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Witnessing firsthand the injustice and economic disparity, she says, was eye-opening … a loss of innocence.
Was that your first national TV experience?Yes it was.
I was doing a comedy act with my best friend, Mark Hampton, in New York.
She was also going to do the costume design for this new show,Saturday Night Live.
So there was this girl who came backstage at our show to get a haircut.
Her name was Gilda.
She was adorable, and they started telling us about it.
SomeSNLwriters came to see Mark and me perform.
At that time it was a little cabaret at 73rd and Third.
Now its a huge Broadway institution.
Anyway, the writers saw us, then Franne Lee got us an audition with Lorne Michaels.
He loved the nuns and chose us as guest stars to perform Talent Night at the Convent.
Tony, can I wipe off your forehead?
I love to watch you dance, Tony.
My acting teacher, Mary Tarcai, helped me so much, and thats why it stands out.
I gave it a lot of depth, based on their coaching.
Shes the only Irish girl in the movie, on the outside.
John Travolta was such a young man then, but a generous actor.
When I was looking like Im in love with him, and he blows smoke in my face?
It was beautiful, a real gift.
This was all our movie debuts, though I believe Travolta had been inThe Boy in the Plastic Bubble.
They decided to put me in the line dance too.
[Mimics the famous disco move.]
Onher podcast, Julie Klausner had a segment where she labels eachSNLcast member as a dog or a cat.
But she avoids nailing you down, the onlySNLer with that distinction.
So, to clarify, dog or cat?Definitely dog.
One hundred and fifty percent.
Take me through yourSNLaudition.
Did you already know Jean Doumanian?No, I did not.
I was again with my friend, Mark Hampton.
We were in the Village, and I was despondent I could not get an audition.
Id heard they were casting the new, second cast.
Id done Broadway, and my strong suit was theater.
So I wasnt at Catch a Rising Star, where she found Joe Piscopo and others.
She brought in a picture of me the next day and showed it to the producers.
They remembered me from the nuns sketch during the third episode.
I was the last woman chosen.
I auditioned six times.
Every time, I brought in new material.
And each time I came in, more and more people joined to watch.
Finally I said, If you bring me in again, Im going to charge you a cover.
Did I hear it was down to you and Mercedes Ruehl?Yes.
It was a bunch of women, then down to two: me and this tall, attractive woman.
We started talking; she was funny.
During our last audition, we went up to the Rainbow Room to have a drink.
She said, You know, I dont even want this job.
I want to play Medea in Denver.
I screamed laughing, thought it was the funniest thing I ever heard.
But she was serious.
Guess it worked out, since shewon an Oscara couple of years later!
Some of them [the writers] brought together likeI had Nadine, she had Roweena.
She had a wonderful Valley Girl character, Vickie, and Icreated a character called Debbie, her sidekick.
So I was hanging with Gail, who is still a close friend, and Charlie Rocket.
We created those characters, and the cable show, Whats It All About, Leo?
When I did it onSNL, I had asked his permission.
I auditioned with her, as well as Nadine.
And I did a little British girl, Mary Louise; she had a snake puppet.
I brought another character, Woodswoman, who played solitaire with bears.
They did one sketch of that.
People dont own them anymore, they give them over.
So Dick Ebersol came in before the 13th episode and overhauls the cast.
But you held on …As did Gail.
And Joe and Eddie.
One day Charlie, Gail, and I came back from lunch and Jean Doumanian had just been fired.
He was telling me how hard it was, what he was doing.
It was a really, really wicked place.
I did a little short film as a homeless woman, which was cool.
Then the writers strike [happened].
So, then I didnt know.
They call it picking up your option.
He says, Hey, Denny, how ya doin?
Well be getting back and doing it!
I said, Oh really.
I havent heard anything.
So thats how I learned I wasnt coming back toSNL.
Whats your feeling about your seasons legacy?
They used to say we were the worst of the worst.
I did a sketch, Thelma Thunder and The Leather Weather Report.
I cant even tell you how much fan mail it got.
I actually think it was pretty funny.
Because I dont look like her.
I had a dark wig.
I listened to her a lot.
And thats the hardest thing about being funny, is writing good material.
So the jokes I had to say were not anywhere near the league of her writing.
She totally trashed me in the papers.
I wouldnt want to go through that again.
I picked up the New YorkPostand shed saidsomething like,That midget aint look nothing like me.
It was just so ghastly.
I felt like a criminal.
So what brought you to this part of New York?My wife.
I got married about a year and a half ago.
Im with someone Ive known for 24 years.
We met in 96.
She lived up here and I was in the city.
Id come up and visit her.
Her name is Barbara Smiley.
On 9/11, I was in the city.
I lived on 57th Street.
We came up here that night when they opened the bridges.
I felt a comfort.
Id always hated the country; I loved the city.
But something happened to me, something shifted.
What are you working on now?I filmedBruised, directed and starring Halle Berry.
I did the HBO seriesThe Outsider,the sixth episode.
Its Stephen King, so its pretty different.
The source material was the baker who didnt want to make the cake for the gay men.
This is gay women, and the one woman is like a daughter to me.
Im the baker and this turns her life upside down.
The reason she freaks out is she loves this young woman, a surrogate daughter.
She sees her genuine love and it throws her.
She realizes shes in a loveless or sexless marriage, and hasnt seen that kind of love.
I just didnt make her a cliche.
Thats another example of you playing someone with a different perspective, highlighting their humanity.
Its very progressive for the time.It is.
Debbie is a really wonderful actress.
Theres a vulnerability about her thats very disarming.
Gail and she were good partners.
I came up with a lot of the Pinky Waxman ideas, but that was the writers.
Were you out then?
The class of gay or lesbianSNLcast members is still quite small.Ive been out for a long time.
Me telling you Im out, I just wasnt ever out publicly.
Ive been gay a long, long time.
But it wasnt safe to be out in Hollywood for a long time, in the 90s.
I mean, [when] Ellen came out, that was brave.
But did Gail know, or the folks atSNL?Oh yes, yes.
Anyone who was working with me probably knew.
Im not sure if [Jean Doumanian or Dick Ebersol] wouldve known; it was a different time.
I mean,Danitra Vancewas more out.
What a brilliant actress.
Im sad she died so young.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
