Kristen Wiig had a ‘breakdown’ her third season on “SNL” when she thought she had no extra concepts: ‘I’ve nothing’

Working at Saturday Night Live shouldn’t be for the weak, and even essentially the most iconic comedians who labored on the present struggled with the high-pressure job.

Kristen Wiig lately opened up about her personal points throughout her tenure on the NBC sequence, revealing that she even had a "breakdown" early on when she felt that she had run out of concepts for characters.

On the Jan. 21 episode of Las Culturistas, hosted by fellow SNL alum Bowen Yang and comic Matt Rogers, Wiig stated that her third 12 months — season 33, which aired in 2007-2008 — was notably troublesome as a result of she felt that she "actually did each character I’ve."

"Three seasons in, [I was] having a breakdown being like, 'I've achieved each voice. I’ve nothing,'" Wiig, 52, remembered feeling.

Yang stated he had the identical expertise throughout his second season when he realized he had achieved each character and sketch thought on the present that he used throughout his audition, and now needed to begin from scratch to provide you with new concepts.

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"That's how you are feeling," Wiig stated. "After which that's that hump you recover from with, additionally, the assistance of different folks being like, 'Are you able to play blah blah blah?' And also you're like, 'Properly, we’ll see.' After which you find yourself making an attempt or doing it. It doesn't all the time work. And you then similar to discover new issues."

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Whereas Wiig beforehand created characters by determining their voice first, she needed to be taught a distinct approach throughout her third 12 months on the present. "It grew to become like bodily," she added. "'Let's simply do one thing that somebody stands like this,' as a result of I used to be like, 'I'm out of issues to do.'"

In the end, that mind-set led to her creating one among her fan-favorite characters, a girl at a Nineteen Twenties celebration who repeatedly says, "Don't make me sing," whereas clearly dying to sing (watch the sketch within the video beneath).

Regardless of the pressures, Wiig additionally referred to as her time on the present "career-wise, like finest years of my life," and that being round her SNL costars felt like "residing with them" for seven years. She additionally realized that it was okay "to fail," which is "arduous to do."

Wiig grew to become a breakout star throughout her run on SNL from 2005 to 2012. She earned 4 Emmy nominations for her performances. After her exit, she returned to host SNL 5 instances, most lately in 2024.

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