Ana Gasteyer on New Jazz Album, 'SNL' & Why She's Hip

By
ETONLINE

Ana Gasteyer is hilarious and she can sing! ETonline recently caught up with the SNL alum to talk about her new jazz album, I'm Hip.

"It's a fun album," she says. "It's not a comedy album overtly. But it's a fun, very vocal, musical album."

Ana recorded the album with a full band, complete with a horn section for a big brassy sound. "I can kind of let it rip," she adds.

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Gasteyer is balancing the promotion for the album with her busy TV schedule! She currently stars in ABC's Suburgatory and is following up a guest spot on the latest season with The Goldbergs with an appearance on The Good Wife. She reprises her role as Judge Patrice Lessner on tonight's episode of the CBS drama.

"It's great," she says of returning to the show. "[The Good Wife's] kind of got this staple of [guest stars] they keep coming back to over and over again. So it's been such a nice treat to be a part of that to play the same judge over and over again."

The actress also revealed she will also appear in the season four premiere of HBO's Girls.

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"I'm not sure I'm allowed to say what I'm doing on it yet but it was really exciting," she teases. "It's just so smartly written and [Lena Dunham] is such an empath and such a funny writer at the same time. It was really, really, really cool."

The first time we were introduced to Ana's brilliant comedic chops was on Saturday Night Live. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the late night sketch comedy show, which Gasteyer was a cast member of from 1996-2002. Ana says she looks back on her time on SNL fondly.

"I feel very fortunate because there's all these chapters of SNL and I feel like I loved being a part of this very heavy character driven era," she explains. "And an era that was really great for women and has set the stage for other women on the show."

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Gasteyer adds that it's an honor to be in the company of an impressive and hilarious group of fellow female SNL alum including Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch and Molly Shannon.

"40 years is a really big deal," she says of the show's milestone anniversary. "I remember I was a kid in early middle school when it started airing and it's kind of crazy to think that it's almost as old as the rest of us now.

"I'm proud to be a part of it," she adds. "I feel really crazy lucky. It changed everything for me."

Watch our full interview with Ana to hear which of her beloved SNL characters is her all-time favorite.

Follow Denny on Twitter @DDirecto.