A “crazy coincidence” has linked Saturday Night Live cast member Sarah Sherman to one of the show’s most legendary originals: Gilda Radner.
In a new interview with Jesse David Fox on his Good One podcast, Sherman shared the story of how her SAG residuals were mysteriously mailed to Radner’s estate—a mix-up she described as both surreal and spiritual.
“I got a giant envelope in the mail,” Sherman recalled, “with a handwritten letter that was like, ‘Hey, I’m Gilda Radner’s brother. Weird thing happened where I’ve been receiving all of your residuals checks for the past few months.’”
The mistake left Sherman overwhelmed. “I started, like, hysterically sobbing, obviously,” she told Fox. “Because I’m like, ‘Okay, God’s speaking to me right now.’ The fact that my SAG residuals checks had been sent to Gilda Radner’s estate?”
The anecdote came in response to a question about how often Sherman texts with SNL creator Lorne Michaels, whom she described as having an “economy of words” in his messages.
Sherman went on to explain that she was so moved by the letter from Radner’s brother that she reached out to Michaels to share the moment. “Isn’t this a crazy coincidence? I feel like this is like a miracle… or like a spirit is talking,” she remembered texting. (“That’s a schizophrenic text message,” she joked.)
Michaels’s reply was characteristically brief: “That’s sweet,” he wrote.
Radner, one of the original Not Ready for Primetime Players, was a defining part of SNL’s early years. She starred on the show from 1975 to 1980 and died of ovarian cancer in 1989.
