Key Points
- Maya Rudolph discussed her SNL experiences and the challenges of taking on celebrity impressions.
- Her Oprah Winfrey impersonation was the most difficult as it hadn’t been done before.
- Rudolph felt honored to be the first woman to impersonate Oprah on SNL.
Maya Rudolph became known for her iconic impersonations during her tenure on Saturday Night Live—but she admits there was one celebrity impression that was initially hard for her to nail down.
During a recent appearance on the Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce podcast, Rudolph opened up about her time on the show and spoke about how she got into character each week, even if it was an impression she had never done before.
“I never started SNL as an impressionist. I think I’m the person that if I’m telling a story about somebody, I mimic their voice but I don’t think of myself as, ‘Here’s my 50 impressions!’” Rudolph explained during the episode.
Looking back, Rudolph admitted that it was actually one of her most memorable impressions that ended up being the most challenging. Rudolph went on to explain that it was her Oprah Winfrey impersonation that gave her trouble, particularly because no one else had done it before.
“Oprah was hard because it was early on. You know how at this point, everybody kind of knows what the Oprah impression is…but somebody had to do it first,” Rudolph explained.
She continued, “My friend wrote an Oprah sketch and she said, ‘I know you can do it!’ And I really didn’t know how to do it. At that time, Darrell Hammond was our resident impressionist on the show and I went to him and asked him for help.”
Rudolph went on to explain that she also requested tapes of Oprah to watch and decided to hone in on the moment that the talk show host surprised her audience with cars.
“That became the thing but I had no idea how to do her [at first],” Rudolph admitted.
Rudolph noted that since she had long been a viewer of Oprah’s show, she had a lot of respect for the television personality and was honored to be the first female actress to ever impersonate her on screen, as it previously had always been men.
“I wasn’t really interested in playing the joke of, ‘Ha ha ha, I’m a guy but I’m playing Oprah!’ I was playing the person, so it was a different thing,” Rudolph said.
You can hear all that Maya Rudolph had to say below.
About the author
Entertainment Writer, Parade
Alex Gurley is an entertainment journalist focused on celebrity news, music and pop culture. She has over a decade of experience as a writer, red carpet reporter and content creator.
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