Mary Katherine Gallagher

Mary Katherine Gallagher
First appearanceSaturday Night Live
Created byMolly Shannon
Portrayed byMolly Shannon
In-universe information
GenderFemale
OccupationCatholic schoolgirl
NationalityAmerican

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.[1][2][3][4] Shannon portrayed the character in a 1999 film, Superstar, and she also reprised the role when she hosted Saturday Night Live in 2007. Shannon first created an early version of the character when she was in school at NYU, during a comedy show directed by Madeleine Olnek.[5] In 2024, she portrayed the character in a pre-taped video with Vice President Kamala Harris that was shown at the Al Smith Dinner.

  1. ^ Joe Dziemianowicz, "Uniformity", Entertainment Weekly, May 2, 1997.
  2. ^ Tom Gliatto, "Geek Goddess", People, June 16, 1997.
  3. ^ Gail Shister, "Women take over 'Saturday Night', Knight-Ridder-Tribune News Service in Wilmington Morning Star, August 9, 1997.
  4. ^ Yael Koen, We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy (Macmillan Publishing, 2012), ISBN 978-0374287238, pp. 243ff. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  5. ^ 2018 Outfest Film Festival Q&A's - Wild Nights With Emily (video). Outfest. 26 March 2018. Event occurs at 1:12. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 31 January 2019.