201. Heidi Gardner: Behind Your Favorite SNL Characters

Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out

Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out podcast

Interviews, Iraglass, Dontthinktwice, Mygirlfriendsboyfriend, Sleepwalkwithme, Mikebirbiglia, Comedy Interviews, Thankgodforjokes, Comedy, Birbiglia, Thenewone

4.8 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Heidi Gardner went from being a hairdresser in LA to joining the Groundlings to 8 seasons on SNL, where she created characters like “Dianne, The Mom Who's Only Read About New York on Facebook” and “A Woman Who Insists She's Not Mad.” Heidi talks with Mike about her SNL experience, which included hosting a tailgate party in her dressing room for Travis Kelce, and she shares the lessons she learned about creating comedic characters from her days in the Groundlings. Plus, Heidi’s love for her native Kansas City, and an update on Mike and Jen’s rat problem.

Transcript

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0:00.0	One of the things that always interests me about your story is that you were like a hairdresser for like a considerable amount of time before you did comedy?
0:11.3	Like in LA.
0:12.2	Yeah.
0:12.8	Was it that your coworkers were like you're funny, you should do this?
0:17.1	It was a friend of mine that I met who was in the groundlings, and she said, come see me in a show tonight, and I went and saw it.
0:28.2	And it was so funny and great.
0:31.1	And at the end of it, I was like, oh, my gosh, I'm so excited because now I can take any out-of-towners from Kansas City to grounding shows.
0:39.2	Like, thank you for introducing me to this.
0:41.3	Right.
0:42.4	And she said, I invited you to the show because I thought maybe you'd want to take classes here.
0:49.0	And I was like, I'm not an actor.
0:52.5	And she was like, you leave me seven-minute voicemails in character.
0:55.6	You can do this.
1:00.0	That is the voice of the great Heidi Gardner.
1:02.9	Yay!
1:03.6	This is episode 201 of working it out.
1:07.5	We are thrilled to have Heidi Gardner on the show today. I've been a fan of hers
1:12.5	for many, many years. She's on SNL for eight seasons. She's on the new Tracy Morgan series,
1:19.9	the fall and rise of Reggie Dinkins. She is hilarious, and we have a great chat today.
1:26.8	Last week, of course, we had John Mullaney for the 200th episode.
1:30.6	It was probably our biggest episode ever.
1:33.1	If you haven't heard that one, go back and listen.
	...

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