Kristen Wiig says third-season SNL breakdown led to iconic 'Don't Make Me Sing' sketch

Kristen Wiig told Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers on the Jan. 21 episode of Las Culturistas that she had a 'breakdown' during her third season on Saturday Night Live after feeling she'd used up her ideas.

Wiig, who was on SNL from 2005 to 2012 and earned four Emmy nominations, called that period 'career-wise, like best years of my life' and said living with her castmates felt like 'living with them' for seven years.

She said she auditioned for SNL twice and felt she had 'literally did every character that I have,' and by her third season she was 'having a breakdown' thinking 'I've done every voice. I have nothing.'

To get through the slump she leaned on fellow castmates, trying parts they suggested — 'Can you play blah blah blah?' — and discovered new approaches instead of starting with a voice.

Wiig said she began finding characters through physical choices; she recalled standing in someone's office and suggesting 'let's just do something that someone stands like this,' which turned into the woman who repeatedly declares 'Don't make me sing.'

She also recalled the Rebecca LaRue 'flirting expert' bit that flopped at dress rehearsal but worked on air, and advised Yang not to read reviews or comments because the bad ones 'go through a certain synapse' and stick; since leaving SNL she has hosted the show five times, most recently in 2024.

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