Molly Shannon

The 'I Love That for You' actress and comedian looks back on a childhood loss and a father who gave her confidence.

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Whitney Houston and Molly Shannon on 'Saturday Night Live.' | Credit: NBC. Houston was the musical guest on the Dec. 14, 1996 episode of SNL, ...

She was so good, and Whitney was so nice after," Shannon said. "She loved being in that and she was like, 'Girl, you're crazy.' She had so much fun. I was like, don't even look at these papers, just have fun!" "And that's what I meant. She's not going to do it," Shannon told Stern. "I was like, 'She'll do it. They're like, she's not going to be in the sketch.

Molly Shannon has written the candid memoir "Hello, Molly!" She says while "some comedians push people away," she likes to "share stuff to connect."

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NEW YORK (AP) — “Hello, Molly! A Memoir” by Molly Shannon (Ecco) Molly Shannon made a name for herself as a standout performer on “Saturday Night Live,” ...

She left in 2001, not because she had another job lined up, but because she wanted to finally have time to have a personal life. She recounts waiting tables for Jennifer Aniston and Julia Roberts while she awaits her big break and landing auditions in Hollywood by calling agents and pretending to be David Mamet’s assistant. He encourages her adventurous performer side, but he can also be suffocating and fly off the handle into a rage at a moments’ notice.

On The Howard Stern Show, Molly Shannon shared how she found out her father was gay and how it made his struggles over the years more understandable to her.

And I think it was a relief for him to be able to tell me." ... He felt so guilty." "And I would look at the J.C. Penney catalogs and see the macho men in their undershirts." "I think he had tried to tell my mom before that," she said. "And he was like, ‘I don’t want to tell you! Shannon believes he often dealt with the anguish of his closeted life by drinking heavily. "I just one day asked him by the pool, 'Have you ever thought you might be gay?'" she said. "So of course you’re going to drink," Shannon said. "I felt so much compassion," she said. I’d go on double dates, and I would look at the boy. "Imagine if you couldn’t be who you were sexually. She then called her manager, Steven Levy, a gay man who also lost a parent when he was young.

As she does in her new memoir "Hello, Molly!" Shannon opened up about the car accident that took the lives of her mother and sister when she was just four years ...

"It's so sad to talk about on such a comedy show, but I feel so grateful that we're alive and we're living and I don't take it for granted. "And what it gives you in expressing pain and grief and all of that. "You're so intelligent and you put it in such an elegant way, expressing that loss," she said.

NEW YORK (AP) — "Hello, Molly! A Memoir" by Molly Shannon (Ecco) Molly Shannon made a name for herself as a standout performer on "Saturday Night Live," ...

She left in 2001, not because she had another job lined up, but because she wanted to finally have time to have a personal life. She recounts waiting tables for Jennifer Aniston and Julia Roberts while she awaits her big break and landing auditions in Hollywood by calling agents and pretending to be David Mamet's assistant. He encourages her adventurous performer side, but he can also be suffocating and fly off the handle into a rage at a moments' notice.

In Molly Shannon's new book Hello, Molly!, she recalled a disturbing encounter with Diff'rent Strokes star Gary Coleman.

“He held my hand, and I was like, ‘He’s so cute!’” Back when Shannon was a young, struggling actress, Coleman attempted to sexually assault her, but he was so small that she “didn’t feel physically threatened,” and managed to literally toss him aside. Coleman joined them, and then the trio headed up to the hotel’s Presidential Suite where Coleman was staying.

Molly Shannon opens new memoir with accident that killed mother, sister: 'It changed our lives forever'. Erin Jensen. USA TODAY.

"My kids are teenagers, and I really want to enjoy this time because I feel like I'll never get it back," Shannon says. "It gave me a very healthy perspective about fame and what it means, and I carry that with me to this day." "I was so happy that I'd gotten that far that I could have stopped there," she says. In her memoir, Shannon recalls the first time she elicited laughs from a group – by announcing to a friend's mom, who was serving chicken cacciatore, that she would “have the chicken, but I don’t want any of the cacciatore." I fell into a depression for a few months because I was like, 'The one person I really want to tell me that I'm good and say she's proud of me is my mom, and this is not bringing her back.'" "I just never wanted to think about that," she says.

Comedian and author also tells Howard who the best “Saturday Night Live” guest hosts were while she was a cast member on the show.

“I’ve seen some people stay on too long where they’re phoning it in and I was like, ‘I’ve got to hand the torch over’ … I’d been working so hard I was like, ‘I just want to enjoy my life and just have fun.’” “I’m doing backflips and I’m doing this and I’m doing everything and she’s still not coming back … and I was like, ‘Oh, fame doesn’t fix any of this, I still have a fucking hole in my heart.’” “She had so much fun and … she had such a good sense of humor.” “Marci flew out to see that and it went great and then she was like, ‘You’re coming to audition.’” I’m going to have to fucking show them and I’m going to like blow the roof off the house,’” Molly admitted thinking. “I go to the bathroom, and then he grabs onto my leg … I had to kick him off,” Molly recalled. “I said, ‘No, no, no, I do it in my show, it works,’” she recalled insisting. “I was like, ‘I’m not giving you a tape, you’ve got to see the live show,’” she revealed. “He held my hand, and I was like, ‘He’s so cute!’ He had a suit on.” Then I would get off the bed, then he’d bounce on the bed and wrap himself around me, then I would fling him off, then he got on top of me,” she said. Based on the way Steven was reacting to the story and telling Molly she should be more understanding, she suddenly wondered out loud, “Are you saying he’s gay?” “He’s an alcoholic, he struggled with that, but then he would try really hard to go to A.A. and be sober for years,” Molly said of her dad.

NEW YORK (AP) — Molly Shannon made a name for herself as a standout performer on “Saturday Night Live” with memorable characters including the hyperactive ...

'Hello Molly' is filled with funny and touching glimpses into her life's journey so far, from post-childhood trauma to comedy fame.

The witty performer also offers a glimpse into her career journey with first-time recounts and behind the scene stories from peers. One of her most breakout characters was the overzealous Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine. Shannon also found success with the role in the film Other People, where she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2017. Comedian Molly Shannon just dropped today her candid yet heartwarming memoir, co-written with Sean Wilsey, titled Hello Molly! Although she has appeared in numerous films, many recognize the actress from her time on SNL. She was a cast member of the legendary show from 1995 to 2001 where she worked alongside other famous comedians like Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Cheri Oteri, and many more.

Molly Shannon is looking back on an unforgettable moment she had with late pop icon Whitney Houston. The comedian and the "Heartbreak Hotel" singer appeared ...

“She loved being in that, and she was like, ‘Girl, you’re crazy.’ She had so much fun. “And then they’re like, ‘Whitney’s here, Whitney’s here!’ They usher her on, and she was fantastic. And I was like, ‘Oh no.’ So they had Ana Gasteyer dress in the Catholic school outfit, so she was ready to go onstage,” the Ohio native said. “It was like, honestly, like five seconds, they’re counting down, [Gasteyer]’s about to go on,” Shannon said. Shannon continued, “She was like, ‘OK, I’ll do it, I’ll do it!’ So that’s how I got her to do it. She’s not going to do it,’ ” Shannon said.

Molly Shannon is opening up about her unpleasant experience with Gary Coleman. Appearing this week on SiriusXM's "The Howard Stern Show", ...

“Whitney was so nice,” she said, and then recalled how she convinced the late singer to do her Mary Katherine Gallagher sketch others at the show predicting she wouldn’t. “I just told Whitney, ‘Look, I’m going to play the Catholic schoolgirl, you’re going to be like a snotty girl … do whatever you want. Then I go lock myself into the bathroom and then he sticks his hand under the door and said, ‘I can see you!’” “He held my hand, and I was like, ‘He’s so cute!’ He had a suit on.” He’s like a powerhouse … he’s incredible.” Then I would get off the bed, then he’d bounce on the bed – jump, jump, jump – and wrap himself around me, then I would fling him off, then he got on top of me…. “I just sprinted out.

The "SNL" alum also revealed how she learned her father was gay.

"He was probably drinking more because he was stressed out. He was like a father figure to him," Shannon noted, before recalling that Levy said she was "being too hard" on her dad over him bringing over the college student. He's given up so much for you girls, so much for you and Mary,'" Shannon said. "And so when I walked in the door after rehearsals, my dad was like, 'Molly, this is Kevin!' You know, he was drunk," she recalled. He took this job that was in over his head," Shannon said in reply. The comedian stressed that she "did not grow up blaming" her father, noting that he "tried his hardest" to raise her and her sister. "He was under stress. So he stopped at a bar at the Grand Central Station and met a college boy, a straight college boy and invited that college guy back to my apartment, my little apartment in the village." "Steven lost his dad when he was a kid and [Steven is] gay and out and … [he] really connected with my dad. He did," Shannon told Stern. "I think he lived with that when he woke up in the hospital and they said, 'Your wife has been killed and your baby daughter, Katie ... your friend, your niece.' He was like, 'No, no, no.' He sunk into the bed. It was so embarrassing." "I guess my mom was like, 'No, you can drive.' And this is 1968.

Molly Shannon said she had to throw Gary Coleman off her after he allegedly attempted to get intimate with her.

“And then, I go lock myself in the bathroom and then he sticks his hands under the door. Shannon added, “I wish I could have stood up for myself more.” “Then, he was like trying to kiss me and get on top and I was like, ‘No, Gary. Stop.’ So, I push him off. Repeating. I would throw him off, he would get back on. “I think he was like, ‘Sit down [on the bed].’ It was very sweet,” Shannon said. Then, I would fling him off.

Molly Shannon Reveals Gary Coleman Sexually Harassed Her: 'He Was Relentless'. "I go lock myself in the bathroom and then he sticks his hands under the door.

"He grabs me onto my leg and I was like [trying to] kick him off," she said. "And then, I go lock myself in the bathroom and then he sticks his hands under the door. Shannon continued, "... And then finally, I throw him off. Repeating. I would throw him off, he would get back on." "Then, he was like trying to kiss me and get on top and I was like, 'No, Gary. Stop.' So, I push him off. Then, I would get off the bed.

The 57-year-old actress, appearing Tuesday on The Howard Stern Show , went into detail about her experience with Coleman, who died at 42 in 2010, ...

'And then, I go lock myself in the bathroom and then he sticks his hands under the door. Then, I would get off the bed. 'Then, he was like trying to kiss me and get on top and I was like, "No, Gary, stop,"' she told Stern. 'So, I push him off.