Amy Poehler, Ana Gasteyer, Tina Fey, Sasheer Zamata, Jane Curtin, Cecily Strong, Colin Jost, Kate McKinnon, Rachel Dratch, Aidy Bryant, Casey Wilson, Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Vanessa Bayer and Leslie Jones (plus guys Michael Che, Colin Jost and Taran Killam) weigh in on life behind one of the longest running shows on TV.
Although Fey's Sarah Palin impersonations will forever be remembered as some of her best work—although pretty much all of it is probably her best work LOL—she reveals that her now-infamous "Mom Jeans" sketch was inspired by her dislike for her own pants!
Not loving her look, she tells the magazine, "I was complaining about my unfortunate jeans with Amy, Maya, and Rachel. Somebody called them mom jeans, and it turned into the [classic Mom Jeans ad]."
Ironically, the 30 Rock alum wishes she still looked like that...maybe without the jeans, though.
"Looking back, I'm at my goal weight in that commercial, even though I was wearing padding."
Although Wiig's "Target Lady" character came from an actual Target employee, the Bridesmaids star says her "Penelope" character stemmed from someone who always needed to be better than everyone else.
"Penelope came from listening to someone one-up people all the time," she reveals. "We all know a Penelope or two."
But more important than any of their characters or the jokes that they made while on SNL is the friendships they made over the years. Rudolph tells Glamour that she was "looking for a community" and that she found it when the "women huddled up together." Poehler, the inventor of Galentine's Day (thank you, Parks and Recreation), obviously loved her time on stage with the other ladies.
"It felt like a highlight," she says of filming with her gal-pals. "And if it was a stinker, it was almost more fun to think about how we would laugh about it later."
Although the women alums miss their time on the show more than anything, or as Wiig says, "leaving was a punch-in-the-gut sadness," the current cast talks to Gotham about how some of their best work came to be.
Jay Pharaoh reveals that he felt the need to do a Kanye West impression because of his "presence."
"...The weirder the stuff that is said, the more fun it is," he says of Kanye's knack for words. "You know, in real life, he's really chill, but on camera, he just turns up at the wrong moments, and those moments usually turn up on World Style Hip Hop. That's a black website, if you don't know.
"It's the CNN of the 'hood," he jokes.
And why did Killam create a Brad Pitt impression? He says it was out of "a desperate need to be like him" and even used it for her audition.
Here are 12 more things you didn't know about SNL and its casts:
1. Creator Lorne Michaels tells The Hollywood Reporter that he regrets doing a sketch that used the word "penis" about 60 times.
2. Michaels would redo the 1985 season over again because Dan Aykroyd, Newman and Bill Murray acted "too young."
3. Dratch created "Debbie Downer" after someone asked her if she was in New York City for 9/11.
4. McKinnon describes backstage life as a "middle school play" where people wonder if they can "pee in these Spanx."
5. Michaels first felt proud of the show on its 25th anniversary.
6. Five-time host Justin Timberlake's favorite sketch he ever did was "Immigrant Tale" because "it's 20-to-1 me making jokes about myself."
7. Everyone has to write for him/herself
8. Amy Poehler once pitched a character called "Sleeping Bag Lady" who just wore a sleeping bag...it never caught on.
9. Oteri got food poisoning the night before her audition, but says the "adrenaline" got her through it.
10. Kenan Thompson runs into the Rev. Al Sharpton around 30 Rock and will use his imitation voice when he talks to him.
11. No matter the cast there is always alcohol at the end of the show come and everyone enjoys it LOL. As Rudolph says to Glamour, "Drinking is always a helpful way to bond at SNL."
12. Michaels plans to stay onboard as long he possibly can.