Get the latest gossip

SNL’s First Lady

1985 was a dangerous time for the show’s first openly gay cast member. Terry Sweeney was up for the challenge.

Instead, he collaborated with his writing and life partner Lanier Laney — they co-wrote the southern cult classic Shag, iconic “Felicity” sketches on MADtv, and took Sweeney’s Nancy on the road as a one-person show called It’s Still My Turn. Clockwise from top left: Terry Sweeney, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Michael Hall, Joan Cusack, Dennis Miller, Jon Lovitz, Danitra Vance, Nora Dunn, and Randy Quaid. Somebody might have occasionally written for her, but they mostly went, “I don’t know what to write for Black women.” If you look at the history of Saturday Night Live, the women always had a hard time getting sketches on.

Get the Android app