-Our next guest
is a very funny comedian you know from her work
on "Saturday Night Live." She hosts the 2021
Film Independent Spirit Awards, which airs on IFC and AMC Plus
tomorrow night. Please welcome to the show
Melissa Villasenor. Hello, Melissa. How are you? -Seth! Good. How are you? -I'm wonderful.
It's nice to see you. There's no "SNL" this week,
or else I would have a chance, I should say, of
bumping into you in the hallway. We do share real estate. And you actually creeped
into our hair-and-makeup room when AOC was on the show
to get this photo. This is when
she was a guest here. You seem very excited. Although, it should be noted
she seems equally excited to make the connection.
-Oh, my gosh. Yeah, we were both so excited
to meet each other. I love playing AOC, and
I freaking love her, you know? Um, yeah, that was right before
everything hit, you know, and we had to lock down. -Yeah, and you guys did such
an incredible job on the show getting through the initial part
of the lockdown, and then, you know,
it's been nice having you in front of audiences again. Are there any impressions
you've done this year that you particularly
enjoy doing? -I mean, actually, okay. So, Dolly Parton, of course,
and Kevin McAllister. -Here's -- Let me --
Let's just shout out the second Dolly Parton mention
of the night. It's a big night for Dolly
on our show. I would not -- This is not one that I naturally
would've thought -- Again, I don't know why --
I mean, you do Owen Wilson. I don't know why it's weird
you do Dolly Parton. You -- You have
a wide breadth of skills. Did you know
you had a Dolly Parton or was that something
that you found, I don't know, due to request? -Well, it was growing in my soul because I found her audio book
"Dream More" when I was quarantine --
quarantining alone and listened to her music a lot. And then it was growing.
It took a while to get it. And then by that week
in December... [As Dolly Parton]
"I was Dolly Parton. And I was ready
to talk as Dolly." -Do you just --
Do you feel like -- When you do an impression
of somebody as positive and with as warm of a soul
as Dolly Parton, do you feel better
when you do an impression of someone like that?
-Always. Whenever I'm doing
the impressions of people that are so light
and joyful, I -- It cures me. It heals me. So, Dolly is one, you know.
She's always so positive. [As Dolly Parton]
"It takes a lot of money
to look this cheap." That's her line.
I can't take credit for that. But, yeah, that's the same
for Owen, you know? He's just like...
[As Owen Wilson] "Yeah. I'm gonna --
What a beautiful day! Yeah. I'll go outside. Wow." It -- That's what's so cool.
Sometimes I'll do standup shows. And I'm not -- You know, we're
not always in the best mood, but when I go up there and I do
those impressions and bits, I'm changed. I always feel so happy. And that one was special
to do Dolly because it was Christmastime,
and, you know, she's becoming
the Queen of Christmas. So it was really great
to be myself up on "Update" and do that impression and sing.
-That's great. I can't say it, but when she was
here after her interview, she said the dirtiest joke
to our entire audience that was so charming and funny,
and I will never forget it. You ment-- And I'm going to
tell you it when this is over. But you mentioned that comedians
are not always so cheerful. You are also an artist, and you sort of do sketches
and whatnot, and this might be a good example of how comedians are not
always the most cheerful. What is that one? [ Laughter ] -Yeah, I mean, we're hanging
onto hope, you know? No, there's a real dark side
to me and -- -Yeah, how about this one? Really, I think we're
getting the theme here. -Yeah, just throw the trash
on this. [ Laughs ] -When did you start exercising
your skills as an artist? -I mean, I will say -- I think it was after
"America's Got Talent." I was on the road. I was headlining way too early,
you know, in the game, and I was bombing so much. Ugh, you know, to be alone
in hotel rooms and cry. But I was starting to draw,
and it really helped. You know, it's so cathartic, and it was helping in a
different way than comedy was. So it was --
And then I just kept at it. And now I'll --
What happens is I'll see images. Like, those drawings,
they just pop up now, like, when I wake up
or something. It's pretty cool. -That's so interesting
you mention that. So, obviously, you're on a show
that's incredibly popular like "America's Got Talent,"
you do very well on it. Based on that, you know,
it sounds like you think you were headlining
a little too early. Do you look back on it now
and realize like, "Oh, that was a really
tough time to go through, but, obviously,
I learned a huge amount that I wouldn't have
if I wasn't on the road at that point in my career"?
-Oh, completely. It was so necessary. And it was a boot camp.
I needed it. And it was a cool time
to, like, realize to do -- I wanted to do impressions
in shows, but I also wanted to explore writing for my own voice
and stuff. 'Cause that's --
The crowd needs to know who we are
and our lives, our stories. -Can I ask you
for a few other impressions? Because my most --
-Oh, yeah! -I'm most fascinated to know
how people react to them. Obviously,
AOC was happy to see you. I've heard tell
that Natalie Portman is a fan of your impression.
-Mm-hmm. Well, this -- I did it on "AGT"
but not on "SNL" yet. But I did a table-read "Update"
as Natalie Portman, and she came up to me after
and she was like... [As Portman]
"Thank you so much. No one's ever
impersonated me before. I always thought
that I had nothing special. I thought I didn't have -- I thought I was kind of boring.
But thank you." So she likes her impression.
That makes me happy. You know who else does, too,
is Ana Navarro. She loves it. I've played her a few time
on "The View." And it's funny --
I can hear her voice when she messages me on Twitter
or something. She's like... [As Navarro] "You can make fun
of me whenever you want. I love it. I love laughing. See, us Latinas,
we can laugh at things, unlike Trump,
who can't laugh at anything, who has no good sense of humor!" [ Laughter ] -I heard you have
a Kristen Wiig, as well. I don't think I've ever heard
a Kristen Wiig. -[As Wiig]
"Oh. I -- I do Kristen Wiig." -Whoa! Whoa! -[ Laughs ] "I love to play Kristen,
and I'm -- I'm just the best." I don't know. Yeah.
That's my Kristen. I think I auditioned
with a silly bit of Kristen Wiig
about to go skydiving, you know, and she's just
in the plane like... [As Wiig]
"I...change my mind. I -- I'm -- I'm scared.
I -- I don't want to go. I'm -- 'Cause then I'll get stuck
on a cloud and I'll have to
become an angel." -Wow. That one is -- I, like, want to call Kristen and make sure
she still has her soul. Hey, it is just great
to see you, as always. Thank you so much for
making time for us, Melissa. Very exciting. So, I know you've already
filmed your monologue for the Independent
Spirit Awards. You must be excited to see it
all come together, though. -I'm so excited.
I'm very proud of doing that. It's an honor,
and I felt like -- I want to do more hosting, and I would love to with
a crowd, because it's fun. You get to share everything.
You get to -- I did impressions and singing
and myself as a monologue. And it's just like --
Ugh, I want to do more. It was so fun,
and I hope people enjoy. -I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to watch
the end of this "SNL" season, and I look forward
to seeing you soon in person. -Yep. Good to see you, Seth. -The Film Independent
Spirit Awards air tomorrow night
on IFC and AMC Plus. We'll be right back
with more "Late Night."
Her impressions are always spot-on amazing. She seems like a very good hearted individual.
Wooow. Her Kristen Wiig impression is incredible. It's almost scary how good her impressions are. How do people do that???
I love how blown away Seth was by Melissa's Kristen Wiig impression. :D
Seth was wigging out at the Kristen Wiig impression...for good reason. Sounded just like her
She’s the BEST! Please get that Kristen Wig impersonation in a sketch ASAP.
She's a gem. I hope the writers use her more often nest season.
Wow! A doppelganger sketch would have been amazing last December when Kristen hosted.
Melissa is freaking talented!
I loved her small part in the show Crashing. And she’s had some hilarious (though too brief) characters on SNL this year.
Her Wiig is outstanding!