This character only appeared once, but that was all Maya Rudolph needed to be enshrined in SNL history with one of the funniest sketches ever.
The chracter began as a sidekick on "The Prince Show," but Rudolph's impersonation evolved with Beyoncé's public image, from the birth of Blue Ivy to an imagined recent appearance on "Hot Ones." So Rudolph gets extra credit for being so consistently funny in her impersonation, nailing Beyoncé's statuesque posture, her soft-spoken authority, and, especially in her later years, her fearsome pop persona. There was a loving edge to her impersonation, while still poking fun at Whitney's swings between regal comportment and her more chaotic life with Bobby.Īsk anybody who's attempted to do Beyoncé on RuPaul's Drag Race Snatch Game: it is not easy to get laughs from being Quuen B. But Rudolph's version of Whitney wasn't some vicious takedown. There's a twinge of sadness looking back at Rudolph's Whitney Houston impersonation as it chronicled the singer's troubled years when her main media presence was on Being Bobby Brown. Whatever public persona that Donatella may have been able to forge on her own was immediately usurped in the popular culture by Rudolph's larger-than-life version of her, indulging in her extravagant Euro fashion lifestyle and bellowing "GET OOOOUUUT." One of Rudolph's earliest recurring impersonations was also one of her most indelible, playing the Italian fashion maven Donatella Versace as a chain-smoking, domineering, and terminally unimpressed icon. The sketches featured pubescent teens at their most awkward, and Rudolph created an especially uncanny teen voice for Megan, trying so hard to be prepossessed but forever falling into the rut of her unbreakable crush on Randy Goldman. One of SNL's sweetest recurring sketches was "Wake Up, Wakefield!" a high school morning-news program hosted by the dorky but gallant Sheldon (Rachel Dratch) and the innocently boy-crazy Megan (Rudolph). Gasteyer and Rudolph would lean hard on the hip-hop slang, overdo it on attitude, and attempt to harmonize every chance they got, skewering the pop climate of an era that would eventually produce Girls5Eva. In the recurring sketch, Rudolph and Ana Gasteyer would team up with a revolving door of guest hosts as the third member of the group as they'd host TRL or be featured on an episode of Cribs. SNL's earlist attempt to respond to the Beyoncé cultural moment came with Gemini's Twin, their take on Destiny's Child during their early-aughts years when they were one of many girl-pop groups on MTV.
MAYA RUDOLPH TV
Rudolph nailed the shouty cadence that Oprah would use to hype up everything from Julia Roberts to Ugg boots, as well as the mom-dance dorkiness that made her to relatable to the American TV audience. Her version of Oprah was a fist-pumping, gift-giving, celebrity-name-dropping media mogul given to sending her audiences into frenzies. Having a performer who can impersonate one of the biggest media personalities in the world is a great weapon to have in your arsenal, and that's exactly what SNL had in Maya Rudolph.
Whether they were oft-recurring roles or one-sketch wonders, these ten characters represent the very apex of Rudolph's years on the show. Her specialty was in larger than life figures - which is why she was so adept at impersonating the likes of Oprah, Whitney, and Beyoncé - and in characters who she was able to find through her prodigiously adaptable vocal patterns.
Rudolph's roots are in SNL, though, and looking back at her years on the show, a number of indelible characters emerge. She's one of the show's great success stories, having parlayed her sketch work into roles on TV and movies, and this week she stars in the new Apple TV+ comedy Loot. Her run as a main cast member ran from 2000 to 2007, she has returned to host in 20, and has appeared as a guest countless times. Following her stint with the Rentals, Rudolph joined the Groundlings improv troupe and rose to prominence as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 2000- 2007.She may not be the most lauded, but the simple fact is that Maya Rudolph is one of the greatest cast members ever to star on Saturday Night Live. Rudolph joined the Rentals in late 1995 as a touring member of the band, and appeared on the band's sophomore album, Seven More Minutes.
MAYA RUDOLPH PROFESSIONAL
She was replaced by Tony Maxwell, who has been the band's drummer for their entire professional run. Rudolph was the original drummer of That Dog, but left the band when she moved away from Los Angeles to attend college.
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