It’s Monday afternoon and Quinta Brunson, creator, writer and star of “Abbott Elementary,” is about an hour away from walking into 30 Rockefeller Plaza for her first meeting with the writers of “Saturday Night Live.”
She’s been a fan of “SNL” since childhood, watching the series with her family growing up in Philadelphia. Now, on Saturday night, she’ll make her Studio 8H debut with some of those friends and family — many of whom are based on the east coast — in the audience to cheer her on.
“It’s surreal. I’m just taking it day by day — like I normally do because everything is so surreal nowadays — but this one’s really exciting,” Brunson tells PvNew, calling from New York City. “‘SNL’ is the reason I even started pursuing comedy as a career, to be asked to host is just unreal. I can’t believe that I’m here and that it’s actually happening. It’s one of those ‘pinch yourself’ moments, for sure.”
The hosting gig comes shortly after she wrapped the second season of “Abbott Elementary,” the hit ABC comedy, which has racked up wins at the Emmys and SAG Awards, as well as numerous other fan and critics’ prizes.
As Brunson suggests, it’s been a bountiful season in her career, capped off by this return to her improv comedy roots. She got her start in comedy studying at Second City in Chicago and went on to star in the first season of “A Black Lady Sketch Show.” But she never auditioned for “SNL.”
“I never got to that point, so to speak. When I was younger, I moved out to L.A. and started out on my path,” Brunson explains, alluding to her early days making viral videos like “The Girl Who’s Never Been on a Nice Date” and her work as a former development partner and digital creator for Buzzfeed.
“While ‘SNL’ is so many comedians’ North Star, and mine, my pursuit of comedy led me to different areas. I was like, ‘Maybe I want to make a show more than I actually want to be a cast member on “SNL,”’ so I didn’t wind up auditioning,” she explains. “But I’m happy that I’m still gonna get to be a part of it now.”
Among her favorite sketches are “SNL’s” riffs on “Jeopardy” (both the Will Ferrell-hosted version and “Black Jeopardy,” led by Kenan Thompson). She’s also a fan of some of the 2000s-era sketches like Kristen Wiig’s Target Lady and Molly Shannon’s Superstar, plus the game show spoof “What’s Up With That?,” also hosted by Thompson.
“It’s probably not gonna happen because so many people involved aren’t there anymore, but it’s an absolute favorite of mine,” Brunson says. “I just rewatched that recently and every single time it made me laugh like nobody’s business.”
Coincidentally, Shannon will host the April 8 episode, and Brunson reveals that the former cast member was one of the first people she told about hosting.
“I ran into her on a plane almost a year ago, and she asked, ‘When are you doing “SNL?”’ and I was like, “I don’t know, but you’ll be one of the first people I tell.’ And then I did,” Brunson says. “And then she told me — we were being very secretive — ‘I’m doing it the week after!’ So it’s really cool.’”
Overall, though, Brunson’s not entering the writer’s room with too many ideas.
“Honestly, my brain has been so wrapped up in the ‘Abbott’ world and the narrative world that it’s cooked,” she quips. “But Iso trust the team over there. They know what they’re doing and, ultimately, I’m pumped to just get in there and let them mold me like clay.”
During the “SNL” episode, Brunson will also appear in a new 15-second ad promoting Hulu + Live TV, the pay TV service that offers live channels alongside a suite of premium SVOD services (Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+), all included for one monthly subscription price. The spring campaign is dubbed “Hulu + Live TV Makes Sense” and will launch in earnest on April 17.
“I say ‘no’ to a lot of things, honestly, but this really made sense,” Brunson says. “Most of our viewing audience for ‘Abbott Elementary’ is either live or on Hulu. I just love to be able to do things where the relationship is already there, and Hulu’s been a staple in my house for forever. I didn’t feel like I was reaching too far out of my reality.“
In fact, Hulu played a key role in the “Abbott Elementary” success story. After the pilot episode aired on ABC in December 2021, the streaming service featured it for a month. (Brunson won the primetime Emmy for writing for a comedy series for the episode.) The primo position made a huge difference: “Abbott” debuted to 2.79 million viewers on ABC, and over the next 35 days, the viewership ballooned to a total of 7.1 million across ABC’s linear and digital platforms. Now, when new episodes air on ABC, they are available to stream on Hulu the next day.
“As much as we love for people to view it live, there’s a whole audience of people who observe the ‘Hulu calendar,’” Brunson quips.
For the spot, Brunson’s mission resembles that of her “Abbott” alter ego Janine Teagues, a second grade teacher, explaining why audiences should add Hulu’s Live TV function to their subscription.
“It doesn’t make sense that people are so afraid of change,” Brunson says in the spot, which she describes as a bit “out of the box,” then prompting the viewer to “watch” as she points the remote at a flat-screen TV.
Then, a mirror image of Brunson pops up onscreen and finishes the pitch: “I just got Hulu + Live TV. Yeah, it was that easy. Has all my favorite channels, too.”
It was the premise of the meta ad, crafted in tandem with Translation, that made her sign on. “It was really fun. I’m very interested in doing things that are not just me playing Janine again on TV,” Brunson says of filming the fun spot. “It’s silly. It’s creative. I like that the CGI fish are really the stars.”
Watch the spot below:
