-Our next guest is a very funny comedian
you know from her work on "Saturday Night Live."
She hosts the 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards,
which airs on IFC and AMC Plus tomorrow night.
Please welcome to the show Melissa Villasenor.
Hello, Melissa. How are you?
-Seth! Good. How are you?
-I'm wonderful. It's nice to see you.
There's no "SNL" this week, or else I would have
a chance, I should say, of bumping into you in the hallway.
We do share real estate.
And you actually creeped into our hair-and-makeup room
when AOC was on the show to get this photo.
This is when she was a guest here.
You seem very excited.
Although, it should be noted she seems equally excited
to make the connection. -Oh, my gosh.
Yeah, we were both so excited to meet each other.
I love playing AOC, and I freaking love her, you know?
Um, yeah, that was right before everything hit, you know,
and we had to lock down.
-Yeah, and you guys did such an incredible job on the show
getting through the initial part of the lockdown,
and then, you know, it's been nice having you
in front of audiences again.
Are there any impressions you've done this year
that you particularly enjoy doing?
-I mean, actually, okay.
So, Dolly Parton, of course, and Kevin McAllister.
-Here's -- Let me -- Let's just shout out
the second Dolly Parton mention of the night.
It's a big night for Dolly on our show.
I would not -- This is not one
that I naturally would've thought --
Again, I don't know why -- I mean, you do Owen Wilson.
I don't know why it's weird you do Dolly Parton.
You -- You have a wide breadth of skills.
Did you know you had a Dolly Parton
or was that something that you found,
I don't know, due to request?
-Well, it was growing in my soul
because I found her audio book "Dream More"
when I was quarantine -- quarantining alone
and listened to her music a lot.
And then it was growing. It took a while to get it.
And then by that week in December...
[As Dolly Parton] "I was Dolly Parton.
And I was ready to talk as Dolly."
-Do you just -- Do you feel like --
When you do an impression of somebody as positive
and with as warm of a soul as Dolly Parton,
do you feel better when you do an impression
of someone like that? -Always.
Whenever I'm doing the impressions of people
that are so light and joyful, I --
It cures me. It heals me.
So, Dolly is one, you know. She's always so positive.
[As Dolly Parton] "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap."
That's her line. I can't take credit for that.
But, yeah, that's the same for Owen, you know?
He's just like... [As Owen Wilson] "Yeah.
I'm gonna -- What a beautiful day!
Yeah. I'll go outside. Wow."
It -- That's what's so cool. Sometimes I'll do standup shows.
And I'm not -- You know, we're not always in the best mood,
but when I go up there and I do those impressions and bits,
I'm changed.
I always feel so happy.
And that one was special to do Dolly
because it was Christmastime, and, you know,
she's becoming the Queen of Christmas.
So it was really great to be myself up on "Update"
and do that impression and sing. -That's great.
I can't say it, but when she was here after her interview,
she said the dirtiest joke to our entire audience
that was so charming and funny, and I will never forget it.
You ment-- And I'm going to tell you it when this is over.
But you mentioned that comedians are not always so cheerful.
You are also an artist,
and you sort of do sketches and whatnot,
and this might be a good example
of how comedians are not always the most cheerful.
What is that one?
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah, I mean, we're hanging onto hope, you know?
No, there's a real dark side to me and --
-Yeah, how about this one?
Really, I think we're getting the theme here.
-Yeah, just throw the trash on this. [ Laughs ]
-When did you start exercising your skills as an artist?
-I mean, I will say --
I think it was after "America's Got Talent."
I was on the road.
I was headlining way too early, you know, in the game,
and I was bombing so much.
Ugh, you know, to be alone in hotel rooms and cry.
But I was starting to draw, and it really helped.
You know, it's so cathartic,
and it was helping in a different way than comedy was.
So it was -- And then I just kept at it.
And now I'll -- What happens is I'll see images.
Like, those drawings, they just pop up now,
like, when I wake up or something.
It's pretty cool.
-That's so interesting you mention that.
So, obviously, you're on a show that's incredibly popular
like "America's Got Talent," you do very well on it.
Based on that, you know, it sounds like you think
you were headlining a little too early.
Do you look back on it now and realize like,
"Oh, that was a really tough time to go through,
but, obviously, I learned a huge amount
that I wouldn't have if I wasn't on the road
at that point in my career"? -Oh, completely.
It was so necessary.
And it was a boot camp. I needed it.
And it was a cool time to, like, realize to do --
I wanted to do impressions in shows,
but I also wanted to explore
writing for my own voice and stuff.
'Cause that's -- The crowd needs to know
who we are and our lives, our stories.
-Can I ask you for a few other impressions?
Because my most -- -Oh, yeah!
-I'm most fascinated to know how people react to them.
Obviously, AOC was happy to see you.
I've heard tell that Natalie Portman
is a fan of your impression. -Mm-hmm.
Well, this -- I did it on "AGT" but not on "SNL" yet.
But I did a table-read "Update" as Natalie Portman,
and she came up to me after and she was like...
[As Portman] "Thank you so much.
No one's ever impersonated me before.
I always thought that I had nothing special.
I thought I didn't have --
I thought I was kind of boring. But thank you."
So she likes her impression. That makes me happy.
You know who else does, too, is Ana Navarro.
She loves it.
I've played her a few time on "The View."
And it's funny -- I can hear her voice
when she messages me on Twitter or something. She's like...
[As Navarro] "You can make fun of me whenever you want.
I love it. I love laughing.
See, us Latinas, we can laugh at things,
unlike Trump, who can't laugh at anything,
who has no good sense of humor!"
[ Laughter ]
-I heard you have a Kristen Wiig, as well.
I don't think I've ever heard a Kristen Wiig.
-[As Wiig] "Oh. I -- I do Kristen Wiig."
-Whoa! Whoa!
-[ Laughs ]
"I love to play Kristen, and I'm --
I'm just the best."
I don't know. Yeah. That's my Kristen.
I think I auditioned with a silly bit
of Kristen Wiig about to go skydiving, you know,
and she's just in the plane like...
[As Wiig] "I...change my mind.
I -- I'm -- I'm scared. I -- I don't want to go. I'm --
'Cause then I'll get stuck on a cloud
and I'll have to become an angel."
-Wow. That one is --
I, like, want to call Kristen
and make sure she still has her soul.
Hey, it is just great to see you, as always.
Thank you so much for making time for us, Melissa.
Very exciting.
So, I know you've already filmed your monologue
for the Independent Spirit Awards.
You must be excited to see it all come together, though.
-I'm so excited. I'm very proud of doing that.
It's an honor, and I felt like --
I want to do more hosting,
and I would love to with a crowd, because it's fun.
You get to share everything. You get to --
I did impressions and singing and myself as a monologue.
And it's just like -- Ugh, I want to do more.
It was so fun, and I hope people enjoy.
-I can't wait to see it.
I can't wait to watch the end of this "SNL" season,
and I look forward to seeing you soon in person.
-Yep. Good to see you, Seth.
-The Film Independent Spirit Awards
air tomorrow night on IFC and AMC Plus.
We'll be right back with more "Late Night."