In honor of Saturday Night Live‘s 50th Anniversary, we will be going through its rich and varied history and breaking down its legendary run into easy to digest eras. Some eras might last for years, others only one season. But each era is one that either marked a change in the show, were driven by a remarkable personality of a star, or marked a special part of the history of the program. Today, we find look at the years dominated by one performer–Kristen Wiig.
I have a confession to make. I don’t like Kirsten Wiig.
Well, maybe confession is the wrong word. Confessions usually happen in private and involve sins not everyone should know. My dislike of Wiig has not been a secret. It was out in the open. If you read anything I wrote about her on the site, you should know that already,
In my opinion, her run on SNL was marred by her having at most 4 characterizations that she could employ with the only difference between them was the wig she wore. Her Target Lady was only a few shades removed from her Dilly which was only a few shades removed from her Doonice. And every character she did I found grating and annoying. I saw it as a mix of towering egotism and minimum effort. She did the bare minimum in creating a character but seemed to act like she was a genius performer.
I know that I am in the minority here. For many, she is their favorite SNL performer. She was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on SNL (2009 to 2012). She was one of the few SNL actors to have a special created for one of their characters, SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas. And she consistently ranks high on any list that ranks SNL actors. Rolling Stone ranked her at 14–higher than Chris Farley, Fred Armisen and Adam Sandler among others–in their list the best SNL cast members.
But even I can’t deny that 2006 to 2012 on SNL was Kristin Wiig’s era. Technically, her era started the year before in December of 2005, when she joined the cast. But she became a full time cast member in 2006, so that is where her era would begin. She soon became the dominant member of the cast. Each episode was filled with sketches featuring her.
But she wasn’t the only breakthrough of this era. This was also the era of Bill Hader. Many times, he took up the banner of corpsing on stage from Horatio Sanz and Jimmy Fallon. But he was a bright light of the era, creating weird and unique characters that still live in the minds of fans.
The most notable of these is Stefon. Stefon was an NYC club kid who continuously gave inappropriate tourist recommendations. It was a remarkably well-developed character for one that appeared almost exclusively in the Weekend Update segment. From the new wave hair style, the rubbing his hands together to his flirtation with Weekend Update host Seth Meyers, you felt that Stefon wasn’t just a caricature, that he was a real New York City character.
That is until he started breaking up on screen. This is where Hader cracked the most, inspired by last minute jokes inserted into the sketch by Stefon- co-creator John Mullaney. But Hader managed to turn his cracking up into a piece of character work, holding up he hands in front of his face top hide his obvious laughter,
In 2011, Kristen Wiig starred in the comedy Bridesmaids. The film was a surprise hit, established director Paul Feig as a comedic director of the moment, and earned Wiig’s co-star Melissa McCarthy an Oscar-nomination. It also gave the impression that Kristen Wiig had the makings of a big-time star.
As such, Wiig would leave SNL in a teary farewell in 2012. However, her movie career has yet to show the potential her breakout in Bridesmaids promised. She had the distinct honor of starring in two franchise killers–2016’s Ghostbusters and 2020’s Wonder Woman 1984 (Although, I personally liked both of the films). But where Wiig seemed to thrive was in indie dramas and dramedies, including 2014’s Skeleton Twins in which she co-starred with Hader. She also has made her mark providing voice work to popular animated franchises such as Despicable Me and Sausage Party.
Hader has also moved on to film, with notable performances in Trainwreck and It, but has earned much acclaim for Barry, the TV series he co-created, wrote and starred in for HBO. The show has garnered him a number of acting Emmy’s and established his chops as an actor and creator.
Our next era will also be dedicated to a female performer, but one that I am a big fan of. She is a history making, boundary breaking, Emmy winning force of nature. If you are guessing that I am talking about Kate McKinnon, you have guessed correctly.
