Laraine Newman

Newman cites Eve Arden, Madeline Kahn and Richard Pryor as her first major influences, saying “They led me into my life of comedy, they led me into understanding ‘The Art of Play’."

Commenting on her early experiences during Saturday Night Live she said: "When I first performed (my characters) and the audience responded, I felt like crying, I mean the idea that what I saw—what other people saw—(meant) I wasn't so alone in my perspective. I hope this doesn’t sound too overblown, but it really did feel like a Communion."

However, by her own account, she was unhappy for much of her time with the show—she disliked living in New York. During her years on SNL, Newman had developed serious eating disorders, as well as heroin addiction. She spent so much time in her dressing room playing solitaire that for Christmas 1979, castmate Radner gave her a deck of playing cards with a picture of Newman on the face of each card.

On July 9, 2014, Newman appeared on Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor podcast.

In the 2000s she lent her voice to many characters in animated movies and television productions. Among these were Danny Phantom, As Told By Ginger, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Metalocalypse and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. She further provided voice work for WALL-E, Battle for Terra, Ponyo, Jungle Junction, Cars, Up!, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., Barnyard, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Happily N'Ever After, Horton Hears a Who!, According To Jim.

In the 90s, she had roles in Problem Child 2 and in the 1993 film Coneheads. Newman further appeared in episodes of Friends, The Tick, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Histeria!, CatDog, Sonic the Hedgehog, Rugrats (in "All Growed Up", an episode which would form the basis of the spinoff All Grown Up!, for which she also provided voice work), 7th Heaven and The Flintstones. During this time she started to focus on voice acting.

Newman continued to appear in film and television productions during the 1980s. Among these were Wholly Moses, Voltar The Invincible and Invaders from Mars. She also had a small role in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980). In 1986 she starred in the syndicated B-movie comedy series, The Canned Film Festival, playing the lead role as Laraine the usherette. Additionally, she made appearances on such programs as Laverne & Shirley, as Donut Rooter in Devo's We're All Devo VHS, St. Elsewhere, E.T. and Friends (1983), in which she reprised her role as Connie Conehead, Steve Martin's Best Show Ever (1981) and Amazing Stories.

Newman has been nominated for awards numerous times, most notably for an Emmy in 1979 as a writer for Saturday Night Live.

The song Never Let Her Slip Away, written and recorded by Andrew Gold, was about Newman. The two were a couple at the time. The song hit #5 on the UK charts in 1978.

Prior to leaving SNL, Newman already took other roles. In 1978, she appeared in American Hot Wax. A year later, she did a cameo in Mr. Mike's Mondo Video.

In 1974, Lorne Michaels hired 22-year-old Newman for a Lily Tomlin special, impressed with her work as founder and original member of The Groundlings. A year later, she became an original cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live, appearing on the show from its inception in 1975 through 1980.

Laraine Newman (born March 2, 1952) is an American actress, voice actress, comedian, writer and editor, who was part of the original cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live, and played the villain Lawanda Dumore in the 1991 film Problem Child 2, as well as being a voice double for Margaret Hamilton.

Newman was born on March 2, 1952, in Los Angeles, California, the granddaughter of a cattle rancher from Arizona. Her family is Jewish. She is the youngest of four children and a twin (brother Paul). Her sister, Tracy Newman, is an Emmy Award-winning television writer. Newman attended Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California and graduated from there in 1970. Newman married actor-writer-director Chad Einbinder (born 1963) in 1991. They have two children, Spike (born 1991) and Hannah (born 1995).

She voiced the Wicked Witch of the West in Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz, an animated direct-to-DVD film set during the events of the original 1939 film.