Abby Elliott is getting candid about her time on Saturday Night Live.
The 38-year-old actress and comedian spoke about her time on the sketch comedy series in an interview with The Independent.
During the conversation, she spoke about being on the show from 2008 to 2012, and being cast at the age of 21, making her the youngest-ever female cast member.
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Her dad Chris Elliott is also an SNL alum, known for shows like Schitt’s Creek and Everybody Loves Raymond.
“My dad was like, ‘You’re funny, you know? Why don’t you try improv?’” she remembered.
She went on to impersonate stars like Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep as her niche, but it stopped being fun.
“I guess because it feels like I was beating a dead horse for so long,” she explained.
“Every week was a new week, and your happiness would depend on whether you got something on air or not, and if three weeks went by without a sketch, you’d think, ‘Uh-oh, am I going to be fired?’ ” she said. “There was always that looming threat of getting fired. That was the worst that could happen. And then, I kind of did.”
She asked Lorne Michaels if she could leave, but then changed her mind.
“I went back to him with my tail between my legs asking to stay, but after that season, Lorne said, ‘No, I’m going to cut you loose,’ ” she recalled.
“As much as I enjoyed being on that show, sketch comedy wasn’t going to be it for me. It’s not why I started and it’s not how I wanted to end,” she explained.
“Also, I had learnt the lessons I was going to learn … and so I left and, you know, the water was warm.” She went on to appear on How I Met Your Mother and Odd Mom Out, as well as The Bear.
