Gail Matthius
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Gail Matthius | |
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| Born | |
| Alma mater | Gustavus Adolphus College |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1980–2001; 2017–present |
Gail Matthius is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member of NBC's Saturday Night Live during its critical and ratings low point at the time (the 1980–1981 season, produced by Jean Doumanian), and co-anchored the Weekend Update segment with Charles Rocket in 1981.
Early life and career[edit]
A native of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College,[1] Matthius had performed at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles prior to successfully auditioning for Doumanian's cast.[2][3]
Saturday Night Live[edit]
In 2015, the magazine Rolling Stone ranked Matthius at, out of 141 cast members, the 74th best of Saturday Night Live, calling her, "A flicker of hope in the Saturday Night Live 1980 debacle, with a sharp valley girl mall-chick character named Vickie. Matthius and Vickie both deserved better."[4]
Recurring characters[edit]
- Vickie, a valley girl who, along with her friend, Debbie (played by Denny Dillon), annoy people with their persistent questions and shallow statements.
- Roweena, a Midwestern-accented hairdresser who often has a neurotic, middle-aged woman named Nadine (played by Denny Dillon) as a frequent customer.
- Frances Lively, wife to Charles Rocket's Phil Lively, a fellow game show host who lives life at home as if it were just another game show.
Celebrity impersonations[edit]
- Brooke Shields, in a parody of the racy Calvin Klein TV advertisements that featured her.
- Irene Cara
- Nancy Reagan
- Mary Cunningham
Post-SNL[edit]
| This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (April 2022) |
Following her stint on SNL, Matthius appeared in the short-lived British/American sketch show Assaulted Nuts and the syndicated sketch comedy series Laugh Trax (where she revived her valley girl Vicki character from SNL).
She had some voice acting work for animated shows from the late 1980s into the 1990s, including Bobby's World (with Laugh Trax co-star Howie Mandel), Tiny Toon Adventures, Snorks, Animaniacs, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Bump in the Night and The Tick, often using the voice of her valley girl and Roweena characters from Saturday Night Live (in characters such as Martha, who sounds like Roweena, and Shirley the Loon from Tiny Toon Adventures).
Matthius is a member of the Spolin Players Improv comedy troupe and works as a drama coach for various acting studios, including Theatre Palisades in Pacific Palisades, California. In 2016, Matthius appeared in the play For Piano and Harpo by Dan Castellaneta.
References[edit]
- ^ Winegar, Karin (August 21, 1981). "Live from Minneapolis ... it's our own Gail Matthius". The Minneapolis Star. p. 28. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
- ^ Clifford Terry (February 22, 1981). "'The struggle to keep Saturday Night Live'". Chicago Tribune. p. 30. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
- ^
Gus Wezerek (December 14, 2019). "The 'S.N.L.' Stars Who Lasted, and the Ones Who Flamed Out". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
Some of the names here will be familiar only to die-hard fans; others, like Murphy, defined what was funny for generations of viewers.
- ^ "'Saturday Night Live': All 141 Cast Members Ranked". Rolling Stone. February 11, 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
External links[edit]
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| National | |
 | This article about an American television actor born in the 1950s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- Living people
- Actresses from South Dakota
- American impressionists (entertainers)
- American sketch comedians
- American stage actresses
- American television actresses
- American voice actresses
- American women comedians
- 21st-century American women
- Comedians from South Dakota
- American television actor, 1950s birth stubs