Molly Shannon, who played Mary Katherine Gallagher, an ambitious Catholic schoolgirl who aspired to be a “superstar,” wasn’t scared to fling herself onto a pile of metal chairs on “Saturday Night Live.” Shannon isn’t afraid to be sincere in real life, either.
In an interview advertising her new book, “Hello, Molly!” Shannon states, “I feel like it’s almost more taxing to have to be ‘on’ all the time, like doing talk shows where you have to give these humorous tales.” (Ecco, 304 pages, available now.)
“I enjoy being serious and honest,” she adds “Shannon explains. “‘You may be deadly serious,’ as my buddy John C. Reilly puts it. Some comedians, I believe, drive people away, which I dislike. I enjoy feeling connected to others and connecting with them.
Shannon’s mother, Peggy Keating, her 25-year-old cousin, Fran, and Shannon’s 3-year-old sister, Katie, were killed in a vehicle accident in the summer of 1969. Shannon was just four years old at the time. Jim Shannon, her father, was driving the two hours home after drinking at the day’s fete in honor of a family member’s high school graduation.
Shannon, now 57, adds, “There is no way to know exactly what occurred that night, though my intuition tells me he fell asleep behind the wheel.” “Would he have fallen asleep if he hadn’t been drinking?” It still keeps me up at night, but in the end, all that matters is that it forever transformed our lives.”
Shannon tells USA TODAY that she had to “dig deep” when creating the book. For the first time, she looked at the crash scene on Google Maps.
“I just didn’t want to think about it,” she explains. “‘Oh, was (writing the memoir) cathartic?’ people ask. “No, I’d already processed so much of that material in therapy,” I say. But, to tell you the truth, that was cathartic! I had no idea my father had traveled for 90 minutes and that we were just 18 minutes from home.
Discovering that was upsetting.” Shannon remembers the first time she made a group laugh in her memoir by telling a friend’s mother, who was preparing chicken cacciatore, that she would “eat the chicken, but I don’t like it.”
Molly Shannon, an American actress, recently spoke out about a family tragedy and how it changed her emotionally and professionally.
The 57-year-old comic addressed her mother, younger sister, and cousin being murdered in a vehicle accident caused by her father driving under the influence, who was also seriously injured, in her new memoir, Hello, Molly!
Shannon recounts the first time she made a group laugh in her memoir by telling a friend’s mother, who was preparing chicken cacciatore, that she would “have the chicken, but I don’t want any of the cacciatore.”
She chronicles her experience at NYU, as well as the beginnings of beloved “SNL” characters Mary Katherine Gallagher and Sally O’Malley.
She talks about how she and her husband of over 18 years, artist Fritz Chesnut, got together and how she turned a towed automobile into an adventure for her children, Stella Shannon Chesnut and Nolan Shannon Chesnut, while they were little. They are now 18 and 17 years old.
Shannon also discusses her father’s connection with her, a guy who had his struggles.
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