Mary Katherine Gallagher
| Mary Katherine Gallagher | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Saturday Night Live |
| Created by | Molly Shannon |
| Portrayed by | Molly Shannon |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Catholic schoolgirl |
| Nationality | American |
Mary Katherine Gallagher is a fictional character invented and portrayed by Saturday Night Live cast member Molly Shannon from 1995 to 2001. She was considered the first breakout character from the new 1995 cast, and a significant marker of the increased influence of women writers on the show in the 1990s. Shannon portrayed the character in a 1999 film, Superstar, and she also reprised the role when she hosted Saturday Night Live in 2007.
Mary Katherine is a sardonic caricature of an unpopular, teenage Catholic school girl. She is prone to comically severe mood swings, alternately hyperactive and ponderous. She suffered from stage fright, but was also hyper-competitive (she once engaged in a sing-off with Whitney Houston) and egomaniacal, believing she was a "superstar".
Lacking in proper social skills, her most famous trademark was that, when nervous, she would put her hands under her armpits and then sniff them. She would demonstrate this habit to most new people she meets. She also had a habit of flashing her underwear either accidentally or on purpose.
The sketches would usually begin with a school-related dramatic arts function, such as choir practice or school play rehearsals. Mary Katherine would run on stage and introduce herself, and then attempt to participate, hogging the spotlight until she would lose her cool and do something socially inappropriate.
At some point, she would usually announce that her feelings would be best expressed by reciting a monologue, sometimes from a film such as West Side Story but more often than not from an obscure TV movie such as The Betty Broderick Story starring Meredith Baxter-Birney. While reciting the monologue, she would usually become overly dramatic and intensely emotional, to the extent to where others around would have to intervene and stop her.
...
Wikipedia