Christine Ebersole SNL Castmember

[esparza 333]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 5:36pm

I have been a huge fan of SNL and have so much respect for their comedy and loved their recent broadway sketch. I was surprised to learn that Christine Ebersole was not only a castmember but the anchor of Weekend Update. So i was wondering how she was as a castmember and maybe some of her sketches?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 5:39pm

It was really weird. All her newscasts were about an attack on the US in twenty years that was going to pave the way for the North American Union.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 5:39pm

She stank.

[jpbran]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 5:43pm

Interesting. Thought this was a joke, but according to IMDB it's true. (Though even IMDB should be taken with a grain of salt.)

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 5:44pm

It's a verifiable fact she was on the show.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 5:45pm

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/bios/Christine_Ebersole.shtml

It's a WELL KNOWN fact she was on the show, lol.

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 5:46pm

Did she ever break any stories about the Amero?

[SNLMedia]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 5:55pm

Her several solo musical performances were very enjoyable, but she didn't do anything else too memorable.

[kyleorlando]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 6:04pm

She was a cast member, along with Denny Dillon and Gilbert Gottfried, during what many consider the absolute worst of the SNL years.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 6:05pm

Worse than its become now? The show hasn't been funny in years.

[SNLMedia]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 6:28pm

She was not actually in the same cast as Denny Dillon and Gilbert Gottfried. She was in the same cast as Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Robin Duke, etc. (1981-1982).

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 6:47pm

So she wasn't around at the same time as Jean Doumanian?

[SNLMedia]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 8:21pm

Nope. Missed that godforsaken season by one year.

[DrewBill]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 8:53pm

I remember that she had a couple of semi-memorable musical performances -- it was a little strange that they just let a cast member sing from time-to-time. But beyond that, she didn't make much of an impact on the show.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 10:00pm

Christine Ebersole, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE cast member only in the show's 7th season (1981-82). During her run in the show she did impressions of Princess Diana, Rona Barrett and Cheryl Tiegs:



Here's a transcript from the Season 7: Episode 19 WEEKEND UPDATE segment, featuring Ebersole and co-anchor Brian Doyle-Murray: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/81/81snews.phtml

On the October 31, 1981 episode (hosted by Donald Pleasance), Ebersole sang a macabre country-western song "Last Night I Killed My Husband," while cleaning up her husband's blood.

NOTE: Ebersole described her one season on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE as "a constant struggle to maintain integrity and maintain principles". (Quoted in "Saturday Night: A Backstage History of 'Saturday Night Live'" by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad, William Morrow, 1986)

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 12:19am

SNL is funny all the time these days.

[April Saul]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 10:45am

I remember her as being the resident dumb blonde at a time when the show wasn't very funny at all...and the reverse happened for me in recent years when I thought, jeez, who would have known back then what an amazing talent she would turn out to be?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 10:46am

"Worse than its become now? The show hasn't been funny in years."

Not only has it not been funny, but it's not been watchable. Some of the skits are cringeworthy.

[joeybiltmore1]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 11:03am

Christine is supremely talented and can certainly get by without help from anyone, but I remember reading way back when that she was on SNL because her father/uncle/whoever was Dick Ebersole, a big mucky muck at NBC at the time.

I too remember her wonderful but oddly incongruous song solos (usually teary ballads) on the show.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 1:36pm

She's not related in any way to Dick Ebersol (no e).
Updated On: 1/22/09 at 01:36 PM

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 1:58pm

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about current SNL.

They're all terrible, too. Did you see the Debbie Downer skit where they couldn't stop laughing? So unprofessional.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 2:14pm

Exactly. Christine Ebersole (born in 1953) is NOT in any way related to Dick "Bud" Ebersol (born in 1947), who is married to actress Susan Saint James.

Their only connection is that Ebersol was Executive Producer of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE from 1981 to 1985, so he was around at the time of Ebersole's tenure on the show.

FYI - Jennifer Hudson and Kate Hudson are not sisters and Zan Charisse is not Cyd Charisse's daughter (she's her niece).

[joeybiltmore1]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 2:28pm

I stand corrected - thanks for the clarification and apologies for my decades-old incorrect information!

I'd actually love to see footage of her on the show - particularly her songs. Love. Her. So. Much.

[Jon]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 3:34pm

But Jesse Jackson IS Michael Jackson's older brother, right?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 3:36pm

They're all terrible, too. Did you see the Debbie Downer skit where they couldn't stop laughing? So unprofessional.

That was like five years ago.