Julia Louis-Dreyfus Doesn’t Look Back on Her SNL Tenure Too Fondly
Eternally associated with the role of Seinfeld’s Elaine (and since 2013, Veep’s title boss), Julia Louis-Dreyfus garners significantly less recognition for her time as an SNL player in the mid ‘80s. Now, with her third SNL hosting turn this coming weekend, Dreyfus reveals that her initial SNL years weren’t fond memories, given some of the sexism and lacking recognition.
The Veep star and coming host spoke to The New York Times on a breadth of topics, among them her time spent as an SNL cast member from 1982 to 1985, one lasting impact of which saw the future Seinfeld star meeting series creator Larry David. Louis-Dreyfus confessed to only viewing her actual SNL tenure “fondly-ish,” given that female cast members at the time weren’t given equal treatment:
At all. I did not come out of “S.N.L.” as any kind of name. I didn’t do anything particularly great when I was there. I didn’t. It’s fine. But I learned a tremendous amount. It was a very sexist environment. Since I’ve gone back, I can tell you it’s much more of an equal-opportunity environment.
I was on it for three years, and when I left, I made this conscious decision that I would not take any jobs that didn’t seem as if they would be really fun. That’s very simplistic and Pollyannaish sounding, but really, I noted that. I’m not doing this unless I can have a deep sense of happiness while doing it. I’ve applied that, moving forward, and it’s worked. So in that sense, I have “S.N.L.” to thank.
Dreyfus will again take the stage this coming Saturday with musical guest Nick Jonas, promos of which you can find below.
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