Kate McKinnon

Happy Hour with Ina Garten

Ina Garten welcomes Emmy-winning comedian and actor Kate McKinnon to her New York City kitchen for an intimate cocktail conversation. They d

Key takeaways

• McKinnon finds identity through embracing contradictions in personality and role-playing.
• Gardening has become a core part of her life, symbolizing growth and self-discovery.

Main topics

• Gardening as personal transformation
• Comedy and character creation

Notable quotes

The essence of any comedic character is two diametrically opposed elements.

Conclusion

Kate McKinnon shares how her quirks, from pickling to impersonations,

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:02) I'm Ina Garten, and this is Happy Hour. In each episode, I invite someone really interesting for cocktails and a great conversation at my kitchen table in New York City. Today, I'm joined by Emmy Award-winning actor and comedian Kate McKinnon. You know her from SNL and the Barbie film. Obviously, I have a taste for the strange. Kate also has an upcoming children's book called The Millicent Quibb Series. We talk about everything from creating characters to gardening to pickling, alien abductions, and so much more. Speaker 1 (0:41) Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile with your summer price forecast. Now, unfortunately, we're seeing rising costs across the country with possibility that big wireless hates you 100%. Now, over here at Mint Mobile, we're seeing... Sunny skies and dropping prices. Every plan to just $15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Speaker 2 (1:02) Upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for a 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes. May slow when network is busy. See terms. Kate McKinnon, welcome to Happy Hour. Speaker 3 (1:17) Thank you so much. I am so happy to have you here. I'm so happy Speaker 4 (1:20) to be here. Speaker 3 (1:21) So Speaker 4 (1:21) I Speaker 3 (1:21) made Kite Borowskas. How's that for an unusual name for a drink? Tell me more. It's basically limeade with vodka. And it's like the national drink of like, exactly. Speaker 4 (1:33) Drink up. Delish. It's going to be a rocky ride. Good. It is because I'm the biggest lightweight I've ever met. I have one sip and I can feel it. Speaker 3 (1:44) I can Speaker 4 (1:44) too. Speaker 3 (1:44) And I've already felt Speaker 4 (1:45) it. What I say is I spend Speaker 3 (1:47) much more time talking about cocktails than I do actually drinking cocktails. Are you the same Speaker 4 (1:51) way? Yes. Well, I barely drink. I have a drink maybe once a month. And so this is it? Oh, this is it. And I'm going to be toasted. We Speaker 3 (2:02) met a couple of years ago at the barn. Speaker 4 (2:05) Yes. It was my very best friend Alex Carrillo-Ficino's bachelorette party. Oh, that's super intense. I remember you. I couldn't remember who you came with. My best friend, Alex Carrillo-Vecchino, and her sister, Francesca. Anyway, we were there for her bachelorette. The three of us have always been obsessive fans of yours. As I am for you. Oh, please, stop. Wrong. Anyway, I said to myself, you know what would be the best bachelorette surprise for my best friend, Alex Carrillo-Vecchino? If I just did something crazy and saw a... saw if Ina was around. And I sent an email, and there you were. And then you welcomed us, and it was magical. It was great. It was so much fun. And we still talk about it, Speaker 3 (2:49) me and Alex Krovachino and her sister Francesca. Tina Fey used to tell her producer every time she said, what would you like for your birthday? And she would say, I want to meet Anna Garten. And Speaker 4 (3:00) I'm not the sweetest. Speaker 3 (3:01) This went on for years. And we tried to make a date. We tried to make a date, and it never happened. And finally, she said, I want to meet her. Of course, you can't meet Tina and not have a great time, right? Of course. I think that's probably a lot of people's birthday wish. Of course. Speaker 4 (3:16) What are you doing? Speaker 3 (3:17) I brought you Speaker 4 (3:18) stuff in these compostable plastic bags. Speaker 3 (3:22) They're Speaker 4 (3:23) so elegant. I brought just some... Is this from your garden? Well, yes, because we've got some thyme and some basil, and you requested mint for the Cajun Speaker 3 (3:34) Roscas. Speaker 4 (3:35) Oh, how fun. And there's that. Speaker 3 (3:37) Don't we need mint in our drinks? We do. I think we do. And I've got some sage and lavender here. Mint in your drink. Speaker 4 (3:42) And I brought you as a present, very expensive, some borlotti beans that I grew. You're a serious gardener. Well, I've become... It's become my whole personality, which is good because I didn't have one to begin with. So this provides something. But aren't they just... They're just gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Anyway, they're bologna beans? Yes, they're bologna beans. And you can shuck these later. Oh, shucks. Speaker 3 (4:12) By your Speaker 4 (4:12) lonesome. Yes, okay. Speaker 3 (4:15) There we go. This is just like a bounty. I love it. Absolutely love it. So a friend of mine described you as like Russian nesting dolls. You open one doll, and there's another personality inside that has a completely different talent. I mean, it's amazing. You're a comedian, obviously. You're an actor. You're a writer. You've written incredible books, which we're going to talk about. You're Speaker 4 (4:37) a Speaker 3 (4:37) singer. You play the piano. And now you've moved to the country and you do carpentry. Do you do plumbing as well? I've just begun. Have you really? Speaker 4 (4:47) I have just begun. How do you learn plumbing? Men. Men? Men love to teach women things, right? Well, they have the skills. To men Speaker 3 (4:57) who Speaker 4 (4:57) like Speaker 3 (4:57) to Speaker 4 (4:57) teach women. I love men. Speaker 3 (5:02) No, Speaker 4 (5:03) I look at men on YouTube. Speaker 3 (5:05) I Speaker 4 (5:05) love to look at men on YouTube. And then sometimes I will meet a man in the trade who I just have a loving connection with. And I say, hey, show me. And he shows me. He'll show Speaker 3 (5:19) you anything. And I watch that man. Speaker 4 (5:21) And I learn from that man. Speaker 3 (5:24) So what was the first time you did an impersonation of somebody on stage? I Speaker 4 (5:27) developed an impression of my art history teacher in high school, who is the most fabulous person that ever lived. And I developed this impression, and I did it over the loudspeaker. I did the morning announcements as her in high school. And she was very gracious about it. Speaker 3 (5:48) What was the impression? Do you remember what it was? Speaker 4 (5:50) Well, she happens to talk like this. And she's a brilliant woman who is a brilliant educator and art historian. She happened also to talk like this. Hi, Ms. Ravenhoft. So Speaker 3 (6:03) you Speaker 4 (6:03) gave them a morning announcement? Yes, I did. I did. So I did. And, you know, I have to say it was a pretty good impression. I'm sure it was a good impression. And she was such a good sport about it, and it became sort of a thing. But I always love to do... accents and voices. And I just think that whenever I see an opportunity to play a role, my first and basically only question is, what's the voice? What do they sound like? And then, of course, what's the hair? The hair is really critical, isn't it? Yes. Yes. It's so Speaker 3 (6:41) interesting. Yeah. It Speaker 4 (6:43) is such a big part of the storytelling. I've never been like... the greatest technical impressionist. It's more for me, I imagine the inner life of that person and I... Speaker 4 (6:57) I have, to me, the impression has to contain a thesis about who they are, what they mean to the culture, and it has to say something in addition to just sounding like them. And so often I have veered, tried more to say something than to sound exactly like, because I just, there are people who do that so much better than I. Speaker 3 (7:22) And so, and do you, somebody told me that you, have two words for each person that are opposing. Is that right? Speaker 4 (7:29) Yes. Speaker 3 (7:30) So how did you come up with that idea that they're opposing words, they're one thing, but they're something totally different? And do you think they live in all of us? That we all have kind of opposing things? What are yours? Oh, Christ. Speaker 4 (7:44) Oh, God. Speaker 4 (7:47) I don't even know. My God, that would be frightening to know. It's funny because I think Speaker 3 (7:52) mine are kind of warm or loving or something like that and really tough. Those are the opposing things to me. And Speaker 4 (7:59) I can imagine Speaker 3 (8:00) they would be similar for you. Speaker 4 (8:01) I haven't, you know, you come off as very warm, mostly warm. I'm curious. I'd love to see the tough. No, just tough in Speaker 3 (8:09) business. I'm very clear about what I want to do. Speaker 4 (8:13) That's hot. I like that. Uh-oh. It's working. It's working. Speaker 3 (8:20) Drink up. Don't worry, Speaker 4 (8:22) I will. Anyway, but yes, I think the essence of any comedic character is two diametrically opposed elements. That's so interesting. And that is what makes human beings interesting and funny and capable of being. Speaker 4 (8:43) humiliated in a way that makes them endearing and relatable Speaker 3 (8:47) to them. But you have enormous empathy for the people that you do impressions of. And I think that they find them funny because they see themselves in it. Speaker 4 (8:56) Am Speaker 3 (8:56) I right? Have you offended Speaker 4 (8:57) anybody? I'm sure I have. I haven't heard directly from them, but I'm sure I have. Which upsets me because I have, in order to