NEED TO KNOW
- Kristen Wiig appeared on former Saturday Night Live costar Amy Poehler’s podcast, Good Hang, on Tuesday, Sept. 30
- During her appearance, Wiig opened up about her experience writing and performing for the sketch series
- The Bridesmaids star also shared that she received one piece of impactful advice from their costar, Will Forte
Kristen Wiig is opening up about some of the best advice she received on Saturday Night Live.
On Tuesday, Sept. 30, Wiig, 52, appeared on former costar Amy Poehler’s podcast, Good Hang, and chatted about her experience on the long-running variety sketch series. Wiig opened up about not only performing on the show, along with her process for writing sketches.
After Poehler, 54, asked how she gained the confidence to pitch sketch ideas in the show’s writer’s room. Wiig explained that her former costar, Will Forte, gave her a piece of advice that helped her find confidence in her own ideas.
“I think I kind of wanted to know where I was in the world as far as my point of view,” Wiig said. “The more I would put up that I thought was funny, the more I could kind of hone what kind of works and what doesn’t.”
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“I do remember Forte telling me once in his office [after] me saying something like, ‘I don’t know if Lorne would like this’ and he was like, ‘Don’t do that,'” Wiig recalled. “He’s like, ‘Never write for if you think someone else is going to think this is funny… Write if you think it’s funny.’ And I always carried that with me.”
Wiig would later go on to cowrite the successful comedy films Bridesmaids and Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar. She starred in both as well as scoring roles in Big Mouth, Palm Royale, Ghostbusters and many more.
Kristen Wiig, Will Forte on “SNL” on December 13, 2008.
Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
As for landing the SNL role, Wiig couldn’t immediately recall for Poehler how she received the offer, but she eventually remembered that initially she “didn’t hear anything.”
“The season started and that’s when I was like, ‘I didn’t get it,'” Wiig said. “But then they called me and they were like, we have a spot for you. Can you come in two weeks?”
Poehler told her former costar that she arrived at the show “ready and confident to try — what is the job — to try your dumb ideas.”
The Parks and Recreation star also informed her guest that everything Wiig used in her August 2005 audition became a recurring character on the series — including the infamous Target Lady.
Kristen Wiig on “Good Hang with Amy Poehler”.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler/Youtube
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While Target Lady was a fan favorite, Poehler revealed which of Wiig’s characters was one of her personal favorites: Sue, a woman who gets a little too excited during surprise parties.
“I love her. I love her for a million reasons,” Poehler shared. “The way you play her is so funny. I love her wig, always in a turtleneck.”
Wiig agreed that Sue was a favorite. “I like being in a sketch where there’s a lot of people and there are moments where everyone is looking around, like, ‘What is going on?,” she said.
“I love that moment. I love a cut to Kenan [Thompson],” Wiig continued. “It’s my favorite thing…Most of my sketches, if you go back and look, I’m like, ‘You gotta cut to people being weirded out by me, to remind the audience that I’m weird.’ ”
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Currently, Wiig is in her villain era. She’s starring as Vera, the kooky, cat-loving nemesis in Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Film, in theaters now. Based on the Netflix children’s series, Wiig told PEOPLE exclusively in September that choosing her first role in a kid’s show was an “easy yes,” in part because she wanted to make a show that her 5-year-old twins Shiloh and Luna, whom she shares with husband Avi Rothman, could watch.
“They’re why I did it. Of course, I really loved working with [director] Ryan Crego. I think he’s so talented, but it felt really good to make a creative decision for someone other than myself,” Wiig told PEOPLE. “And then I knew that they could watch it, even though they’re still in that age where they’re trying to figure out what I do.”
