Molly Shannon: 'SNL helped for Broadway'

Molly Shannon has said that her years of experience on Saturday Night Live helped to prepare her for performing on Broadway.

The actress and comedian is currently appearing in Promises, Promises alongside Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth and said that while television and theatre have many similarities, they are far from the same.

"It is similar in the live feeling. You're really playing off the audience, depending on how much they're into the scene or not into the scene. When the audience is really laughing hard, I'll throw extra stuff in. It's similar that way, in that it's that live thing," she explained to PopEater.

"What's great about Broadway, what's different from SNL, is the long run - you can really develop the character. Like, if you'd seen me the first week doing it versus now, it's different. There's so many things added. So I like it in that way. In other ways, it's hard."

She added that theatre comes with the added pressure of multiple shows per week, saying: "With SNL you could do something really crazy and strenuous, and you just do it for that one live show then you're done. But with this, you're doing it night after night after night, so it's really like - I was saying to Kristin and Sean - it's very athletic."