This Is Why We Love Her: Quinta Brunson uses the SNL stage to uplift teachers
By Stacy Adams // Entertainment // EEW Magazine Online
Courtesy of NBC
NBC’s late night sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live,” known as SNL, draws millions of weekly viewers in search of cheeky humor and over-the-top ridiculous parodies.
Emmy Award-winning “Abbott Elementary” creator, Quinta Brunson, 33, made her April 1 hosting debut and used the much-coveted platform to uplift underappreciated and underpaid teachers. This is why we love her! She celebrates and champions the causes of everyday people.
“Remember how important teachers are,” said the executive producer, co-writer and star of the comedy series whose own mother, showrunner Norma Jean Brunson, was a teacher for 40 years in the Philadelphia school district where Abbott is set.
Quinta Brunson as Janine Teagues | Ser Baffo/ABC via Getty Images
Brunson, who plays Janine Teagues, a relentlessly caring, overly optimistic, and adorably naïve second-grade teacher added, “Acknowledge the work they do every day, and for the love of God, pay them the money they deserve.”
Amen to that, sister!
The show’s success has placed Brunson in the company of A-list celebrities and powerbrokers like Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama. Her meteoric rise has also invited public pressure for the fictional educator to address and fix real-life elementary education issues. “I just want people to lower their expectations of me,” said Brunson, asking folks to give her a break. “I’m still young—still figuring things out.”
Though the celebrity, recently named one of Time Magazine’s 2023 ”Women of the Year,” may have a lot left to learn, so far, she seems to be doing a pretty good job.
For viewers unfamiliar with “Abbott,” she provided a biting description of her critically acclaimed mockumentary series resulting in an eruption of laughter: “It’s a network sitcom, like ‘Friends,’ but instead of being about a group of friends, it’s about a group of teachers. Instead of New York, it’s Philadelphia and instead of not having Black people, it does.”
“Saturday Night Live” stars Kenan Thompson, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, Punkie Johnson and Andrew Dismukes as well as Michael Che and Colin Jost, co-anchors of Weekend Update. James Austin Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Marcello Hernández, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker are featured players among the ensemble.
Series creator Lorne Michaels and director Liz Patrick are at the helm of the long-running series, which is currently on its 48th season. The show is produced by Broadway Video and SNL Studios.
Watch “Saturday Night Live” at 8:30 p.m. PT/11:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
Check out Brunson’s full SNL monologue below.
