Emma Stone Praises Her ‘SNL’ Comedy Heroes

“Comedy’s harder than drama,” says Barbie’s Margot Robbie in this year’s edition of Hollywood Reporter’s Actress Roundtable. “I feel less scared that I’m going to pull off a big screaming, crying scene than I’m going to pull off a funny scene. I know I can scream and shout and cry and do all that stuff, but can I make people laugh?”

But that’s never been a problem for Robbie’s likely Oscar competition Emma Stone, who shared that “I do not take myself seriously in any way.” 

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“I love physical comedy,” Stone says, a skill she put to good use in her current Poor Things. “Growing up for me, my heroes were Gilda Radner, Molly Shannon. I was watching SNL, so that was my pinnacle. That goofiness, or what would be embarrassment, is so freeing. I find that so much fun.” 

It’s not the first time Stone has waxed rhapsodic about her Saturday Night Live heroes. When she was given the Trailblazer Award at the MTV Movie Awards a few years back, she told the audience to check out all her favorites, including Gilda, Bill Murray, John Candy, and Lorne Michaels.

“I love Gilda,” she told Cameron Crowe in Interview. “I love Molly Shannon, too — she is amazing. But Gilda is my favorite.”

Credit Stone’s parents for her taste in comedy. “I grew up on comedy from the ’70s and the ’80s. My dad showed me (Steve Martin’s) The Jerk—that is the first movie I remember seeing. And then my mom showed me Gilda.” That was followed by a comedy education that included Animal House, Caddyshack, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. “That was what I watched.”

“John Candy might be my acting hero,” Stone confessed. “He’s the perfect example of … someone who can find the humor in the dramatic moments. He just has that broken mirror within him all the time. You can feel it. I’d love to be that kind of an actor. Gene Wilder is that way, too. Gilda was that way. Steve Martin. The funniest ones are.”

Stone paid tribute to Gilda at Saturday Night Live’s 40th-anniversary show, a comedy cosplay where she got to act as her all-time favorite.

How big of an SNL nerd is Emma Stone? She even married one of the show’s writers, Dave McCary, whom she met while creating 2016’s “Wells for Boys.”

All the love made her a natural for SNL’s Five-Timers Club, an accolade she earned this fall when she hosted for a fifth time. “It has always been my favorite show, and since I started hosting, it's also become just a huge part of my life,” she said in her monologue. “I have made so many memories here and so many friends, and I even met my husband at SNL. And I know he's pretty camera-shy. He's not a performer, but it's such a special night for us, I would love for the cameras to cut to him if that's okay.”

“I love you so much, honey.”