Former Saturday Night Live cast member Melissa Villaseñor is spilling the tea about her time on the long-running series that she was a part of for six seasons. This time, the comedian shared a story about pitching a comedy skit to superstar Jennifer Lopez that didn’t go well.
In December 2019, Lopez hosted SNL for the third time in her career (the first where she wasn’t also the musical guest). During an interview with The A.V. Club, Villaseñor explained what happened when she met with Lopez to talk about an idea that she had for a sketch with her. Lopez didn’t bite.
“My JLo impression is very specific,” Villaseñor said. “It is kind of the J. Lo that’s very serious. When I met J. Lo, I think I did my impression for her, and she was like, ‘I don’t see it.’ I love J. Lo. I mean, truly a legend. I was telling her, ‘Oh, maybe I can imitate you in a sketch. You know, I could walk around your house and pretend I’m like J. Lo and be like, my favorite color’s blue.’ And J.Lo grabbed me. She was like, ‘Baby, my favorite color is green. Everyone knows that.’”
And that was basically it for the pitch. Nothing came out of it and the idea was dead on arrival. Villaseñor still got a chance to perform with Lopez on the episode. They played cousins who own a store that sells hoop earrings (“Do you want to wear bracelets, but on the sides of your head?”). A few years before that, Villaseñor was able to impersonate Lopez on the now-defunct channel Mas Mejor, an idea SNL had to bring more Latine content to online viewers.
Late last month on George Lopez’s podcast OMG Hi!, Villaseñor talked about why she decided not to return to SNL this season. “I had some panic attacks at work last season,” she said. “I was like, ‘This is too hard for me – the pressure.’ I was like, ‘I don’t think I want to keep myself there at that place.’ Every week I felt like I was on the edge of a cliff hanging on.”
See Melissa Villaseñor and her impression of Lopez below.