Saturday Night Live star Ashley Padilla has become a standout performer since joining Season 50 in 2024. In her second season on the show, she scored the most screen time of any cast member and went into her third season motivated to top herself. Known for her unique comedic style and impressive sketch-writing skills, the California-born actress who almost quit comedy is just having fun while making audiences laugh. However, she was also feeling guilty about one aspect of her work until she spoke to Kristen Wiig.
Currently in Season 52 on the 2026 TV schedule, SNL has always had a deep roster of very funny people who write their own comedy skits while creating and developing a variety of characters over the years. From highly memorable to not always successful, it seems as though tweaks are always being made to be stronger, sharper, and funnier. And of course, you should have fun doing so. That’s why it was surprising to hear Ashley Padilla declare to Time that she sometimes feels guilty about having fun, but that it was Kristen Wiig who convinced her that that’s nonsense. She said:
Kristen Wiig grabbed me and was like, ‘Make sure you're having fun.' And I was like, ‘Thank you.’ Because I am. And sometimes I feel guilty about that. So to hear her be like, ‘No, do that,' it's like, ‘Yay! Okay, good. Should have fun. It should be fun.'
Whether it's performing for the folks in the live audience or the viewers at home, I can’t imagine not having fun while you’re trying to give other people a good time. How can you make other people laugh when you’re not enjoying it all yourself? But I’m very reassured to learn that it sounds like Kristen Wiig gets that and encouraged the Curb Your Enthusiasm guest star to embrace it.
Knowing that it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Kristen Wiig on the NBC series makes her the perfect cast member to reassure Ashley Padilla to have fun and enjoy herself. An apparent "breakdown" actually helped the Bridesmaids star create one of her funniest sketches, but not without first worrying that she wouldn’t be able to come up with anything new three seasons into her own run. So, she knows what she's talking about.
Padilla explained that her guilt about the fun she has on the show comes from thinking that people want to hear that comedy and being a part of Saturday Night Live is very stressful. It’s a live show in front of a live audience, with constantly moving parts, changing sets and costumes, evolving revisions, and a new host every week, which sounds both nerve-wracking and exhilarating. However, it sounds like Padilla is thriving in the environment. She added:
I do think that people want to hear that it's very stressful or something, but I just — I don't think it is.
As the show’s clear MVP and screen time leader, you might think that her audition went as well as her time on SNL has, either as the centerpiece of a wild sketch or as a key support in other people’s sketches as the straight woman. However, her instincts for what’s funny weren’t as sharp when she initially tried to impress boss Lorne Michaels, who asked her for a stripped-down do-over just as herself and without hiding behind any characters. Thankfully, that did the trick, and the rest is SNL history.
Fresh off a Halloween show with host and Obsession star Inde Navarrette, and with Druski and John Mulaney scheduled for November, you can continue to watch all the fun Ashley Padilla is having on Saturdays on NBC or with a Peacock subscription.
