Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig have quite a few things in common beyond getting their start on Saturday Night Live. This year, they’re both Emmy nominated for outstanding actress in a comedy series: Rudolph for Loot and Wiig for Palm Royale, both on Apple TV+.
But before their success with scripted series, the duo had audiences — and sometimes fellow castmembers — in stitches on NBC’s long-running sketch comedy show. When Rudolph returned to SNL (having left in 2007) to host the Feb. 18, 2012, episode, she and castmembers Wiig and Bill Hader struggled to keep straight faces during the Price Is Right parody “Super Showcase.”
Rudolph and Wiig play incompetent spokesmodels Shonda and Vonda, respectively, who present prizes as the game show host (Hader) and a contestant (Vanessa Bayer) look on. One prize includes a “lifetime supply of frozen chicken,” as Wiig and Rudolph unwrap a frozen bird and Wiig fights to say without breaking character: “If your man likes chicken, he might like Chicken Man!” The sketch ends with Vonda chasing Shonda in an out-of-control golf cart before crashing through a backdrop and veering offstage.
“I could tell that [SNL creator Lorne Michaels] was really thrilled and happy that I got a chance to host before Kristen Wiig and Andy [Samberg] left the show,” Rudolph told THR after earning a guest actress Emmy nomination for the episode (Wiig was also nominated, as supporting actress in a comedy series, that year). “There was a lot of joy coming from everyone that night.”
Over the past 12 years, Wiig and Rudolph have collectively earned dozens of Emmy nominations, including five wins for Rudolph. And their respective returns to Studio 8H as hosts during SNL‘s season 49 also scored them each another Emmy nod this year for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series.
“[SNL‘s] given me a foundation that’s been transformative,” Rudolph said on THR‘s Comedy Actress Roundtable in May. “You’re learning comedy combat, and you can take that with you anywhere.”
This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.