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Heidi Gardner on breaking during “SNL”'s “Beavis and Butt-Head” sketch: 'Couldn’t prepare for what I saw'
"I'll never be able to shake looking over my shoulder and seeing what I saw. That's really special," she said of the viral moment.www.yahoo.com
I saw the sketch this weekend and laughed. Called my wife over to the living room to watch it, and she belly laughed as well.
Came across this article last night: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/heidi-gardner-breaking-during-snl-010947225.html
Why is Gardner using words like 'anxiety' when discussing breaking character. In the interview, she discusses that she has a job to do, and it isn't getting done if she breaks character. I disagree. She has one job: to make people laugh. By her breaking character, she certainly made people laugh...because it was sincere.
What's going on at SNL to make the cast think this way?
I think it’s been widely rumored- perhaps even attested to by people on the Carvey/Spade podcast from what I recall- that Lorne is not a fan of when people break. So maybe it’s just one of those things where it annoys him enough that people feel the trade off of appealing to the audience isn’t enough to compensate.
I certainly find it funny, you just don’t want to see it in every sketch, like when Fallon and Sanz would invariably crack each other up just by making eye contact.
GOATs in terms of not breaking in sketches- I would probably say Chris Parnell and Beck Bennett. So rare to see either of them even get on the fringe of breaking character.
Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant were all really stoic in that regard to for years but by the latter half of their run, they were occasionally doing so. I think it’s one of those things where as you get more comfortable in your tenure and longevity, you’re less worried about doing it.
Armisen, for instance, didn’t even break in the famous Debbie Downer sketch. He was like a rock throughout the bulk of his run, then in his final year, him and Hader were doing those Californian sketches and could not get through it. lol.