Funny lady

“[My ancestors} were very hard-working Irish immigrants and so I really come from those roots,” the 42-year-old, married mother-of-two told the Irish Echo in New York recently. “I look at myself now and I have choices that they never had. And I think it’s important to place yourself in history and I feel so lucky that I have some choices that they didn’t have. I feel really fortunate. They worked really hard . . . and I really identify with where I come from.”
Born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Shannon was raised by her father from the time she was four after her mom, younger sister and older cousin were killed in a horrific car crash. She graduated from St. Dominic’s School in Shaker Heights, earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and struggled for work before landing her dream job as a player on the long-running sketch comedy show, “Saturday Night Live.”

Terrific turn
After six years on “SNL,” during which she introduced unforgettable characters like the armpit-sniffing, Irish-Catholic school girl, Mary Katherine Gallagher, Shannon left the show to concentrate on a career in film. Although a fixture in broad comedies such as “A Night at the Roxbury,” “Wet Hot American Summer,” “Scary Movie 4,” “Little Man” and “Talladega Nights” throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the hilarious, amiable brunette has also offered more subtle supporting performances in romantic comedies like “Serendipity” and “Never Been Kissed.”
Most recently seen playing Katherine Catherine Donaghy, Alec Baldwin’s fighting Irish sister on the “SNL”-inspired sit-com, “30 Rock,” Shannon also surprised fans last year with a terrific turn as an 18th Century French aristocrat in Sofia Coppola’s pop-history tale, “Marie Antoinette.”
Her latest project, “Year of the Dog,” is a dramedy that reunites her with Mike White, the unique brain behind her short-lived 2003-2004 Fox TV comedy, “Cracking Up.” “Dog” marks the directorial debut for White, who cut his teeth as a writer on the underappreciated 2000 show, “Freaks and Geeks,” then went on to pen the intelligent, offbeat features “Chuck and Buck,” “The School of Rock” and “The Good Girl.”

Complex characters
In “Year of the Dog,” a fine, quirky comedy with some heart-breaking moments, Shannon plays Peggy, a lonely office worker whose world is turned upside down when her best friend and loyal companion, Beagle pup Pencil, dies unexpectedly in a neighbor’s yard. Surrounded by people too preoccupied with their own obsessions to comfort her, Peggy allows her grief over Pencil’s death to propel her into the life of an animal-rights fanatic.
“I really like the way Mike writes the characters that are really complex. They are not all good or all bad. They are just complicated, real people,” said Shannon. “I’ve been at screenings where some people are laughing and some people are crying and some people are angry. It’s not just the kind of movie where everyone is all laughing together. It’s different that way.”
Recalling how determined she once was to be a cast member on “Saturday Night Live,” Shannon confided that, on some level, she can relate to the way Peggy blurs the line of passion and obsession.
“I remember really wanting to be on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and, years ago, when they came around looking for women, it was all I wanted and I ended up getting passed over because they looked at other women first and I was like, ‘Nooooo!’ And I had to wait five years.”
A dog lover in real life, Shannon said an allergy to canines has prevented her from having a pup of her own and admits her sensitivity to the animals posed some challenges on the set of her new mutt movie.
“It was not bad at all,” she insisted. “The worst of it was, in pre-production, we did a photo shoot [with dogs] and I got a little breakout on my face and I had to tell them I have a little bit of an allergy and they were like: ‘What?!?!? Our lead actress! Are you kidding?’ So, I went to an allergy doctor and got all of this medication, but I ended up not having to take anything. It was fine.”

Super-dark moments
So, how did this inherently funny lady summon the pathos she needed for some of the film’s sadder scenes?
“I just try to think of maybe personal things mixed with the character,” she said. “You can’t control it. It’s really a sensitive moment on set. They’re like, ‘Just let us know when you’re ready, Molly.’ And you have people waiting with a boom mike and you’re like, ‘Oh, God.’ So, it feels like a lot of pressure because they don’t have that much time [to film the scene] and you have all these people standing around and you have to quietly just go to your little file of super-dark moments and think about them.”
Next up for Shannon are two lighter projects: the divine big-screen comedy, “Evan Almighty,” opposite “The Office” star Steve Carell as a modern-day Noah and “Million Dollar Baby” star Morgan Freeman as God, and an NBC pilot called, “The Mastersons of Manhattan,” which Shannon describes as a comic soap opera about eccentric socialite sisters – herself and Mrs. Liam Neeson, Natasha Richardson.
“I like to do it all … whether it’s in television or movies, lead part, supporting part,” Shannon declared. “It’s kind of if you respond to the writing. I don’t have like a big master plan because it’s way too hard to do that. I just try to stay open to what seems fun and working with nice people and that kind of thing.”

“Year of the Dog” is in theaters now.

The Molly Shannon File
Born: Molly Claire Shannon on Sept. 16, 1964 in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Educated: New York University Tisch School of the Arts
Family: Wife of artist Fritz Chestnut and mother of Stella, 4, and Nolan, 2.
Career: Spent six seasons on “Saturday Night Live,” Since 1999 has had numerous supporting roles in dozens of films and has appeared in numerous TV shows, “30 Rock,” “Sex and the City” and “Will & Grace.”
Latest project: Starring role in current release “Year of the Dog.”