NEED TO KNOW
Sarah Sherman thought she was having a moment with the spirits when a coincidence left Gilda Radner’s brother with her residual checks.
Sherman, 32, revealed a heartwarming story involving the Saturday Night Live founding member on Vulture’s Good One podcast as she attempted to explain how Lorne Michaels, who started the show with Radner and remains in charge of it, texts.
Radner, who was part of the season 1 cast of SNL alongside Michaels, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, died in 1989 of ovarian cancer.
Radner’s brother reached out to Sherman after months of receiving checks in her name.
Sherman revealed that she “got a giant envelope in the mail,” presumably in the year after she joined SNL in 2021, that contained a “handwritten letter” from Radner’s brother.
The letter said, “Hey, I’m Gilda Radner’s brother. Weird thing happened where I’ve been receiving all of your residuals checks for the past few months.”
Sherman said she “started hysterically sobbing” after receiving the package.
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In her eyes, she felt like it was a “miracle” that the checks had been mixed up and sent to an SNL legend’s family.
Her first thought in response to the package was, “Okay, God’s speaking to me right now.”
“The fact that my SAG residuals checks had been sent to Gilda Radner’s estate? I’m like, ‘Hello? Hello? I see you.'”
She was “sobbing” and she reached out to Michaels, 80, to tell him about it.
“I texted Lorne, I was like, ‘Oh my God, my checks have been sent to Gilda Radner’s estate. Isn’t this, like, a crazy coincidence? I feel like this is like a miracle or like I feel like this is a spirit is talking.'”
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“Obviously, that’s a schizophrenic text message,” she said, before revealing Michaels’ short reply: “Lorne was like, ‘That’s sweet.'”
Radner’s SNL castmates made sure to honor her during the 50th anniversary special earlier this year.
In February, founding members Chase, Morris, Newman and Curtin were on hand to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary, and Newman and Curtin brought Radner along for the celebration, too.
As the special concluded, and current and past castmembers huddled together on stage to wave goodbye to the cameras, Newman and Curtin were spotted holding a framed photo of Radner from her SNL days.
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Radner spent five seasons on SNL — and was perhaps best known for her character Roseanna Roseannadanna — before leaving in 1980 to pursue an acting career. She died in 1989 at age 42.
