What’s next for Ego Nwodim? SNL star talks about why she’s leaving on a high note—and how she crafted that famous Miss Eggy sketch
After seven years at SNL, Ego Nwodim announced last Friday that she is leaving the show. And while cast members rarely get a chance to say goodbye to their fans from the SNL stage, Nwodim got her flowers at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, where the audience gave her wild applause.
Nwodim joined SNL in 2018 and quickly became a standout performer. She’s had many viral sketches. Nwodim was memorable as “Lisa From Temecula,” making Pedro Pascal laugh so much he could barely continue the sketch. There was also the “Mid-Day News” sketch, in which newscasters split up along racial lines, keeping score about which communities commit more crimes.
It takes time for cast members to get their groove, Nwodim says. They go through an adjustment period when they blend their personal brand of humor to the show’s style. “SNL’s an institution, and the show has its own voice,” she says. “So your job as a comedian coming to SNL is to figure out what I want to do for this particular audience.”
She may be best remembered for appearing on Weekend Update as the character “Miss Eggy,” who wants to make her case that she should be the stand-up comedian at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner because she would only make apolitical jokes about food. The sketch made news because during a call-and-response moment, she says, “Men don’t know . . .” and the audience shouted in unison, “shit!” The problem is that the FCC could fine the show for allowing an expletive to be said on the air.
“I really did not expect the audience to do that,” she recalls. “The joke is supposed to be that I’m performing with such hubris that I think people would know my silly little catchphrases, even though I’m a nobody. I promise, if we had known that’s how the audience would have responded, we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
Nwodim’s departure came as a surprise. NBC had revealed the cast members that would be returning for Season 51, and Nwodim appeared to be on that list. But Nwodim made the decision to step out on her own. And she’s eager to find new ways to showcase her talents as a comedian and actor.
“SNL is always meant to be a stepping stone,” she says. “There’s so many ideas I haven’t had time to create, and I’m looking forward to doing that. Things like directing and writing in a different capacity.”
We’re already getting a glimpse of Nwodim’s post-SNL life. At the Calvin Klein New York Fashion Week show, she interviewed celebrities like Emily Ratajkowski and Chris Briney on the red carpet. She’s also in a new ad for the gym chain Solidcore.
But at heart, Nwodim is a comedian. And over the last seven years, one of her best lessons at SNL has been finding her authentic self.
“There was a time when I tried to separate what I actually thought was funny with what I thought other people would find funny,” she says. “But the things that seem to work best are the things that I say with my friends at lunch or over the phone. Miss Eggy came out of a voice that I did with my friend Ashley. I’ve realized that this is the version of me that people want to see.”
