‘SNL’ star Heidi Gardner dreamed of turning on KC’s Plaza lights. Her wish is granted
Heidi Gardner admits she can see the Country Club Plaza lights whenever she walks into her kitchen.
“I have an old picture that my dad took of the Plaza lights probably in the mid-’80s, and that picture has been on my fridge for a long time,” she says. “I just always kind of hoped …”
Gardner trails off before completing the wishful sentence. But the unspoken part of it actually finishes in concrete reality. The comedian, a native Kansas Citian, is slated to flip the switch at the 90th annual Plaza Lighting Ceremony on Thanksgiving night.
The reason that photo has remained on her refrigerator for so long?
“It was both a nostalgia thing and a goal,” says Gardner, now in her third season as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live.”
“Thinking I could light the Plaza lights seems so crazy, so out of reach. But for me, I’ve always been able to be like, I hope it happens. I don’t think it will. But I hope it does.”
In Gardner’s first interview with The Star, during her “SNL” debut season in 2017, she recalled working at Panache Chocolatier & Café on the Plaza in 1998, when KC actor Paul Rudd flipped the ceremonial switch. At the time, she was too busy selling hot chocolates to run out and see him turn on the lights. But she’ll have a better view this time. Now she is Paul Rudd.
“Yes. I’m Ant-Man,” she deadpans.
As for the ceremony itself, Gardner discloses that the officials in charge warned her the switch is rather bulky.
“They said two Chiefs players almost broke it. So they gave me a little guidance: ‘Don’t go too hard.’ But it is big, so you need enough force. I guess I’m a bit nervous. I know I won’t break it — I’m not stronger than Derrick Johnson and Alex Smith —but I want to make sure to turn it on.”
Meredith Keeler, Country Club Plaza general manager, says, “We try to choose an honorary ‘switch flipper’ each year who has a special connection to Kansas City. Heidi grew up in Kansas City and has had connections to the Plaza her whole life. We love her Kansas City pride and are excited to have her join us for the ceremony.”
From KC to stardom
Gardner, 36, reveals she’s spending the entire week in her hometown. While she usually comes home for Christmas, she hasn’t returned for Thanksgiving in a decade. The lighting ceremony marks her second KC appearance this year: She was back in June for the annual Big Slick Celebrity Weekend, the Children’s Mercy Hospital charity event Rudd co-hosts.
“I’m so looking forward to this,” she says. “I want to go to the Chiefs game that Sunday. Some of my friends told me I have to go to Betty Rae’s Ice Cream because I’ve heard so much about it. And, of course, there’s barbecue. I know that’s cliché but …”
Her path into comedy was certainly not cliché. It actually veered toward the borderline improbable.
Gardner spent two years at the University of Kansas, then transferred to the University of Missouri for a semester before determining college was not the best fit. So she headed to Los Angeles to study cosmetology, which led to a nine-year stint as a hair stylist.
Meanwhile, a friend convinced her to take an improv class. Her rapid wit, skilled mimicry and ability to throw herself into wacko characters eventually earned her a featured performer slot in the main company of the Groundlings improv troupe — which is how she was noticed by producers at “SNL.”
“I feel like I’m starting to get more comfortable,” she says of her role on the show.
“The longer you’re there, you get more chances to score in sketches that aren’t even necessarily your own. Like last week, I got to be in the cold open and I was just fainting. But you get those little opportunities to showcase what you think is funny. This year I’m finding a few more opportunities to score a basket.”
The performer’s most popular characters include Angel, who is “every boxer’s girlfriend from every movie about boxing ever.” As the long-suffering supporter of an aging fighter, Angel delivers the catchphrase ultimatum, “I’m takin’ the kids to my sister’s.” Her other enduring bit is YouTube teen film critic Bailey Gismert, whose main analysis consists of “so weird” or “so random.”
“I always get a lot of nice feedback about the Bailey character on ‘Weekend Update.’ Teens relate to it. But then parents are like, ‘Oh my god, I can barely watch it because that is my kid,’” she says.
She also heard “really good reactions” from a sketch this month involving her and guest host Harry Styles portraying an Icelandic couple in a childbirth class.
“People seem to be into their positivity and how shameless and unaware they were,” she said.
As for the hosts who’ve impressed her the most this season, she cites Styles and Chance the Rapper.
“Not only do people know them for music — which they were incredible at — both of them were so funny in every sketch and such good actors. They also brought a lightness and joy to the whole studio. I just really respected that, with so much on their plate, they were able to be so present and kind and committed,” she says.
Life on ‘SNL’
In addition to fielding questions about each week’s hosts, Gardner claims she’s often asked about the timeliness of the material.
“A lot of people say to me, ‘When did you guys film that one sketch?’ or ‘When did you write it?’ I’m like, ‘That week.’ A lot of them think some of the things are planned out before. But you don’t know what the show is going to be until Wednesday night. There’s genuinely nothing pre-planned, other than, like, there’s a debate coming up. But it won’t be written until they watch the debate.”
Gardner considers herself part of a particularly loaded cast of female comedians on this season’s “SNL.” She believes the seven women (who are all in their 30s) offer an unusually diverse range of skills.
“Ego (Nwodim) makes me laugh with just a glance. And Melissa (Villaseñor) is obviously a master impressionist, but I think she’s doing so many more characters and is also a killer actress. Then Cecily (Strong), Aidy (Bryant) and Kate (McKinnon) are masters. And Chloe (Fineman) is coming in strong. It just feels like a very inspiring group of women,” says Gardner, a 2001 graduate of the all-girls Notre Dame de Sion high school in south Kansas City. (In her senior yearbook, she was voted Most Likely to Become a Cast Member of “Saturday Night Live.”)
Gardner – who can look young enough to be a teenager but is astonishingly the eldest of the seven female cast members – discloses she met up with newbie Fineman before Season 45 began to help acclimate her to the process.
“I told her some of my experience, but I also don’t love to give the advice of, ‘This will happen and that will happen,’” she said.
“What happened to me could just be my experience, and I don’t want to immediately put that on to someone else. One of the things Chloe asked me is if it’s cold in the studio. And I was like, ‘Yes. What a great question. The females are always cold. Get a good sweater or blanket for your dressing room.’”
Note: That’s also sound advice for the Plaza Lighting Ceremony.
Although working on a few unspecified projects outside of “SNL,” Gardner emphasizes she’s more focused on what to write for upcoming hosts Jennifer Lopez, Scarlett Johansson and Eddie Murphy in December.
“I don’t want to do too much future planning so I can be present for the moment,” she says.
“I want to enjoy this moment, this day, this week — because the moment is really special right now.”
Thanksgiving night
The Country Club Plaza Lighting Ceremony begins at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 28, with a preshow of singing and dancing. Heidi Gardner will flip the switch at 6:54 p.m., followed by fireworks and a concert by The Elders, with Susan McFadden of Celtic Woman and world champion bagpiper Anthony Byrne. The lights will shine nightly through Jan. 12. 816-753-0100. countryclubplaza.com.
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 5:00 AM.