"I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me."
Sometime in the early '90s, a local radio station used Al Franken's Stuart Smalley character from SNL to sell something or other, and the ad came on about a thousand times a day. I was two years old when I repeated this quote at a family dinner (a story my mom loves to tell over dinners with other people) to confused/uproarious laughter. Over the next few years, I realized that it wasn't just this quote — there were millions of other sketches and characters and impressions to be done! Tons of weird laughter to be had! Sure, I was the only girl in my fourth-grade class who went as Beldar Conehead for Halloween, but the costume got belly laughs from every grown-up handing out candy, and grown-up laughter trumped kid laughter tenfold.*
The fascination carried into middle school when I wore out the "Best of John Belushi" DVD my mom found at the grocery store ("I would like to buy a wolverine!"). In high school, I slipped comfortably into the "theater geek" stereotype, armed with the knowledge that if Amy Poehler could joke about being jealous of a fart while standing on one leg, I had nothing to be embarrassed about. I made friends who loved SNL as much as I did, taking me from weird loner to a person my peers actually found sort of funny.
Ultimately, my interests moved backstage, and I ended up going to college to study TV writing. I can safely say that, without women like Kate McKinnon, Paula Pell, Jan Hooks and Nora Dunn, I wouldn't have the confidence to try new things and put myself out there. I wouldn't have gone out for my high school improv team, or ever tried to write comedy, or started a podcast. More than that, without SNL, I don't think I'd know what to say when opportunities fall through, or things don't work out the way I'd hoped. The hard truth is, not everyone on this planet has found me funny, charming, or talented. Not even the perceived "grown-ups" — sometimes especially them. But then I think of Jane Curtin, or Tina Fey, or anyone else who had to work their butt off to get the things they wanted, and I remember that, even when the criticism rings true, it's all part of the process.
After all, I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.
*It should be noted that, at the time, I didn't know that adults also laughed at fart jokes.
