Television

Funny girl
"SNL's" Maya Rudolph draws comedic inspiration from a cast of characters inside her curly head.
By Frappa Stout

Suggestion: Never, ever joke about Maya Rudolph's hair. Curly, unruly and, at times, downright nappy, the "Saturday Night Live" comedian's gravity-defying locks are no laughing matter. "I've never, in my entire life, ever not cried when I left the beauty parlor," the 31-year-old Rudolph says ruefully, recounting one disastrous experiment with bangs at the mere mention of her mane. "I'm incredibly sensitive about it. Any person in my life can tell you, we don't broach the subject."

The unconventional beauty doesn't mind discussing where she inherited her knack for performing: Her mother, '70s soul singer Minnie Riperton, was her earliest inspiration (it's her mom's honey-sweet voice on the classic ballad "Lovin' You"). When Maya was just shy of 7, her mother died of breast cancer; her father, music producer Richard Rudolph, reared her and her older brother, Marc.

It was another wild-haired "SNL" performer, Gilda Radner, who kindled Rudolph's dream to one day join the show. "I thought Roseanne Roseannadanna and I had the same haircut -- kind of pyramid-shaped," Rudolph says in her slightly nasal, Fran Drescher-ish Brooklynese. "There was just something about her, and she had my hair! I thought, 'I want to be that when I grow up.' "

Rudolph tried her hand at a variety of creative jobs, including bit parts in movies like 1997's "As Good as It Gets," but it wasn't until she joined the L.A. improv group the Groundlings that she found her comic voice. And her path to "SNL:" Show producer Steve Higgins saw her perform in 2000 and invited her to New York for an interview. She was hired right away.

Four years into her tenure on "SNL," Rudolph and her curls are a hot commodity, not an easy feat on the notoriously male-dominated show. Yet Rudolph's contradictory mix of wide-eyed innocence and R&B sexiness has endeared late-night viewers to her loopy troupe of characters, from the vamped-out, champagned-up fashion queen Donatella Versace to lovesick high schooler Megan.

Even the famously no-nonsense "SNL" creator Lorne Michaels has christened this "Maya's Season." "When she's out there," he says, "I'm not in any way worried, even if it's with less-than-solid material. She did a new character, Leilani Burke, the pet psychic. I didn't know what to expect, but she pulled it off."

Despite such support, Rudolph is a self-described "big worrier." (Evidence: She bites her nails.) She's keenly aware of the "SNL" pressure cooker that burns out even the biggest talents after a few years. For now, she's addicted to the rush, she says. And the freedom that comes with performing. "You can do anything you want," she says, pausing for effect. "Donatella can get electrocuted in the bathtub and keep on talking."