Ego Nwodim steals scenes for a living. Comedy Bang! Bang! fans know this; so does anyone who’s watched HBO’s Love Life, where she swept into season two as an indignant playwright to deliver the line “You’re not a king — you’re a little ass boy” with relish.
But most weekends — at least, during the months when school is in session — Nwodim is putting the work in for Saturday Night Live, where she’s carved out a specialty for inhabiting the show’s goofiest, most “why is that so funny?” personalities. Two seasons ago, she first portrayed the brilliant-dumb character Lisa from Temecula: a steak-loving woman in a magenta cutout sweater who was, refreshingly, not a politician or a ready-to-tweet meme but simply a woman being cuckoo in a restaurant. (And a sports bar. And a wedding reception.) As SNL enters its most momentous season yet — an election year that can understatedly be described as “high-stakes” converging with the show’s 50th anniversary — Nwodim has a lot more much-needed silliness up her sleeve. Her prediction for what the coming season will entail? “Twenty weeks of a party.”
But for now, Nwodim says, she and the rest of SNL’s cast and writers are “legitimately on summer break. Even as the news is newsing, we haven’t convened in any way.” Even if they did, the news-cycle-to-episode pace doesn’t exactly lend itself to planning ahead. “It’s a workplace that forces you to surrender to the moment,” Nwodim says. “Even in the course of two weeks, so many politicians might do something noteworthy — and I say that to be kind.” Barring any couch-level developments, her pie-in-the-sky role is Jasmine Crockett. “I didn’t get to play her last year, and I would love nothing more.”
For someone like Nwodim, though, “summer break” just means she’s found a new scene partner to hijack: NBA star shooter Steph Curry. She can currently be seen in Peacock’s mockumentary-style series Mr. Throwback. Curry plays himself, while Nwodim plays Curry’s handler Kimberly — also based on a real person, Curry’s COO Tiffany Williams. Williams may use her work ethic to keep Curry’s business empire running, but Nwodim applies that same studiousness to, say, honing her Katt Williams wheeze, getting everyone in a sketch to break, or, in her downtime, perusing the menus of every restaurant in New York.
Mr. Throwback follows a memorabilia salesman looking to reconnect with his middle-school buddy, who just happens to be Steph Curry. What’s the most important rule to follow when reaching out to old friends?
Call me, FaceTime me, I don’t care. If I’m free and I like you, I’ll answer. You never know what kind of space people are in, though, so I think it’s important to ask in earnest how someone’s doing and acknowledge it’s been a while.
Are you a fan of the cold call?
I will receive a call and pick up. When people flip out about someone calling them or FaceTiming them, I’m a little, like … that’s dramatic. You can just not answer. But I’m a proponent and a fan, and I will answer a cold FaceTime.
Do you prefer FaceTime to phone calls?
Yes. I answered a FaceTime from a person who’s never called me on the phone, never FaceTimed me before, and it turns out the person they were FaceTiming me with was Whoopi Goldberg.
I’m gonna need some more details.
This hair artist named Derick Monroe who’s done my hair a few times works at The View and is assigned to Whoopi Goldberg. It was a Wednesday, we were in season at SNL, and I was up in bed on my laptop with my hair wrapped, still writing and revising sketches for a table read that afternoon. I was probably on four hours of sleep, haven’t brushed my teeth, washed my face. I get a FaceTime from Derick Monroe and I was like, Maybe it is Whoopi. And sure enough, he was like, “Somebody wants to say hi to you.” She was so complimentary. Every once in a while, a comedian I admire will say a very kind thing to me and I write it down in my phone, so I wrote down what she said to me that day. I asked to take a picture and she said, “My hair’s in rollers!” and I said, “My hair is wrapped, so it’s perfect.” I got a picture of me and Whoopi getting ready for the day: me writing sketches, her getting ready for The View. It was the perfect timing and boost of encouragement from THE Whoopi Goldberg. It was exactly what I needed to hear.
What’s your texting style?
I don’t want to text. That’s my truth. There are one or two people who I text with in a meaningful way, and it works for us, but I don’t like texting. If I were to rank communication, it’s FaceTime, phone call, voice memo, and then text message. Also, I’m still suffering from BBM syndrome. We would send, like, five words at a time instead of drafting a full text. I get a chill down my spine when I see a long text.
What’s the last app you downloaded on your phone?
Moda Operandi. They were offering 10 percent off if you bought something from the app, so I thought, Why not have another shopping app? I ordered two sizes of the same shoe for a trip and I’ll send back the wrong size.
What’s your hottest take about posting on social media?
If you post two static things to main in the same day, I think you are really brave.
How do you sign your emails?
“Thanks,” “Sincerely,” or “We gon’ see.” All with a comma after, then my name.
What’s one rule all SNL hosts should follow?
Surrender to the process. Be willing to be silly. Trust that we all know what’s going on and how to do the job. We — the cast, the writers, and the producers — can shepherd you to a good show. And just try to have a good time.
What’s your No. 1 rule for ordering food?
Go on Yelp and let them guide you. I don’t scroll Instagram much, but I’m constantly looking at food menus. Mikey Day pointed it out. He said, “Every time I look at your phone, you’re looking at a menu.” Why are you looking at my phone, Mikey? But he’s right. So I go between menus and online shopping.
What do you like to see on a restaurant menu?
My biggest thing with a restaurant is please season your food. We can’t be relying on condiments to do the job for us. Condiments should be optional. I can go, “Oh, this food tastes wonderful and I wonder what it tastes like with the condiment.” Not “Oh my God, 9-1-1, I need the condiment, is there salt and pepper?” Let’s season the food, guys. I don’t understand what the aversion to that is. Is there a reason they wouldn’t season it? It’s really devastating to me.
What are your rules for splitting the bill?
If you ask someone on a date, you can’t ask them to split the bill. That’s cuckoo bananas. If I am out with my friends, we generally don’t split the bill and one of us will get the other back. Before I could afford to do that, we would do separate checks. Don’t ask the birthday person to pay for their check, that’s rude.
How about at home — what’s your top rule for a successful dinner party?
You’re gonna want two mains if you haven’t checked with your guests, plus two starchy sides and two vegetables. And always have enough wine. I don’t like wine, but people love wine.
What do you like to drink at a dinner party?
This is really boring. I love a room-temp water. Let’s get my bowels moving. For an alcoholic beverage, a tequila soda is my go-to.
What’s an essential New York street rule to follow?
Don’t be a sidewalk hog. And when in doubt, keep to your right.
Do you have an overarching dating rule you follow?
I would like to begin to abide by this rule: Don’t fall for chemistry if you’re looking for a partner. If you’re just looking for a good time, chemistry seems like the perfect thing.
Do you think it’s okay to ghost after one date?
It depends on what that one date was like. How deep were you guys going? If you had a long first date and you were making second-date plans, like, “Oh, we should go do this thing,” you cannot ghost the person. Otherwise, you might be able to get away with it.
What’s your No. 1 gift-giving rule?
I prefer to give a meaningful gift. I don’t want to just give you more stuff. I’d rather give you something you’ll use or find sentimental. I don’t want to just add to your collection of stuff.
What’s the last really good gift you gave?
I just gave my friend Rashida a care package, just because. A lot of my friends like to do this. We’ll just give each other little care packages randomly. That way you don’t necessarily feel the pressure to give a Christmas gift or gifts at these other times of the year that are more commercialized. You can just go, “I’ve been sending you flowers all year.”
Do you gossip?
I do not gossip; I learn information about the communities that I am a part of. I do think gossip’s kinda wack, but I don’t know. It can be real juicy.
A previous version of this interview stated that Nwodim created Lisa from Temecula. The character was created by SNL writers Alex English and Gary Richardson and portrayed by Nwodim.
