Heidi Gardner Is An ‘SNL’ Senior Now & She Loves It
24.06.2023 - 21:39
/ deadline.com
Heidi Gardner has become one of the Saturday Night Live seniors after having joined the venerable NBC show in season 43.
After a slew of cast members including Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon and Pete Davidson left last summer, Gardner, along with the likes of Ego Nwodim and Bowen Yang, have stepped up to fill the gap left. And she’s enjoying being “passed the ball more”.
In fact, Gardner had the joint second most cast appearances by segment, tied with Chloe Fineman and behind veteran Kenan Thompson, according to stats compiled by the Saturday Night Network.
Gardner is known for characters such as teen film critic Bailey Gismert and Deidre, one half of a couple who describe their vacation to their friends, as well as every boxer’s girlfriend from every movie about boxing ever, Angel, who she brought back this year.
Promoted to repertory status in season 45 in 2019, Gardner has also appeared in series such as Apple’s Shrinking, alongside Jason Segel, and in Adam Sandler film Hustle.
In addition to repping SNL, which is competing against Last Week Tonight with John Oliver for the first time in the newly titled Scripted Variety Series category at the Emmys, Gardner has been submitted for supporting actress in a comedy for SNL.
She spoke to Deadline, from her hometown of Kansas City, about her elevated role on the show, preparing for season 49 and some of her other projects, including writing a period comedy with her friend Melissa Hunter.
DEADLINE: It’s been two months since season 48 of SNL ended. Are you able to relax or are you looking to do a million things over the summer?
HEIDI GARDNER: It’s weird. It’s hard to do a million things right now just because of the writers strikes, you don’t know what you can or can’t