This is Fresh Air, I'm Terry Gross. Like most fans of my guest Molly Shannon, I got to see her first unsaturday night live.

She became known for her characters, the Catholic schoolgirl, Mary Catherine Gallagher. The breasty dancer, Sally O'Malley, whose catch phrase was,

I'm 50, and the co-host with Anna Gasdire of the public radio show Delicious Dish. She joined SNL in 1995 and stayed for six seasons.

Shannon starred in the film Year of the Dog, co-starred in the HBO series Enlightened, and The White Lotus, all created by Mike White.

Co-stars in the current HBO Max comedy series The Other Two, and will co-star in the new Showtime series I Love That For You, which premieres later this month, starring SNL alum Vanessa Bair.

Shannon's new memoir, called Hello Molly, helps explain the pain and loss that fueled a lot of the drive and commitment in her comedy career.

The book begins when she was four, and her father was driving the family home from her cousin's high school graduation party.

Her father had been drinking at the party and crashed into a pole. Her mother, her three-year-old sister, and a cousin were killed.

Her six-year-old sister had a concussion. Molly had a broken arm. Their father was hospitalized with a tubanous throat so he could breathe and two crushed legs.

Before the accident, Molly Shannon's mother taught her how to make friends. Apparently, she makes friends very easily.

By the time I finished the book, I wanted to be one of those friends. But I'll settle for an interview.

Molly Shannon, it's such a pleasure to have you on our show. I really love your memoir. Thank you, Terry.

Is the accident something you talked much about before writing the book?

Yes, I did talk about it. Not right away. It would have to be somebody who I'm pretty close to.

Sometimes if you give that information too quickly, it can be confusing or too much for people. But certainly as I would get to know somebody, yes, I would be open about talking about that.

You were unconscious after the accident.

Do you remember what you saw when you came to you?

Yes, I remember there were sirens and I could hear a lot of people talking. A large crowd stopped and formed around the car.

People were helping, trying to pull people out of the car. They put my sister, Mary and I on a stretcher.

I remember feeling her body next to mine. They put a blanket over us and it felt really itchy. I just remember being confused.

What is going on? We had been sleeping in the back of the station wagon. They took us to the hospital and they cut our clothes off.

They brought us in and gave us all these tests. Are the lights on? Are the lights off? And touching parts of our body to make sure we could feel our feet and different things like that. A lot of tests.

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