Lori Nasso had never written a sketch when she was hired at Saturday Night Live.
With a background in theater and improv at The Second City, Nasso was focused on performing when SNL came calling in 1995. After auditioning as a cast member and making it through multiple callbacks, she was told she wouldn’t be hired—only to receive a follow-up offer to join the show as a writer.
On this week’s episode of LateNighter’s Inside Late Night podcast, Nasso recalls how unprepared she felt for the transition. “We improvised everything,” she says of her Second City background.
Still, she took the job, joining the show in Season 21 during a major rebuilding year that brought in Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, and Molly Shannon. The learning curve was steep. Unlike the collaborative, performance-driven process of improv, SNL required fully scripted sketches—often rewritten right up until airtime.
“You’re running to cue cards with changes for a show that’s going live in 30 minutes,” she says.
Nasso quickly found her footing, contributing to commercial parodies and helping develop recurring pieces. She also worked closely with performers like Oteri and Shannon, including early versions of the Sally O’Malley character, and adapted Ferrell’s “Get Off the Shed” for her very first episode.
That season marked a turning point for the show. By the time that season’s Jim Carrey-hosted finale aired, Nasso and her fellow newcomers felt they had helped restore SNL’s momentum.
After four seasons, Nasso chose to leave, citing burnout and a desire to reconnect with performing. She went on to write and produce in television, including a stint on the WB sketch series Hype, and later co-wrote the indie film Life Inside Out.
She also found her way back to late night with a recurring role on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Initially brought in to ask a question during an audience segment, Nasso performed it in a Scottish accent—convincing Ferguson she was the real thing. The bit led to multiple appearances as “Fiona,” a comedic superfan who repeatedly returned to the show.
Looking back, Nasso describes her SNL years as both daunting and formative—a crash course in writing, producing, and adapting on the fly.
“It was terrifying,” she says. “But it was incredible.”
Click the embed above to listen to Eric Ledgin’s full conversation with Mark Malkoff now, or find Inside Late Night on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
