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A Carleton College graduate has followed an unlikely path from the quiet Northfield, campus to the bright lights of New York City, where she is now writing for NBC’s long-running and highly acclaimed sketch comedy series “Saturday Night Live.”
Claire McFadden started at SNL for its 51st season this fall after performing in renowned improvisational comedy troupe Second City in Chicago for seven years. And she isn’t the only new SNL hire with Minnesota connections: St. Paul native Tommy Brennan also joined the cast this season.
McFadden’s path to comedy may seem atypical. She majored in environmental science, and interned for former President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. After graduating from Carleton in 2013, she wanted to work in the White House in environmental policy or in some other public service capacity, but she had a hard time landing a position in a difficult job market. But that ended up being the signal she needed to shift gears.
“That was really the sort of push for me to go, well, if I'm not going to get a job that's deeply meaningful and helping people, then maybe I should just go for what in the secret pocket of my heart I want, which is to do comedy and to be a writer,” McFadden told MPR News in an interview.
She’d been able to nurture this love at Carleton. And she’d gotten a lot of practice writing and performing sketch comedy and improv with Carleton’s comedy groups, Lenny Dee and Cujokra. McFadden says performing at the small college was low pressure, and it helped build her confidence.
“Carleton was just a very good place to experiment and learn and sort of be in this happy little bubble where you could try new things, and it didn't feel like anyone was paying attention, in a nice way.”
But after college, the path to comedy was anything but clear. McFadden grew up in Evanston, Ill., outside of Chicago, and she said she didn't know anyone working in the entertainment industry to help her get a leg up. It all felt like a pipe dream.
But she focused on continuing to be creative and make things anyway. She joined comedy groups and began making her own work — performing at sketch festivals, doing variety shows in the back of bars, writing television pilots. All the while, she worked an assortment of odd jobs to pay the bills.
Earlier this year, McFadden gave a talk at her Northfield alma mater. In it, she offered this advice to Carleton students:
“One, commit. Decide to be an artist. Accept that devoting your time and life to a creative pursuit is worthy. Two, move to a city where other people are making the kind of thing that you want to make. Three, get a day job. Work as little as possible. Four, make your own stuff. Maximize the time and energy that you are making your own stuff.”
And this work has been honored. McFadden’s web series “Framed” was an Official Selection of the New York Television Festival in 2018, she writes on her website, and her web series “Denise Sells Houses” was an Official Selection in the Shorts Program at Just For Laughs in 2025.
McFadden says her first big break came when she was hired to write for JackBox Games, a party game company. An even bigger break came when she joined Second City, the renowned sketch improv comedy troupe in Chicago that has been a launching pad for many SNL stars. All the while — since her mid-twenties — she'd been applying to write or perform for SNL. She'd auditioned and been screen tested a few times, but this year was when it all came together.
She was offered the job on SNL’s writing staff on a Wednesday. She packed two suitcases, had a going away party, and then started work on the next Monday in New York City.
Just two weeks into the new season, McFadden wrote a sketch for Amy Poehler called “Emo mom.” Poehler plays a mom going through perimenopause who is dealing with her changing body by going through a seemingly delayed emo phase.
“You could pretty much write anything for her, and she could nail it,” McFadden said. “So I was thinking about what would be fun for her to do, and being a goth or an emo and dressing up with a nose piercing and being angsty and yelling seemed fun.”
The sketch now has 1.5 million views on YouTube.
During her speech this year at Carleton, she stressed to students that they can pursue creative jobs, like comedy, even if their educational history, major, or work experience doesn’t match up. What’s important is to believe in yourself, commit, and keep putting out creative work.
Especially for burgeoning comedians, she said this repetition is essential as you find your own voice. She said she didn’t feel in control of herself on stage when she first started performing.
“You're just so nervous and there's so much going on that it's hard to get in touch with the original funny spark that made you want to do it,” McFadden said. “Through writing and performing and producing work, you'll start finding your own taste. And then that's the most important thing, is harnessing what you actually would find interesting, surprising and funny.”
English (US) ·