We're With Her – Heidi Gardner

SNL’s ‘middle child’ and Kansas City kid is a rabid Chiefs fan who lets kids watch R-rated movies. While rolling out more hot-mess characters this season, she’s sharper than ever.

Every cast member has an SNL grind story. What’s yours?

The longest I’ve gone without sleeping is 25 hours. You’re just thrown into it and fully along for the ride, letting that take you wherever it’s going to go. My first year I was staying up all night, sustaining on gummy candy.

How did you nail your portrayal of a coked-up ’80s movie wife?

The cocaine wife was a dream. Sharon Stone is legendary in Casino and getting a taste of that world for two minutes was amazing. I was a stone-faced kid and didn’t let my emotions out much. Sometimes I think maybe it’s this freeing thing in adulthood that I can just go off playing emotional characters.

The spoof on The Last Dance, where you played a Chicago Bulls security guard, was next level. That take a lot of prep?