Mary Katherine Gallagher is an exaggerated version of me, how I felt when I was little.
— Molly Shannon
When I see a mom embarrassed because her kid is having a temper tantrum, I'm like, 'Please! Do you think I've never gone through that?' Women tend to be too hard on themselves.
I never think I want to try to be funny. And humor, if there is anything funny, should come from a real place.
The love of a parent, that connection, it's eternal.
There was a period where I stopped auditioning because I was like, 'I don't have the heart.' There's just so much rejection.
I lead a very normal life. I'm just so happy being a mother that everything else revolves around that. If a movie falls through or a TV show doesn't get picked up, I'm pretty easygoing about it because I'm just like, 'Yay, I get to be with my kids more!'
I'm very driven by writing. Coming from 'Saturday Night Live,' because it's such a writing job, and we all write our parts on the show and create characters, I'm so respectful of good writing.
I think I'm a really hard worker, and I feel like my attitude is to just enjoy the process of being creative and developing and 'just throw a bunch of stuff against the wall and see what sticks.'
When I was on 'Saturday Night Live,' all I did was work.
I actually went to college with Adam Sandler. He was a dramatic actor, too!
I'm no way one of those comedians who want to do drama. I really do love comedies. I hope to go back to it.
I used to watch 'SNL' when I was babysitting, after I put the kids to bed. It was the Gilda Radner and Bill Murray era. I loved it.
When I was 12, my friend and I tried to sneak onto a plane from my hometown of Cleveland to New York City! My dad encouraged us - he was a wild guy, big on jokes.
My dad was a real fun guy, and despite his personal problems, he was a great father. It wasn't easy, but he did a good job of raising my sister Mary and I all by himself.
I think that, being a mother, you would do anything for your children. Their pain is your pain; if they're in pain, you feel their pain.
I had to babysit a lot when I was in high school, and I missed a lot of parties. I felt this longing, like, 'Oh no, I'm going to miss meeting the love of my life at that party!' I feel like that's very Mary Katherine Gallagher.
I guess I have a positive attitude about divorce because I have some friends who've gotten divorced, and I'm like, 'Well, if it's better, then - good!'
I definitely have loads of respect for writers and the art of writing.
I love comedy, but I did always consider myself a dramatic comedian.
I like both movies and TV, so I don't have some big grand plan.
I went to drama school at New York University.
She's true to herself and she's determined. She has things going against her, but she forges ahead despite all of that. I think that's encouraging. She's got some problems, but she has hope and tries to plow through things. I think that's a good role model.
Without a doubt, the worst part of being a mom is having to floss my kids' teeth every night. It's so tedious.
I just try to laugh at the little things. Like, I'm always amazed by how long it takes two kids to get dressed and out the door. Every morning I say, 'Come on! Let's go! Five minutes!' And they're still in their underwear. Or they say they're ready, but they're not wearing shoes.
I used to get painful crushes on really unavailable guys.
People would be like, 'Oh, 'Saturday Night Live' is such a stepping stone!' And I remember being like, 'A stepping stone?! This is my everything! I could just stop right here! This is the pinnacle!'
If you can write and create original characters, do your own show, develop your own material, it gives you more power than just waiting around to be hired.
I've definitely read stuff that I've been offered where I've been like, 'I can't do this. I think somebody would be better in this than me.' I don't want to do something if I don't feel like I can do a good job serving the material.
I went to NYU drama school, so I was a very serious actress. I used to do monologues with a Southern accent, and I was really into drama and drama school. And then, in my last year of drama school, I did a comedy show, and the show became a big hit on campus.
Losing my mom at such a young age had a profound effect on my life.
I really love having lots of down time with my kids.
I think things get a lot better after high school. I think the ones that struggle during that time tend to have better experiences after.
