Known talents: Sketch actress, writer,SNL cast member, killer Ellen impersonator Known collaborators: The cast of SNL
If anyone has been catching the most recent season of SNL, they’d see the bright, slapstick-ready McKinnon, who has a Wiig-esque ability to fit into any role, at any age, and make it hilarious. Like many (literally, many) of her SNLcompatriots, McKinnon came from the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre and spent four years writing and performing on Logo’s The Big Gay Sketch Show. Oh, yeah, there’s this, too: McKinnon is the first openly lesbian cast member of SNL
Bill Hader — who is leaving Saturday Night Live after eight years this weekend — on his audition for the show:
I remember getting in the elevator for my audition and there was a guy next to me who had a backpack full of props and wigs and things, and I went, ‘Oh, my God, that guy is so prepared, I have nothing, I have no props.’ And that was Andy Samberg. And Andy Samberg said he was looking at me going, ‘Oh, that guy has no props. He doesn’t need props.’ And that was the first time we met, was in that elevator.
Jason Sudeikis’ balancing act: ‘SNL’ and his first animated film
Rob Lowman - Daily News L.A.
Jason Sudeikis rocked out on the drums during last week’s final sketch on “Saturday Night Live,” the last show of the season. He was backing cast members Bill Hader, who has announced his exit from the show, and Fred Armisen, who is expected to leave, on a number called “It’s a Lovely Day.” “SNL’s” “Weekend Update” host, Seth Meyers, may soon be moving on to take over Jimmy Fallon’s late-night talk show spot.
While speaking by phone from New York City last week, Sudeikis was preparing for “SNL’s” season finale but wasn’t tipping his hand on whether he was joining the exodus.
“I’m not really thinking about that right now. One game left,” the actor-comedian said. Sudeikis, 37, first signed onto the show a decade ago as a writer before also joining the cast in 2006.
But his “SNL” cast mate Jay Pharoah may have accidentally leaked Sudeikis’ impending departure on Twitter earlier this week with a tweet saying Hader, Armisen and Sudeikis would be missed on the set. The tweet has since been deleted.
Whatever he decides, Sudeikis is already having some lovely days. In the 3-D animated adventure “Epic,” opening today, he voices the character of Professor Bomba, an absentminded academic who believes there is a secret world of tiny people within the forest. His obsession causes his daughter Mary Katherine (Amanda Seyfried) to feel alienated from him. The film is based on a children’s novel by William Joyce (“The Guardians of Childhood” series) and directed by Chris Wedge (“Ice Age” and “Robots”).
Later this summer, Sudeikis will star in the comedy “We’re the Millers” with Jennifer Aniston, in which he plays a small-time pot dealer who, to repay a debt, recruits a fake family to smuggle a ton of weed over the border.
And on a personal note, Sudeikis and actress Olivia Wilde announced their engagement earlier this year. The two have been dating since 2011.
