Dorothy Lanier's Weir Science
Now that Comedy Central has gone crazy for Fox's Mad TV (airing classic episodes of the skitcom at 7:30 pm/ET every weekday but Monday), fans who learned only recently how deadly dull Saturday Night Live is by comparison can catch up on the show's former glories. Foremost among them: Dorothy Lanier, the self-absorbed D-lister played by kooky current cast member Stephnie Weir.
"She's my favorite character right now," the funny lady tells TV Guide Online, then goes on to explain the over-the-top starlet's origins. "In Chicago, they have these theater awards, which are like the Tonys. One of our writers and I were both performing in a theater that was nominated, and while we were [at the ceremony], there was an actress who won, and that's where it was kind of taken from."
OK, could that flashback be any more boring? Give us the deep dish, Steph — we know you want to. Insisting that she doesn't remember her inspiration's name (uh-huh), the comedian finally elaborates: "She was wearing this big, red, Scarlet O'Hara-like taffeta dress, with flaming red hair, and she was just on fire. It was truly a beautiful thing to witness — someone so involved in themselves. It was really pure.
"There was nothing mean about her, though," she adds. "If she had time to watch Mad TV, she would say, 'I believe that character is me!' " Actually, if the real McCoy is anything like Dorothy, she would simply consider Weir's impersonation an overdue homage.