After two years of almost total mystery, the curtain on Ashley Padilla’s path to SNL has been pulled back bit by bit. The breakout SNL star appeared on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast last month, and now she’s chatted with Zach Baron for GQ’s One More Question podcast.
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I’m always fascinated (and vindicated) to hear SNL cast members talk about the challenges of navigating the show’s 50th season, and it sounds like Padilla’s freshman year on SNL was anything but ordinary.
“It was also very different because it’s not how the show is,” Padilla told Baron. “Heidi Gardner had leaned over to me. She’s like, this is not normal, that Dana Carvey’s at the table. You know what I mean? ... That Maya Rudolph is ... that so many alum are coming back and doing cameos So, it did feel a little more intimidating than a usual season.”
Not to be a broken record, but I told everyone this was happening.
“Yes, I was there at the 50th, but I feel like I didn’t get to actually start putting my stuff out until last year,” Padilla added.
It was also interesting to learn from this podcast that SNL head writer Streeter Seidell told Padilla that the show was planning on hiring her as a writer if her cast audition didn’t work out.
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The Omnicosm founder. Snackology, Popculturology and The Cold Open writer. A Rochester, N.Y., native now living in the Washington, D.C., area. Won’t pass up a Genny Cream Ale.
