Aubrey Plaza, 38, is already delivering memorable moments at Studio 8H before she hosts Saturday Night Live. The NBC sketch comedy series released a promo on Jan. 18 where Aubrey and cast member Chloe Fineman, 34, are alone in the audience at the studio and bonding over their shared love of impressions. “I’m excited,” Aubrey says about hosting SNL for the first time on Jan. 21. “And oh my God, I love your impressions. Drew Barrymore is my favorite,” The White Lotus star also says.
Aubrey Plaza, impression queen
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) January 18, 2023
Chloe thanks Aubrey for the “sweet” compliment, but Aubrey reminds the comedian that she’s “not the only one that can do impressions.” Aubrey gives a flawless impression of Marcia Gay Harden in Pollock, which totally startles Chloe. Chloe, dissatisfied with Aubrey’s first impression, asks the Golden Globe nominee if she can do one that’s “a little more fun.”
Suddenly, Aubrey starts crying and smacking herself in the face to impersonate Annette Bening in American Beauty, which again startles Chloe. “Why are you like this?” Chloe asks Aubrey, who slowly leans in to kiss Chloe and dramatically responds, “Because I’m insane, and I’ve been waiting to do this show since I was 12 years old.” The pair fully make out and are caught by a janitor who is vacuuming the floor. He simply stares at Aubrey and Chloe, shakes his head, and continues cleaning.
Aubrey is hosting the Jan. 21 episode of SNL that will feature Sam Smith as the musical guest. The actress appeared on Jimmy Fallon‘s late-night talk show this week and revealed that she actually auditioned for SNL back in the day, but she didn’t get a job as a cast member on the show.
“I didn’t make it to the Lorne [Michaels] audition, the famous final addition, but I did a preliminary first-round showcase,” Aubrey explained. The Parks & Recreation alum revealed that she played two characters in her audition: one was a “sexy” Puerto Rican news reporter, and the other was a “pill-popping housewife” that would name celebrities and the kind of tails they had.
Aubrey recalled how she ultimately got a job offer as a set design intern on SNL, which she settled for. “They [the set designers] loved me because I did not care about set design at all,” she said. “They wanted an intern who had no interest in learning what they did, because they were moody bastards. And you know that’s true.”
