Everything was like a game or performance. He was a single parent, so he would just say, Hey, Molly, when we go into this candy store, do you want to pretend I'm blind? And I was like, OK. Like if we went to a candy store in Shaker Heights, he would just make a game out of everything. I don't know if he wanted me to be wild because he was hiding a part of himself, but he made parenting fun, like just mundane stuff. Shannon: Yeah, I think he liked having fun. And then in some ways he had a motive for asking you to do that or encouraging that, that he couldn't admit to himself even. KCRW: There are so many things that are about your family life, and you're talking about your dad in the book encouraging you to basically live out this wild side and to explore parts of yourself that you might not want to explore. Yes, but I think that was totally unconscious when I did just make that up. Yes, my sister, Mary, who was my older sister who survived in our car accident, and my sister, Katie, Katherine, who died in the car accident. Nobody has ever pointed that out in all the years I've ever talked about that character. Oh, my gosh, Elvis, you know, that's so interesting. But it's also interesting, too, that she leapt out of your head and she's got your sisters’ names. And it's so fascinating, because as you say in the book, she's, in some ways, this really intense version of you dealing with a lot of your own anxieties. KCRW: You say in the book, that character kind of leapt out fully formed in response to the way that Madeleine was dealing with you. And I thought: really? I've never thought of comedy before.
But after that show, people started coming up to me on campus saying you should be on "Saturday Night Live" because they knew me doing that character, Mary Katherine Gallagher. The show was a huge hit on campus there were lines around the block to get into our show.Īt that time, at NYU, I thought of myself as a very serious dramatic actress.
Anyhow, Madeleine ended up loving that character, and they ended up building the whole show around that character. And I would have to do things to try to get her attention and get her to notice me, and she would continue being unimpressed.
And Madeline's character just kept being very unimpressed. In that exercise, I walked through the door, and I said, Hi, I'm Mary Katherine Gallagher. In the rehearsal for that show, Madeline had us do an exercise where she said, I'm going to play a really snotty director, and it's your job to come in, walk through the door and make up a character and try to impress me, try to get my attention. But finally, I think it was my last year at NYU, I thought, Gosh, I should take advantage of NYU and do one of the productions, so I auditioned for this show called “The Follies” that was kind of like a midnight comedy review show where we would make fun of the teachers.
I was mostly working full time when I was a student there at a squash club called Park Avenue Squash and Fitness. Well, years ago, Madeleine Olnek and I met at NYU Drama School. A very important incident took place with her, didn't it?
Tell the story of connecting with Madeleine Olnek. My guest Molly Shannon, since she was last here, has gone on to be in "The White Lotus” on HBO and her most recent show is now on Showtime "I Love That for You." She also has a new memoir, "Hello, Molly!" I don't know how you culled the stories that you use because they all basically build this mosaic of Molly Shannon. The following interview has been abbreviated and edited for clarity. And she says her father was her biggest cheerleader and her first acting teacher. She talks about the genesis of her SNL Catholic school girl character Mary Katherine Gallagher.
This week on The Treatment, Elvis welcomes back actress Molly Shannon, who is currently starring in the Showtime series “I Love That for You” and has written a memoir “Hello, Molly!” Shannon, a “Saturday Night Live” alum, has also recently appeared in the HBO series “The White Lotus” and “The Other Two.” Shannon, who lost her mother and sister in a car accident as a young girl, tells The Treatment she began her memoir with the accident because it deeply impacted the direction of her life.