Julia Louis-Dreyfus reveals working on 'Saturday Night Live' was "so misogynistic and not female-friendly"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is one of the most awarded actresses in television history, and it all began with 'Saturday Night Live,' where she was a cast member from 1982–1985. She was cast on the variety show at the age of 21 and made history as the youngest female cast member in the history of the program at the time. As prestigious as that was, it also came with its own baggage, and Julia revisited the ups and downs of her 'SNL' days in the latest issue of PorterEdit among other things.
It was during her performance at Chicago's Second City that she was spotted by 'SNL' and was asked to join the cast. Looking back at the experience, Julia said, “It was so misogynistic and not female-friendly whatsoever." She added: “But I was also 21 and unprepared to be there as a performer. A mash-up of those two very negative things made it a hard time, but I learned a lot.”
Since her departure as a cast member, the veteran actress has visited the show as a guest-host multiple times, and so it does seem like she shares a good relationship with the show now. 'SNL,' especially in its early days has had a reputation of being too exclusive and a bit of a boys' club, despite the progressive, liberal sketches it put out every Saturday. The drug abuse, the lack of any rules of decorum has been addressed in books such as 'Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests.'
In her interview, Julia also spoke about her other iconic shows such as 'Seinfeld' and the ongoing 'Veep,' which is on its very last leg. Despite the fans' constant and consistent demand for a 'Seinfeld' reunion, she claims it would sully the show.
"It was pretty special and it’s been a long time now,” she said, adding, “You don’t want to f**k something like that up.”
Surely, HBO's 'Veep,' which is all set to air its final episode on May 12, will get the same treatment from fans. For seven seasons the show has managed to make us laugh at possibly the worst in humanity, specifically Julia's character Selina Meyer.
“It’s delicious to play someone so self-obsessed; I tap into my inner two-year-old toddler,” she said regarding her 'Veep' character, adding that it is "definitely bittersweet” to say goodbye.
Julia also spoke about her breast cancer diagnosis in the interview, the news of which she famously shared on Instagram with the message, “1 in 8 women get breast cancer,” she wrote. “Today, I’m the one.” Having gone through six rounds of chemotherapy, she claimed that “If I hadn’t had a show that was relying on me, I don’t know that I would have gone so public with it... But I had 200 people waiting to go back to work. And I wanted to talk about it in a way that could maybe highlight something important,” she said, adding, “Universal healthcare was an important issue to me prior to getting this diagnosis, and it certainly is even more so now.”
Julia is one of the most tenacious women in Hollywood, having forged her unique path despite an admittedly stressful start at 'SNL,' and we cannot wait to see what mountain she is going to climb after 'Veep.'