Saturday Night Live
Molly Shannon & The Jonas Brothers
April 8, 2023
Molly Shannon was on Saturday Night Live for only 6 1/2 seasons*, from 1995 until 2001, but she left a remarkable imprint on the series, creating a number of memorable characters, including Mary Katherine Gallagher who had her own feature film, Superstar. Shannon has a very specific comedic personality: sweet, awkward, and with a feralness burbling under the surface. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that her two most famous characters, Mary Katherine and Sally O’Malley are women on the opposite ends of the age spectrum, who are discovering and celebrating their own sexuality and power. And Shannon manages to get away with all of it, the armpit sniffing and the cameltoe brandishing, because she radiates an innocence and gentleness that you just can’t be offended by.
Shannon brought all of this goofy energy to this week’s Saturday Night Live — her second time hosting the series (the first was in 2007). It wasn’t a great episode like last week’s hosted by Quinta Brunson, but it was a comfortable and familiar blanket of an episode, and Shannon is welcome to come home anytime.
*Fun fact: Shannon replaced Janeane Garofalo in February of 1995 when Garofalo left the show over creative differences.
Continue reading “Molly Shannon’s ‘Saturday Night Live’ homecoming is a giddy hug”
