Over the past few days, The New York Times profiled all the women currently on SNL, first in an interview with Kristen Wiig…
last month, Ms. Wiig has become, during only her fourth season, the
most veteran female cast member on the show. Aside from standouts like Gilda Radner, “SNL” has not been known for developing female comedy brands until the Tina Fey
era. In the last live broadcast, in December, Ms. Wiig appeared in
every sketch but one…
For regular SNL viewers, Kristen Wiig's rise to prominence comes as no surprise. Over the past four seasons, she's increasingly poised herself to become the current cast's breakout star. What is surprising about the article is how it draws some attention to the idea of competition between female cast members.
comedy is a small circle sometimes,” Ms. Poehler said, “and there’s
always the thing that there can be only one female at a time in the top
seat.” She added, jokingly: “I would like to send Kristen Wiig a shiny
new captain’s hat because she’s taking over the captain’s position.”
The New York Times recently also profiled the remaining female SNL members, all added to the cast over the past year.
television institution like “SNL.” “It’s certainly strange to do sketch
comedy with cue cards at midnight in a skyscraper, as opposed to in a
basement with your friends,” [Casey] Wilson said. This winter two new cast
members, Michaela Watkins and Abby Elliott, will have to suffer through
a similar learning curve.
While Wilson, Watkins, and Elliot have not yet made as strong of a mark on the show as Wiig, it's pretty awesome that SNL is putting such an effort into developing a strong female cast. Hopefully this time around it won't be just one female at the top seat, but rather a whole slew of them.
One of the worst things is reading profiles and not being able to connect the face to the name, so, as a favor to all of you, I've found clips of all the ladies discussed in this post. Click after the jump to watch all the clips.
Kristen Wiig in one of my favorite bits from this season.
Casey Wilson as Jennifer Aniston and Kristen Wiig as Elizabeth Hasselbeck.
Michaela Watkins interviewed by Fred Armisen. Her Ariana Huffington impression is amazing.
Abbie Elliott interviewed by Fred Armisen. I didn't now she was Chris Elliott's daughter, but according to the article, she sprung from Cabin Boy's loins.
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