Fresh Air - Best Of: Maggie Rogers / Kristen Wiig

Episode Date: June 1, 2024

In 2021, burnt out from the intensity of her early career, Maggie Rogers considered quitting music entirely. Instead, she took a detour — to Harvard Divinity School, where she earned a master's degree in religion and public life. Her new album is Don't Forget Me.SNL alum Kristen Wiig co-stars with Carol Burnett in Palm Royale, an Apple TV+ series about a former pageant queen who wants to break into high society. Wiig talks about working with Burnett and the rush of SNL.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR and the following message come from Carnegie Corporation of New York, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. More information at carnegie.org. From WHYY in Philadelphia, this is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Sam Brigger. Today, singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers. I was walking through icy streams Today, singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers. When Rogers was at NYU studying music production, her class was visited by Pharrell Williams, who was there to hear their work. She played him her song Alaska, and he was stunned by it.

The moment was captured on a video that went viral and propelled Rogers to stardom. But in 2021, she was burnt out by life on the road and took a break, enrolling in Harvard Divinity School's graduate program. At its core, music has always been the most sacred and most spiritual thing that I've ever been a part of. Also, we'll hear from Kristen Wiig. She was a beloved cast member on Saturday Night Live and starred and co-wrote the film Bridesmaids. She's now playing a pageant queen trying to break into high society in the new TV series, Palm Royale.

That's coming up on Fresh Air Weekend. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. This is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Sam Brigger. While in college at NYU, getting a degree in music production, singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers met Pharrell Williams. During his visit to her class, Pharrell heard an early version of Maggie's song

Alaska and was stunned by it. The interaction was filmed and the video went viral, propelling her to fame. I got to see Maggie Rogers perform last time she was in Philadelphia. She was playing at a theater in a series of smaller shows she was doing called Box Office Week. The day of each show, Rogers would be selling the tickets herself, two per person, meeting the fans that lined up early in the morning. Rogers was interested in paring down the concert experience to something more intimate, personal, and less corporate. In the fall, she will be playing arenas, but Box Office Week is the kind of thoughtful concept you might imagine from the singer-songwriter.

In 2021, Burnout from the Road, Maggie Rogers took a break and got a master's degree from Harvard Divinity School, where she explored public gatherings and the ethics of power in pop culture. She's been trying to find a way to make the life of a touring musician more sustainable. Let's hear a track from Maggie Rogers' new album, Don't Forget Me. This is So Sick of Dreaming. cruising on the bridge in your great cadillac walking on the water like they're stepping stones It makes me want to sing My heart's breaking Oh, there ain't no diamond ring You could buy me to take me home Oh, cause I'm So sick of dreaming

Cause I'm All that I'm needed That's So Sick of Dreaming from Maggie Rogers' new album Don't Forget Me. Maggie Rogers, welcome to Fresh Air. Thanks for having me. So you've said that in this album, this is the first time where some of the material doesn't come from your own life, that you're like playing with a persona. And I was wondering if that's freeing, because I imagine if you're writing songs about your own life, there'd be this like self-imposed pressure to like get it right, to be precise

with the details, to be authentic to the experience. Massively so. I mean, I think in being able to sort of inhabit a character, I was able to weave this tapestry of all of these different memories throughout really my 20s. I just turned 30. And I was sort of able to tell maybe even a more real version of the truth in telling fiction. Over the course of writing this record, this character who's like a 25-ish year old girl who's leaving home and sort of going on this road trip through the American Southwest kind of appeared in my mind. And I was able to write the songs in sequence. The album is sequenced in the order that I wrote the songs in. And I was sort of writing them like scenes in a movie, you know, that takes place over like 36 hours and has a very like Thelma and Louise-esque ride to it.

And yeah, and it was just helpful structure. So without revealing, like, is it that there are certain songs that are more autobiographical than others or that this persona and your own life are sort of woven through each of the songs? They're definitely woven through. I have no problem revealing, you know, because I mean, yeah, I've been doing that for a long time. I'm also just sort of like professionally vulnerable and just naturally very comfortable with that. But I think it's that the feelings in all of these songs are very real. You've said that you write songs as a way of processing your life. Does that mean that like once you've written about something that it helps you come to a resolution, like you don't have to

think about that part of your life as much? I think that was really true when I started writing songs. I started writing songs kind of at the end of middle school and the beginning of high school. And it was very much a like one-to-one diary entry directive where I would write songs as a form of like self-soothing therapy and sort of play the song until I felt a new way. And it was also at this time where I was experiencing so much in my life for the first time. And it was 15 years ago now. And I think now, I think about songwriting a lot as a form of archiving. I mean, obviously, I'm a nostalgic person if my record is called Don't Forget Me.

But there's so much beauty in life and so much detail and so much memory. And I do worry about forgetting it all or being able to, like, get my arms so full of detail that I don't drop anything. And putting it into my art feels like one way of being able to just keep holding it. Well, you know, you mentioned nostalgia. And I wanted to ask you about that. When I first listened to the album, I was like, oh, this is really nostalgic. This is interesting. But, you know, then I listened to so much over the last two weeks, and you've been writing nostalgic songs since you were like 16 or 17 years old. So I was wondering, like, do you think that that's just you're inherently a nostalgic person? Or do you think it's like this process that you have of like making sense of your life is inevitably going to have like a nostalgic aspect to it?

I think it's really a part of who I am. Like my dad always tells the story of the night I turned five. He found me sobbing. And I was just like completely overwhelmed at the fact that I would never be four again. Well, you write about that. And is it kids like us? Yeah. Yeah. Hey.

Yeah, I do. I do write about that. And it is just, I think, this idea of time and the way that it slips through your fingers and not being able to go back. I mean, I think, not to talk more about live performance and why I love it, but it kind of is. Because the thing about being on stage is the second it's awesome and you're like, something is really happening here, it's gone. And you can't hold it. You can just be present in it and hope that you remember it. So anyway, yeah, I'm a nostalgic person.

So Maggie, you're just one of a handful of pop stars who've gotten their master's degree from Harvard Divinity School. What was it that you were hoping to get from this program? I mean, it's not a theology school at this point. Yeah, that's important to sort of note, that I didn't go to any kind of seminary. I didn't train to be a priest. But clearly it has to do with some sort of element of spirituality, and that seems tethered to your understanding of what music is like and performance.

So what were you hoping to sort of figure out when you were writing your thesis? So my master's degree is in religion and public life. So this program that I went to was specifically for people who don't work in religion, who want a greater understanding of religion and the way it works in the world to be able to inform their sort of non-religious life. And I found as I was performing and on stage that people were asking me for answers to questions I felt really unqualified to answer. Like I found myself in this unconventional ministerial position without undergoing any of the training. Like people were asking me for my perspective on politics, suicide. People were asking me to perform marriages, depression. And I was like,

I'm 24. Like I have no idea. I was in no way any more qualified than anybody else to have an answer on these things. The thing that I really spent time learning about and being an expert in was music. But people didn't even really ask me about music much. And even that I was still early in learning and still am. And so the program, it was just really nice to have some quiet time to think about what I believed and really thinking about, you know, in this time that is more divisive than it's ever been, how do people come together and how do people create meaning? And I think at its core,

music has always been the most sacred and most spiritual thing that I've ever been a part of, whether it's being in the crowd at a show at an early age or being on stage with my band when we're all jamming or playing music together and we just hit that right thing all at the same time like something was telepathically communicated that to me it's just it's the closest thing I've ever felt to something divine and so a lot of what I did was study religious theory and study the sort of like technical philosophical ways that people think about and talk about religion and the structure of religion. And then I applied it to music and to touring and to

festivals and used all of that to sort of create this system for myself to navigate some of these bigger questions I was having about ethics of having a public platform and sustainability within my career. And how do I use the work that I love to do the most amount of good in the world? If you're just joining us, our guest is Maggie Rogers. Her new album is Don't Forget Me. We'll hear more of our conversation after a break. I'm Sam Brigger, and this is Fresh Air Weekend. So Maggie, you know, the moment of your discovery was filmed and went viral. You were a student at NYU majoring in music production. Your class was visited by

Pharrell Williams. He came to sort of listen and give you some notes about what you guys were doing. You played him an early version of your song, Alaska, and he was blown away by it. It's sweet because you both look kind of nervous and shy and like you're not sure whether you should like be seeing what he's thinking about your music. like obviously that's such an important moment in your career um and partly fomented your success but like is there a part of you that sometimes wishes that that video hadn't gone viral that that was a moment that was more yours than everyone else's I mean, it was really, really scary when it happened. Like, I was incredibly overwhelmed. But it was also, it was complicated because I got the job that I had trained for and that I'd always wanted.

Right. Exactly in the moment when I needed a job and yet it was so deeply and wildly out of my control like it felt like something that was happening to me even though it was something I had prepared for for like a decade at that point right because you've been performing for a long time you've been writing making records long time. You've been writing music for a long time. Yeah, exactly. And then there was this moment where the door just opened. Part of me wishes that I got to upload that song and present my artistic statement.

But also what's beautiful about the video is how unguarded it is. So if it happened any other way, it wouldn't be what it is and i feel actually really lucky that the version of me that got introduced to the world is and was the most authentic version of myself because that's the kind of art that i love and i've always been drawn towards making and so like do i wish that i like brushed my hair and like put on a real outfit? Would you still be wearing that necklace that's made of elk? I mean, elk vertebrae. Yeah, I mean, I think that that's the thing that's sort of wild and funny about it.

It's like when I suddenly overnight became a pop star, like I needed a lot of clothes. And all of the clothes I had were for like I lived in the studio like I was a studio rat and suddenly I needed like colorful glittery outfits and I was like what do you mean I can't wear like my jeans and boots let's hear a little bit of Alaska I was walking through icy streams That took my breath away Moving slowly through westward water Over glacial plains And I walked off you

And I walked off and owned me Owned me, oh my I thought it was a dream So it seemed And now I breathe deep I'm inhaling So it seems. You and all this serenity. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. You and all this serenity. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

That's Maggie Rogers' song, Alaska. You know, Maggie, I'm not sure if it's because the song is called Alaska, but there's always something about the song that, like, for me, feels like there's a coolness to it, like, but there's always something about the song that, like, for me, feels like there's a coolness to it. Like, there's cold winds blowing. And I don't know if it's related to this, but you've said that you have synesthesia and that music has a color to you. And so you often, when you're writing, you create these, like, color mood boards for your songs. Could you describe that?

Yeah. I mean, well, I think that the coldness that you're talking about in that song comes from the synthesizers and how smooth they are. And sparse too, kind of. Exactly. There is space to it. But even in those background vocals that sort of come to help transition from the pre-chorus to the chorus. There is a sort of, it's a plate reverb. You know, there's a lot of different kinds of reverb, but a plate reverb is quite metallic in the way that it's designed. And I think that some of that smoothness of the synth and the way that the sonic palette of that song is designed does sort of represent the landscape I was talking about.

And that to me is like something I'm always trying to do, you know, make the music try and echo or tell the story of the emotion that it's soundtracking. And that comes from, you know, I grew up really loving classical music and playing the harp in orchestras. And I remember my mom really early telling me to listen to orchestral music because they were telling a story without words. And I was just so, so taken with that idea. As far as these color mood boards go, I think it goes back to how fast everything was because I've always had a very strong connection to color and sound. But also, as I got sort of like thrown into the like big dogs of the music industry and was suddenly working with all of these different collaborators after really just working alone for a really long time. Putting down my thoughts and feelings of the sonic palette or texture that I was trying to create into a couple different one sheets were really helpful to walk into different people's

studios with because I could show them in a couple different terms, whether it was just blocks of color on a page or images I had pulled off of the internet about how I wanted the record to feel. It was something that helped me communicate my artistic vision, but also keep things really coherent, even as I was sort of navigating all of these wonderful new people that were coming into my life because of all of this new attention. Did that also help like in order to sort of assert yourself in those situations? Like if would people try to get you to record things in different ways, but you had like all these different ways of sort of showing that you were really in command of these songs

and that these were your creations and you knew what was best for them. I mean, I think I was lucky to work with a lot of really wonderful people who were true artists and really... And listened to you. Well, and the work of a co-producer is to serve the artist or to serve the art. I think that's also part of the reason that I was drawn to music production or to education in the first place, because in so many ways, knowledge is power. And I got into music production because I was writing songs in high school and I couldn't get the guys to play my arrangements. So I learned how to program.

I learned how to play the songs by myself and create the arrangements for drums and bass and synth and all these things on the computer because it was like a gender problem. technique, it became something that allowed me to protect my vision. They were just tools that allowed me to get the thing that I heard in my head down onto paper. Well, Maggie Rogers, thanks so much for coming on Fresh Air. This has been such a dream. I have to just tell you, I'm a big, big fresh air NPR girl, and this has been really special. Thank you so much for having me. If I told you I was terrified for days Thought I was gonna break Oh, I couldn't stop it, tried to slow it all down Crying in the bathroom, had to figure it out With everyone around me saying

You must be so happy now Oh, if you keep preaching You must be so happy now. Oh, if you keep preaching, then I'll keep coming back. If you're gone for good, then I'm okay with that. If you leave the light on, then I'll leave the light on. That's Light On by Maggie Rogers. Her new album is called Don't Forget Me. Our next guest is comedian, actor, and screenwriter Kristen Wiig. She was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

for her work on Saturday Night Live and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for her 2011 film Bridesmaids. Now she stars in the new Apple TV Plus series called Palm Royale. Kristen Wiig recently spoke to Fresh Air's Anne-Marie Baldonado. On the TV show Palm Royale, Kristen Wiig plays Maxine, a former pageant queen who wants more than anything to break into the upper echelons of high society. It's Palm Beach, Florida in the late 1960s, and everyone who's important belongs to the Palm Beach Country Club.

Outsiders are kept out, but Maxine is determined to become a socialite living a charmed life. In this scene from the first episode, she sneaks in, tries to pass, but gets found out, questioned, and asked to leave. How did you get past security? I came in the back. There are no doors on the back of the Palme Royale? I never said I used the door. I used the wall. Most athletic. My athleticism is just one of my many positive attributes that would make me a wonderful addition to the roster of members here at the Palm Royale. You will never be a member of the Palm Royale. It's a high bar, I know. But one I could surely reach just given the chance.

As you know, to even start the membership process, I need another member to nominate me, and how can I get that if I can't get to know anybody? I'm just a really nice person new to Palm Beach, looking to make a friend or two. The Palm Royale represents safety in a rapidly changing world, embodying that which is sacred. Refined companionship, sanctity, and a deep heart conviction Maxine, like some of Kristen Wiig's other characters, is just trying to belong.

She's an outsider yearning for acceptance, like Annie in Bridesmaids, the movie Kristen Wiig co-starred in and co-wrote. Kristen Wiig was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2012. Last month, she hosted the show for the fifth time. Her other movies include Ghostbusters, The Despicable Me Movies, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Anchorman 2, The Skeleton Twins, and Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. Kristen Wiig, welcome to Fresh Air. Thank you so much. I'm very happy to be here. Can you describe your character, Maxine? Oh, wow. Well, she definitely doesn't believe in the word obstacle. When she wants something, she goes after it.

And I think she has this sunny disposition along with that, which I think kind of confuses the audience as to how to feel about her a little bit. She's just constantly, you know, happy and always seeing the glass half full. But what she's reaching for is, is, you know, obviously, from the outside, very shallow. This show has a great cast, Alice and Janie, Laura Dern, and her father, Bruce Dern. And Laura Dern was actually also is a producer on the on the project. There's Leslie Bibb and Carol Burnett. Carol Burnett plays the rich Aunt Norma Delacorte, who at the beginning of the show is in a coma. She's unresponsive and living in a facility. And your husband, who is her nephew, she kind of disowned him when he married you. But you're trying to get back into her good graces, even though she's in a coma at the beginning.

And in the first episode, we figure out that your character, Maxine, has been visiting Norma every day and has been using her clothes and her jewels to make herself look rich and like she looks the part. And I want to play one of the first scenes with Carol Burnett. Her character is unresponsive, but Maxine is still talking to her. I met a friend, Norma. An honest to goodness friend. She's a member of the social set,

an honoree at that. Can you believe it? I know it sounds so crass when I say it out loud, but I know that you know I have a vast amount of love in my life. A vast amount. Just hanging on gets harder as the years pass. I'm trying to do it with a smile. Norma, I really am.

I'm just tired. Stop it, Maxine. Pity is for the pitiful. It's unfortunate to have a scene with Carol Burnett that we can't hear, but in the beginning of the series, she is unresponsive. That's a scene from Palm Royale. What was it like doing those first scenes with Carol Burnett, but with her on the bed, like in the room, unresponsive? In this scene, you're actually lying in bed next to each other and you're doing this whole scene with her there. I know. Well, it was so fun because when we would cut and, you know, wait for the next setup, I would just stay in bed with her and we would just talk. And it was like some of the nicest memories I have of the shoot, to be honest. You know, she's a legend and rightfully so. She's not just like unbelievably talented and funny and fearless. And I mean, she's so warm and so generous. The crew just

like flock to her. She's a light. And for me, you know, I grew up watching her show. It was really my intro into sketch comedy. And when we got Carol, we were like, okay, well, she needs to wake up. She needs to talk maybe sooner than we had planned because we can't, people will kill us. We have Carol Burnett and she's just laying there. I think that adds to the excitement too a little bit. Like people know she's going to wake up. So I think people are kind of waiting for that. What did Carol Burnett mean to you growing up? Well, like I said, just the intro to sketch comedy, I didn't really know. I mean, I used to watch like the Mandrell sisters and like, hee haw, I'm aging myself. But all of those old shows, I mean, I used to love like Martin and Lewis movies and, you know, Abbott and Costell, those really old comedic duos and shows. And there was something about the cast and how much fun they were having, whether they were laughing in a scene or not. They just you could tell they were genuine friends. And there was something that was so, I don't know, appealing.

And I was like, oh, I want to do that. And she's a woman at that time with her own show, which was kind of crazy. And she was having fun with her friends. And that just, I don't know, there's something about that that I really admired, not to mention just her, you know, raw talent for characters. You just called her comedy fearless. And I feel like there are a lot of similarities between your comedy and hers. I think of some of her characters from the Carol Burnett show, like her spoof of Gone with the Wind, where she plays a Scarlett O'Hara character and she comes down the stairs with a dress made out of curtains and the curtain rods are still in there.

It's like spoofing of a beautifully dressed woman and she uses physical comedy and absurdity and funny movements, slapstick. And I feel like that's similar to some of the characters that you play. Do you feel like she's an inspiration to your work? Like spoofing glamour almost is something that I feel like you both do. just that there's not a need to be glamorous and always look you know good in a sketch where it's like the comedy sort of wins meaning like making yourself look like unattractive or to play sort of like you know a character that's so different from yourself there's something really freeing

about that and I saw her freedom in that when I would watch her, if that makes sense. We're listening to the interview Fresh Air's Anne-Marie Baldonado recorded with Kristen Wigg. She stars in the TV show Palm Royale on Apple TV+. We'll hear more of their conversation after a break. I'm Sam Brigger, and this is Fresh Air Weekend. Well, you had planned to be an art teacher and you were majoring in art and you had to take an acting class. And during the acting class, you had an epiphany. And I was wondering what that class was like and what made you think, oh, this acting might be the thing I want to do. Well, my major was called studio art. I think I did sculpture, drawing, and performance art.

And I had to take like a acting 101, I believe was what it was called. And I really didn't want to take it because I'm not good at any sort of public speaking, any sort of speech or book report I ever had to give in school was the worst day of my life, and I hated it. But I was like, okay, I'll just take this class and see what happens. And I really liked it. It was very much like a group class. There wasn't a lot of solo stuff you had

to do um and i really fell in love with just being in an ensemble i think and i really liked it and my my teacher is really kind of what inspired me because i was you, I was in my early 20s and I was still kind of like, what am I doing with my life? And he had just encouraged me and was like, you should think about doing this. And I was like, what? I've never thought of doing this in my life. But there was something that kind of like stuck with me about it. And I was very aware that I was enjoying the class more than my other classes. Now, you majored in art, and I read that you were hired by a plastic surgery clinic to draw post-surgery bodies. And the day before you were supposed to start is when you got the epiphany. Is that true? And what kind of job is that? It was. Well, it wasn't drawing.

It was like. Yeah. It was like Photoshop. Like you could show people sort of like before and after. And I have no idea how I got that job because I didn't. I was not qualified. And yeah, it was like I was starting on a Monday. And the acting class just kind of threw me.

I mean, I was a confused 20 year old anyway, of just like, what am I gonna do? You know, that age where it's just like, you're just lost. And I broke up with my boyfriend and like, you know, the whole thing. And I remember being in my bathroom and looking in the mirror and being like, okay, because I have the theory that if you talk to yourself and look in the mirror, you can't lie to yourself. I was like, okay, if I could do anything in the world, what would I do? And I just said I would move to L.A. and try acting. And I was shocked, kind of, that that was what I was feeling, but that's what came out.

And I went to this bookstore that I really loved going to. I can't remember the name of it. It's one of those sort of spiritual bookstores with books and incense and crystals and all of those things. And I walked in and I really loved this bookstore and it always made me feel good. And they had, I don't think he was like a palm reader. It was like a psychic that was there.

And at that time, I don't think I had ever seen anyone like that. And it was like 10 minutes for $10 or something. And I was like, oh, I want to go talk to this person. I think his name was Michael. It said $10, 10 minutes. I was like, I'm going to do it. I sat down with him. And he wanted to like hold a piece of my jewelry or something. And he

was like, what are you doing here? And I was kind of like, I don't know. He was like, no, what are you doing in Arizona? He's like, you should be in Los Angeles. He's like, you should be there by now. And I was like, what? And he mentioned like, acting and writing. And I was like, what? And he mentioned like acting and writing. And I was like, okay, that's weird. And I went home and I like packed up all my stuff and I left the next day. And I drove to Los Angeles and didn't tell my parents. Well, when you got to LA, what was your first move? You moved in with your friend and you started an acting class? I did. And I was at the Lee Strasberg Institute and I started there.

Like the acting class. The acting class. And it wasn't for me. I think I lasted a couple weeks. And I found an apartment. I got a roommate. It was on like Rochester Ave, which I thought was a sign because that's where I'm from. And I was like, I'm supposed to live here. And I moved in with a, she was a TV writer. And I don't know. It just, I got a job. I worked at a hot dog restaurant in beverly hills

for a little bit um and i think my next job was it was right when anthropology was like starting and they were opening the clothing store yes they it was like we're opening the store. The clothing store. Yes, they were opening this store called Anthropologie, and it was Santa Monica on 3rd Street Promenade, and I got a job helping to open the store, and I worked there for a while. And that was when I was settled. I was living in Santa Monica, working there. I wasn't doing any acting at all.

I just kind of gave up. I just was like, I don't, what am I doing? This town is full of people that are trying to do this. I have no experience. And I'm like 20-something years old, and I just, I started working at anthropology. And I did get into like the visuals there, because that's sort of, like, what I really loved and started doing that in, like, the jewelry department. Well, then you became part of the Groundlings, which is an L.A. comedy troupe, an improv theater where a lot of famous comedians got their start, including other SNL cast members like Will Ferrell, Maya Rudolph. And what was the trajectory from anthropology to the Groundlings?

Well, when I was in one of the performance art classes in Arizona, I met my friend Eric, who is still my best friend to this day. And he had moved back to LA. He worked at Anthropologie with me for a little bit. He lived downtown and I met his neighbors who were artists. And he told me one day, have you ever been to the Groundlings? And I'd never heard of it. And he was like, I just saw a show there. I totally thought of you. I think you should go see a show there. And I saw, I think it was one of their like Friday night, like one of their sketch shows, but they have improv in there too. And I had never seen improv. And I love sketch. And I was like, Oh my god, that's what I want to do. It was I saw it as something so different than just the regular sort of acting

class or like moving to LA to to act. It was like, Oh, they're improvising, like they're making stuff up. There's no script. They're creating characters. Like, it just seemed like I couldn't really figure out what I wanted to do until I saw a show there. You auditioned for SNL two times. And you were first on the show in 2005. What were your auditions like? Do people at the Groundlings just get auditions at SNL? Like, what is that process like? I was terrified because I had done sketch and most of my characters were in scenes with other people. I wasn't a stand-up, so there wasn't a lot a lot of like just me on stage by myself at all um so I felt very nervous about that and I just kind of was like all right this is my chance and I just

wrote a little thing as many characters as I could do any impressions that I had it was mostly characters and just crammed them all in there and had the audition and went home and didn't hear anything. And then so I just assumed that I didn't get it because no one was calling me. And then I heard, oh, they want to see you again. And my first thought was like, I literally did everything in that last audition. I've got nothing more. I don't have any other voices or characters. So I had to kind of come up with new stuff, which I think in the end ended up being good for me just as a writer and performer, just to be like, oh, maybe there's more in there.

And then how did you find out that you got the show? Well, the season started. It was, like, September, and I was watching the season premiere, and he wasn't on it. The Los Angeles show. Yeah. I was like, I don't think I got it. And then it was after, like, the third show aired, I got a call, or my manager got a call, saying that they wanted me to fly out and watch the show and

then start the next week. And what was it like for starting there? And, you know, you didn't start at the beginning of the season. So it was already sort of up and rolling. I would think that that would have been scary, a scary way to start. when I walked in, but in an exciting way of like, oh, I, you know, I knew it was going to be my family. And I knew they were going to be my friends. And it was exciting. And at the same time, I was very much like, okay, I'm the new girl, I just want to try to do my best. And plus, I was on the show with people that, you know, I've been watching and it was like, like Maya and Tina and Amy and Will Forte and like all these people where I was just like, how am I now on the shows? It was very surreal. Well, I've heard you talk about your time at SNL and how you missed the part of your brain that you used there, that there was a certain math to it.

Can you describe what you mean? Well, the week goes by pretty quick. And there are a lot of little deadlines here and there, which I do better with deadlines. Like Tuesday night, for example, it's like, okay, you get in at, you know, I don't know, two o'clock and you stay till five or six in the morning and you want to write probably three sketches. So just knowing that that has to happen and scheduling with another writer or another cast member. It's sort of like this unpredictable sort of puzzle you have to put together and to get everything done by the time you get home. And then there's the rewrites and the time between dress and air when you've got

this, you know, eight page sketch. And if you want to make it on air, you have to cut 30 seconds. And cutting 30 seconds is really hard because like each joke depends on the other one. And there's timing and things set up certain things. And if you don't have this setup, is this joke going to still work? And I, I loved that. I don't know. There was something about that frantic panic between dress and air and knowing that you were going to do the sketch on air different than you had done it all week. I don't know. There was something so exciting about trying to figure that out. And I do miss that. And just the timing of it. So dress So the dress rehearsal happens earlier on Saturday night? Yes, at 8. Okay, so then you do the whole show and then you have, what, an hour and change?

Oh, I wish. Okay. Well, actually, yeah, because it starts at 8 and the dress rehearsal is much longer than the live show. It's, I don't know, maybe a half hour longer. So you're over at like 10, 10.30. And then you go and get notes and try to rewrite stuff. And then you're in the chair, you know, getting your wig on and getting everything for the first sketch. And the show starts at 11.30.

So it's all fast, but everyone's running around, so that's what's so fun about it, like everybody. The year before you left SNL, the movie Bridesmaids came out. That was in 2011, and it was a huge hit. You were the star, and you co-wrote the film with your creative partner, Annie Momolo. You play Annie, a woman whose bake shop went out of business and your best friend, played by Maya Rudolph, is getting married and is starting a new fancy life. She has a new fancy friend, played by Rose Byrne. And Annie feels like she's being left behind. I'm going to play a much quoted scene. Here's the bridal party. They're on a plane

going to Las Vegas for the bachelorette party. Your character is sitting in coach because she can't afford a first class ticket and Annie is nervous about flying. So she takes something to relax and has a drink and is pretty out of it when she visits the characters played by Maya Rudolph and Rose Byrne in first class. Hey, buddy. How you doing? I'm good. I feel so much more relaxed. Thank you, buddy. Hey. How you doing? I'm good. I feel so much more relaxed. Thank you, Helen.

I just feel like I'm excited and I feel relaxed and I'm ready to party with the best of them. And I'm going to go down to the river. Wow, it looks like somebody's really relaxing now. What are you guys talking about up here? We are, um... We're going to a restaurant tonight. I know the owner, so he's just coming. Thank you, Jim. Oh, Helen is the only.

Mm. Mm-hmm. Big whoop. Okay, let's, um, let's go take a nap. What do you say? That's a scene from the 2011 film Bridesmaids. Now, this film is over 10 years old, and it's hard to remember that there was this whole narrative about how shocking it was that a comedy starring women was successful and funny. And I will say that when I talk to my daughters, I have teenage daughters, about how this was what people thought, they don't know what I'm talking about. You know, they don't understand that people used to think that women were funny. That's good. Yeah, no, I think it's great. But what did you think about that narrative at the time? Like, what do you remember about it?

I mean, I was so used to it. It was such a topic of conversation, and I didn't understand it. I guess I understood sort of like the financial, like comedies with men made more money, I guess. It was sad to me because I could name a million female comedians and comedic roles in films and movies that have been successful. And it just kind of felt like so much of it was put on the female part of it. And it wasn't just seen as like a comedy. It was like, it was so much about, you know, being a female comedy and like oh even guys will like it it's like well yeah why wouldn't they i mean girls watch you know guys

it was just so um it's just weird well kristin wig it's been great talking with you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Kristen Wiig spoke with Fresh Air's Anne-Marie Baldonado. Wiig's new TV show is called Palm Royale. Fresh Air Weekend is produced by Teresa Madden. Fresh Air's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Amy Salet, Phyllis Myers, Roberta Shorrock, Anne-Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel,

Thea Chaloner, and Susan Yakundi. Our digital media producer is Molly C.V. Nesberg. For Terry Gross and Tanya Mosley, I'm Sam Brigger.