Molly Shannon
When I was 12, my friend and I tried to sneak onto a plane from my hometown of Cleveland to New York City! My dad encouraged us - he was a wild guy, big on jokes.Collection: Dad
I just try to laugh at the little things. Like, I'm always amazed by how long it takes two kids to get dressed and out the door. Every morning I say, 'Come on! Let's go! Five minutes!' And they're still in their underwear. Or they say they're ready, but they're not wearing shoes.
The love of a parent, that connection, it's eternal.
She's true to herself and she's determined. She has things going against her, but she forges ahead despite all of that. I think that's encouraging. She's got some problems, but she has hope and tries to plow through things. I think that's a good role model.
I'm no way one of those comedians who want to do drama. I really do love comedies. I hope to go back to it.
I think things get a lot better after high school. I think the ones that struggle during that time tend to have better experiences after.
I went to drama school at New York University.
I actually went to college with Adam Sandler. He was a dramatic actor, too!
I really love having lots of down time with my kids.
I like both movies and TV, so I don't have some big grand plan.
When I was on 'Saturday Night Live,' all I did was work.
Losing my mom at such a young age had a profound effect on my life.
I love comedy, but I did always consider myself a dramatic comedian.
I think I'm a really hard worker, and I feel like my attitude is to just enjoy the process of being creative and developing and 'just throw a bunch of stuff against the wall and see what sticks.'
I went to NYU drama school, so I was a very serious actress. I used to do monologues with a Southern accent, and I was really into drama and drama school. And then, in my last year of drama school, I did a comedy show, and the show became a big hit on campus.
I definitely have loads of respect for writers and the art of writing.
I'm very driven by writing. Coming from 'Saturday Night Live,' because it's such a writing job, and we all write our parts on the show and create characters, I'm so respectful of good writing.
I've definitely read stuff that I've been offered where I've been like, 'I can't do this. I think somebody would be better in this than me.' I don't want to do something if I don't feel like I can do a good job serving the material.
I guess I have a positive attitude about divorce because I have some friends who've gotten divorced, and I'm like, 'Well, if it's better, then - good!'
I lead a very normal life. I'm just so happy being a mother that everything else revolves around that. If a movie falls through or a TV show doesn't get picked up, I'm pretty easygoing about it because I'm just like, 'Yay, I get to be with my kids more!'
If you can write and create original characters, do your own show, develop your own material, it gives you more power than just waiting around to be hired.
I had to babysit a lot when I was in high school, and I missed a lot of parties. I felt this longing, like, 'Oh no, I'm going to miss meeting the love of my life at that party!' I feel like that's very Mary Katherine Gallagher.
There was a period where I stopped auditioning because I was like, 'I don't have the heart.' There's just so much rejection.
People would be like, 'Oh, 'Saturday Night Live' is such a stepping stone!' And I remember being like, 'A stepping stone?! This is my everything! I could just stop right here! This is the pinnacle!'
I think that, being a mother, you would do anything for your children. Their pain is your pain; if they're in pain, you feel their pain.
I used to get painful crushes on really unavailable guys.
My dad was a real fun guy, and despite his personal problems, he was a great father. It wasn't easy, but he did a good job of raising my sister Mary and I all by himself.
I never think I want to try to be funny. And humor, if there is anything funny, should come from a real place.
When I see a mom embarrassed because her kid is having a temper tantrum, I'm like, 'Please! Do you think I've never gone through that?' Women tend to be too hard on themselves.
Without a doubt, the worst part of being a mom is having to floss my kids' teeth every night. It's so tedious.
I used to watch 'SNL' when I was babysitting, after I put the kids to bed. It was the Gilda Radner and Bill Murray era. I loved it.
Mary Katherine Gallagher is an exaggerated version of me, how I felt when I was little.
The three words every woman really longs to hear: I'll clean up.Collection: Inspirational
If it's not happening, write your own thing!Collection: Writing
Nobody knows how long you're going to have life on Earth, so you really have to work at being joyous and happy.Collection: Long
I think that being a mother, you would do anything for your children. Their pain is your pain; if they're in pain, you feel their pain.Collection: Mother
People struggle in marriages and more than 55% of people get divorced.Collection: Struggle
In real life, I always look at people and how they walk, or how they carry themselves. I think about the body a lot, in performance.Collection: Real
I can't believe when you write something from within, how many people relate to it.Collection: Believe
I feel like there is this resurgence of amazing roles for women. It's because TV is so good - there are amazing parts for women on TV, and it's upped the game in movies.Collection: Games
I think people pick up on that. You use personal stuff and mix it all in - I definitely pull on that stuff in my acting.Collection: Thinking
I try to put my own history in my work.Collection: Trying
There's so much to watch, I can't even keep up.Collection: Watches
I want to do something I feel like I can do.Collection: Want
Sometimes a fan comes up to me, and I'm really interested in how they're acting, so I'll study them and use that in my material.Collection: Acting
In real life, my son had a little injury a couple of years ago where we had moved into a new house and he put his hand through a glass window and it cut him really badly. Thank god he had surgery and repaired everything, but I remember I felt frozen I was so scared, and then I realized I was holding my hand just because his hand was hurt.Collection: Hurt
You can make the audience laugh, be funny and sad at the same time.Collection: Laughing
I barely have time to watch stuff that I'm in, or my friends' stuff. The bar for writing has really elevated and it's really exciting, it's not just parts for 25-year-olds.Collection: Writing
Most comedians come from a dark past and have a lot of sadness.Collection: Sadness
I certainly struggled when I was little and didn't have an easy time, so I try to put that stuff in my work.Collection: Trying