Paula Pell on Divorce, Hanky Codes, and Growing Up With Lorne Michaels

When Paula Pell joined the Saturday Night Live writer’s room in 1995, the show was in something of its heyday, with a cast that included Molly Shannon, Will Ferrell, and the late Norm MacDonald. “I was around NSYNC and Britney and all these stars, but I was the comedy writer wearing a garbage bag with tape on it,” Pell says about her time at SNL, which lasted until 2013 and introduced the world to unforgettable characters like Debbie Downer, the relentless worrywart portrayed by Rachel Dratch. These days, however, Pell has ditched the garbage bags and become a leading lady in her own right. Today, a third season of the sitcom Girls5Eva—in which Pell stars alongside Busy Philipps, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Sara Bareilles as part of a 90s girl group nostalgic for their glory days—drops on Netflix, where the show was picked up after two seasons on Peacock. To mark the occasion, she joined us for this week’s Rorschach Test, in which we she sounds off on the 2024 Election, Cillian Murphy’s eyes, and her old boss Lorne Michaels.

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LOVE IS BLIND

“All the shows that I judge and then I watch, I completely get addicted to. I’ll walk by and it’s on and then I’m just like, Well, I understand what she’s saying there. And then you sit down with a Coke and a glass of ice and 10 hours later my wife walks by and I’m like, I’m almost done.”

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KATE MIDDLETON

“I want everyone to just leave her alone.”

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LORNE MICHAELS

“I’ve never known a person that loves what he’s created so much in a true way, where he’s responsible for it. He is the most thoughtful, tender person that I’ve ever known, but I didn’t think so for the first few years. I was scared of him. We were all scared of him, always wanting to please him. But I showed up at my grandma’s funeral and there was a gigantic bouquet of flowers from Lorne. I got my knees replaced in L.A. and he sent me a hilarious card and flowers. He’s a person that I still get birthday presents from. He’s just a very, very caring person who I really love.”

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ANTIDEPRESSANTS

“I’m a big believer in meds that can help you balance your brain chemicals. My brain can be the biggest asshole, more than other people. So if you can balance that and get it to not talk to you in a way that is destructive, it is a beautiful thing.”

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THE 2024 ELECTION

“Oh, it’s already giving me diarrhea.”

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HANKY CODES

“Like old school hanky codes, when people wear hankies in their pants? I love it. Hey, I was in those gay bars at that time. Janine and I laugh about our hanky codes. I mean, it’s not as tropey as the Subaru, but we’re out in the country with a three-legged cat and old horses that we have to medicate, dog treats in the car in case we come across a stray. We have all the lesbian hanky codes.”

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NOTES APP APOLOGIES

“Oh man, that whole world is scary to me. I do believe that when people who are public people fuck up, they should apologize for it. But I feel like simplicity, in life and in show business or in politics, is essential. If you have a follow-up discussion after the part that says sorry, you’re not sorry.”

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THE 90s

“I was at SNL from ’95 on. So I was around NSYNC and Britney and all these stars, but I was the comedy writer wearing a garbage bag with tape on it. And before that, in the early ’90s, I was performing at theme parks.”

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CILLIAN MURPHY’S EYES

“Is that the guy from Oppenheimer? He does have gorgeous eyes. I crack up at him on talk shows. You know when you trap an animal in a little humane trap and they’ve got that look? That’s what he looks like on talk shows.”

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WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

“Sometimes, it’s just five steps forward, 20 steps back. Right now, I’m a little scared and furious. I love celebrating this month, but we’ve got a lot of work to do to fight the bullshit.”

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PSYCHOANALYSIS

“I’m a big therapy person. Therapy has saved my life many, many, many times. My therapist keeps putting things in my toolbox that I carry around so I can go live my life. Good therapy gives you the tools.”

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SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE IN 2024

“They have a reverence for the show that I really love. I think the sketches are going in a direction that’s more my thing, the old-timey sketch comedy thing, with more ridiculous characters and joyful losers. It’s not as heady or conceptual.”

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AWARDS SHOW MONOLOGUES

“Oh god, my nightmare. I’ve written for them before. Nothing’s harder than an audience full of people in the industry. Half of them are looking at their phone and then some of them really want to let loose and laugh. I was appalled the first time I went to the Emmys; people are talking or not paying attention. I come from theater, so it was like ‘Shut the fuck up.’ But they can be fun. Tina and Amy really set the gold standard.”

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DIVORCE

“It was very hard, and like all terrible, hard things, it changed me in a lot of ways and some for the good. It taught me a lot about myself and my faults and my flaws, but it also taught me what I want my life to look like. I’m still friends with the person I got divorced from and I’m grateful for that.”

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WRITER’S ROOMS

“So many hours of my life have been in the writers room. There are days I’ve hated it, but most of the time I really, truly loved it. Sometimes there’s too many people in the soup of something, but then you think of all the jokes you get from all their brains put together. The right showrunner can weed out and take the best of everything and everyone.”

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PEACOCK

“They were wonderful and sweet to us, so I don’t have any negative feelings about Peacock from leaving them. NBC universal is my whole life. I have a drawer full of old badges of a million different times I’ve worked for that company.”

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