Molly Shannon Recalls the Time Courtney Love Was ‘Hunting’ Her Down Over ‘SNL’ Impression
Written by djfrosty on April 7, 2023
Don’t let her last name deceive you. Courtney Love definitely didn’t “love” Molly Shannon’s impression of her on Saturday Night Live, according to the comedian.
Shannon reminisced on The Tonight Show Thursday (April 6) about the time the rocker tracked her down within minutes of a sketch airing live on Saturday Night Live, during which the former cast member stumbled around onstage and chain-smoked cigarettes to portray the Hole frontwoman. “The real Courtney Love showed up live, and she was mad,” Shannon said.
“She was like, ‘Where’s Molly?’” the A Good Person star snarled, sharing that she was still dressed up like Love when the real deal stormed in. “She was going around the studio hunting me down, ready to maybe punch me or something. I was like, ‘I’m scared.’ Maybe not punching, but definitely looking for me.”
Luckily, the situation ended without either star getting under the other’s “Celebrity Skin.” “She smelled like witchy oils and she was tall, she was tough,” continued Shannon, who is returning to host SNL on April 8. “She gave me a cigarette and then we smoked together. I told her why it’s such a compliment, you know when somebody does an impression of you, that’s, like, cool. She was really nice, we bonded. I’m a big fan of hers. She’s Courtney Love.”
Shannon’s story comes just two days shy of the 29th anniversary of when the outspoken singer’s husband, Kurt Cobain, was found dead. Love married the Nirvana rocker in 1992, and the two share daughter Frances Bean.
Now 30 years old, Frances posted a moving tribute to her father on Instagram Stories on April 5, the anniversary of his death. “Life is like a wave crashing upon the shore & death is like the wave returning back to the ocean, back to its most natural state,’” she wrote. “I forget exactly where I heard this quote but hearing it makes loss seem less scary and more like a return to the collective consciousness of loving awareness. Free from pain or human worry. Death serves a purpose. It is what makes life so precious, in the same way pain is purposeful because we wouldn’t know joy without it.”
Watch Molly Shannon recall the time Courtney Love confronted her above, and the comedian as the rocker on SNL below.