Sarah Jessica Parker was once so upset by a portrayal of her on Saturday Night Live, she enlisted HBO to retaliate against the show.
Former SNL writer Hugh Fink recounts the story in this week’s episode of LateNighter’s Inside Late Night podcast with host Mark Malkoff.
Asked if he’d ever heard from someone parodied in a sketch, Fink recalled the Sex and the City edition of Chris Kattan’s recurring “Mr. Peepers” monkey-man character. “I must tell you that the sketch that I heard something loud and clear that had ramifications for SNL,” Fink said, “was my sketch mocking Sex in the City, when Jennifer Aniston hosted.”
The Season 25 sketch put Aniston into Parker’s role as Carrie Bradshaw. Ana Gasteyer, Cheri Oteri, and Molly Shannon rounded out the SATC four. Parker’s depiction, however, was the one that included a prosthetic nose. The sketch itself focuses on Bradshaw’s tryst with Mr. Peepers, but the faux nose was a bridge too far for Parker.
“Jennifer Aniston did a brilliant impression of Sarah Jessica Parker,” Fink noted. “However, we had prosthetics build her a gigantic nose. And when Sarah Jessica Parker saw our sketch and it aired, she was so angry and hurt.”
According to Fink, the offense culminated in Parker enacting a bit of retribution against the show. “She called HBO and said, ‘I want you to deny SNL any requests for using clips from HBO—any graphics, logos.”
“HBO relented and did what she said for a few months,” Fink revealed to Malkoff. “Saturday Night Live could not get use of any HBO footage. Because of my sketch.”
Parker had hosted SNL five years earlier, but has not returned to the program since.
The Parker incident wasn’t the first time Saturday Night Live spurred upset from an actor over an exaggerated nose. In 1994, cast member Melanie Hutsell portrayed actress Mayim Bialik’s TV character Blossom with a prosthetic nose. Last year, Bialik reflected on the portrayal in an essay for Variety, noting the possible antisemitic undertones of the makeup choice. “I remember that it struck me as odd. And it confused me,” she wrote. “No one else on the show was parodied for their features.”
Last year, Hutsell said she had resisted wearing the fake nose for the sketch, but was told she’d be fired from the show if she didn’t. About a decade after the sketch ran, Hutsell took the opportunity apologize when meeting Bialik. The actress forgave her—and did so again in the wake of her 2023 public apology. “I did not intend to disparage you or SNL and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness around this!” Bialik wrote on Instagram.
Hugh Fink wrote for Saturday Night Live from 1995-2002 and has since returned as a guest writer. During his run, he also appeared as himself on “Weekend Update.” You can hear the rest of his conversation with Malkoff on Inside Late Night here.
