Molly Shannon's a Superstar in SNL's "Mary Katherine Gallagher at TGI Fridays" Sketch
The wildly popular, armpit-sniffing character teamed up with Host Scott Wolf in this Season 23 sketch.
In the weeks leading up to February 16's three-hour 50th anniversary celebration on NBC, the team behind Saturday Night Live has selected one sketch from every single season — 50 seasons in 50 days — to reflect the show's rich legacy across five decades. Presenting the sketch that represents Season 23: "Mary Katherine Gallagher at TGI Fridays" starring Molly Shannon, Host Scott Wolf, Will Ferrell,
Molly Shannon joined the SNL cast in 1995, and quickly made her mark with what remains one of her most memorable characters on the show: Mary Katherine Gallagher, the armpit-sniffing Catholic high school student who longed for superstardom. Shannon's Mary Katherine made 19 appearances between 1995 and 2001, returning for a cameo on the SNL40 anniversary special in 2015 — and a March 7, 1998 episode found her working at TGI Fridays with Host Scott Wolf.
RELATED: SNL's First Bush-Gore Debate Sketch Convinced the Ex-President He'd Said "Strategery"
Molly Shannon brought Mary Katherine Gallagher to her SNL audition
Shannon first created Mary Katherine Gallagher when she was a student at NYU. Though she was studying to be a dramatic actress at the time, Shannon told Vogue in 2024 that she quickly became known for the character, and embodying her was a "turning point" in thinking about what she'd like to do after college. "I got famous on campus pretty quickly—soon people started coming up to me and saying, 'You should be on Saturday Night Live!'"
"Mary is very much an exaggerated version of myself and how I really felt as a little girl: anxious, over-dramatic, accident-prone,” Shannon said in Vogue. “It was nice to have people respond to this character that really came from my heart.”
RELATED: SNL Shares Famous Cast Auditions in New 50th Anniversary Special Promo
Molly Shannon's an armpit-smelling server SNL's "Mary Katherine Gallagher at TGI Fridays"
At the top of the sketch, a "superstar" Fridays server named Kevin (Scott Wolf) learns from his manager (Will Ferrell) that he'll be training a new employee named Mary Katherine (Shannon).
"Turn it out tonight, and you could be donning one of these babies," Ferrell's manager tells a visibly excited Mary Katherine, unfurling a red-and-white striped uniform.
"I just want you to take this opportunity to let you two know that I just came from the ladies room, and in accordance with state law, I just washed my hands with a very powerful antibacterial soap," Mary Katherine tells confused customers (Season 23 cast members Ana Gasteyer and Darrell Hammond) after pumping their hands.
She's overwhelmed almost immediately, telling Kevin that — as any Mary Katherine Gallagher fan knows — "when I get nervous, I stick my fingers under my arms and then I smell them like this." Her subsequent attempts to wait on her customers are as messy as the plate of spaghetti she scoops off the floor to serve them.
Crushed when Ferrell's manager fires her, Mary Katherine tells Kevin, "My feelings would best be described in a monologue from the 1979 made-for-TV movie Portrait of a Stripper." Backed by piano, she indeed goes on to reenact the over-the-top scene flawlessly like the superstar she is (before crashing into a table).
But does it save her job? Watch "Mary Katherine Gallagher at TGI Fridays" from Season 23, Episode 15 above, and stream every season of SNL on Peacock anytime.
Mary Katherine Gallagher even got her own movie, Superstar
In addition to sharing scenes with Hosts including Gwyneth Paltrow, Jerry Seinfeld, and Christopher Walken, Shannon's wildly popular character got her own feature film.
Released on October 8, 1999, Superstar was directed by Bruce McCulloch, best known as a member of comedy troupe Kids in the Hall (McCulloch an SNL writer for Season 11). It co-starred Ferrell, Harland Williams, Elaine Hendrix and Mark McKinney, a Kids in the Hall member and SNL cast member from 1995-1997.
