Known for her sharp wit and keen observational humor, Paula Pell was a comedic force in both film and television, especially during her decades-long stint as Saturday Night Live Writer (for which she received an Emmy in 2002). In addition to her writing, Pell also shines as an actress. See: Girl5evawhere she plays Gloria, a member of a Y2K-era girl pop group who reunited in middle age. All seasons are currently available to stream on Netflix.
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For her treat, Pell reflects on a Saturday Night Live sketch she wrote for *NYSNC. At the time, Pell was a young writer on the show and had not yet really experienced how far-reaching and fast success on television can be. Her sketch about a fictional boy band became a hit with fans, who within days were on TRL with banners bearing the name of the song. Pell was amazed and delighted by the fans’ immediate reaction, comparing it to her own youthful obsession with music and movies.
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For reasons of clarity, this section has been edited and shortened.
I remember *NSYNC very well when he was very young. I wrote a sketch called (7 degrees Celsius), and it was a boy band that our actors were playing, and it was a total rip-off of boy bands at the time. And *NSYNC was the musical guest, and I said, “Is there any way they want to do the sketch with us?”
So I wrote a song called “Hold the Pickle” where they wore their McDonald’s uniforms and came in. I got to rehearse with *NSYNC and write their song and their lyrics and they just rocked it. They harmonized and were incredibly talented and they just nailed it right away.
@nsyncfanpage SUPER SIZE! LoL 😂 #NSYNC #fyp #nsyncforever #NSYNCFAN #snl #tvclips #fvshow #comedyclip ♬ Original sound – NSYNC
And the next morning I woke up after the after-party at four in the afternoon and (Total requirement live) was on. I looked TRL on my TV, and there were all these girls carrying a long banner because *NSYNC was being interviewed, and they had a long banner that they had painted that said, “Hold the cucumber.” And I looked at it and thought, “Hold the cucumber?” Wait a minute, “Hold the cucumber!” And I called my mom and said, “I wrote a song!” I was pretty young on the show. I hadn’t been on it very long, and I couldn’t believe that you could put something on TV and the next morning — these days with the Internet, it’s instant — but I couldn’t believe that all these girls (when I was that young, I would have done the same thing) … (overnight) went to the drugstore to get pens and painted a big banner with the lyrics of a song that they loved.
Oh my god I loved it because I remembered how much of a music fan I was as a kid (and how) I was obsessed with the first movie Rockyand I wrote about it in my diary all the time and was just obsessed. … In my diary I wrote: “I drew a picture of Sylvester Stallone today and I am very happy with it.’ I just devoured what I loved. But back then, you had to wait about a week for something to come out. You couldn’t devour something on the internet like you can today.
Then of course I wrote Debbie Downer with Rachel (Dratch). So to this day, I watch my soaps and they turn around and say, “Well, I don’t want to be a spoilsport, but I think we’ve been kidnapped,” and we’re in the basement of Thomas’ building. It’s just swimming out there, it’s swimming!
