“Saturday Night Live” star Melissa Villaseñor started off her virtual show on Feb. 24 by giving a Dolly Parton impression, much to the enjoyment of ETSU students.
Villaseñor was the fourth participant in ETSU’s Spring 2021 Virtual Music and Comedy Tour. She was preceded in the line-up by other guests such as Bryan Terrell Clark, Ron Funches and Young M.A. She is also the fourth SNL star to make a virtual appearance to ETSU’s campus, along with others such as Chloe Fineman, Keenan Thompson and Mikey Day.
With the introduction of this semester’s virtual performers, the ETSU community was given the option of online viewing through Looped Live or attending in-person to watch the virtual performance in The Cave.
“I think it’s been a great way that we can connect with each other and now since we’re letting people have a live event in The Cave,” said Madison Ross, a Buctainment staff programmer. “It’s been a good personal connection. Being able to laugh with each other, talk with each other, even if it’s you and your friends in your living room, I really enjoy the program itself and I’m glad we’ve been able to do this.”
The virtual viewing rooms allowed for guests to talk with other participants from across the nation or they could stick specifically to chatting with people from their own university. Other participating schools included Tennessee Tech University, Baldwin Wallace University, Wilkes University, University of New Haven and Central Connecticut State University. Combining both forces, ETSU had nearly 100 participants register or attend in person.
The event was moderated by Ross and Victoria Amador from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. The duo asked Villaseñor pre-submitted questions about her career, as well as asked for advice for almost the hour-long duration of the virtual show. She mentioned being inspired to pursue a career in comedy by Jim Carrey’s performance in “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,” and she talked about her future goal of wanting to sing the national anthem.
Along with her Dolly Parton impression, she concluded with improvised impersonations of Ash Ketchum from “Pokemon”, Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera.
“Her impressions are spot on,” Ross said. “She was killing me. If I was in a room, lights were out and I heard her Dolly Parton impression, I would think I was in the room with Dolly Parton. Like there’s no way, there’s no way that she could do that.”
Following the event, select members of the ETSU community were invited to attend a private Zoom meet and greet to chat with Villaseñor and snap a group screenshot picture with her. Of those in attendance, one of the participants included Shivam Patel, ETSU’s SGA President. During that time, Villaseñor shared stories of how shocked she was to see Tom Hanks in her first season of SNL and did an impression of John Mulaney, a former SNL writer and comedian.
The final performance of the tour will feature country music duo Maddie & Tae on March 3 at 9 p.m. Students are once again invited to attend in-person at The Cave or virtually via Looped Live. Students can register at loopedlive.com with their ETSU email to reserve a viewing spot.
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