Review: Melissa Villaseñor of ‘Saturday Night Live’ Brings Impression-Heavy Set to Phoenix
Comedian Melissa Villaseñor is playing Copper Blues in Phoenix, Arizona, and she brought a few friends with her.
Villaseñor, a Saturday Night Live cast member since 2016, is performing through Saturday at the club, located in the Desert Ridge plaza. On SNL, Villaseñor does impressions of numerous celebrities and her routine is peppered with her many celebrity impersonations. Stars like Dolly Parton to J. Lo to Owen Wilson makes an appearance during her set.
Villaseñor is bubbly and exuberant while talking about her life; her disapproving mom and goofy dad, her violinist boyfriend and his easily-impressed kids, but she really shines when doing impressions.
This makes perfect sense; she she got her start as a semifinalist on America’s Got Talent and has voiced characters on Adventure Time, American Dad, Family Guy, and most recently, Disney Pixar’s Toy Story 4. She received a Golden Globe nomination for her work on the animated feature Ralph Breaks the Internet. Yes, she is good at this.
Over the course of her set, she performs as Dolly Parton giving daily affirmations, Gwen Stefani getting pulled over by a traffic cop, J. Lo giving a tour of her hoop earring collection, and as Owen Wilson meeting her dad. Villaseñor has, of course, met a lot of celebrities guesting on SNL, and uses those interactions as part of her act. The parts of her act involving her family, particularly her dismissive mom and her disapproving abuelita, who only speaks Spanish.
Not every impression worked – it looked like she was workshopping her Yoda bit trying to warm it up for future shows – but for the most part her show was funny and the audience seemed to be having a great time.
Tom Thakkar, who has been featured on Comedy Central’s Stand Up Presents, opened the show and was a crowd-pleaser. The show was hosted by the wryly funny Savannah Hernandez. Seats are still available for Friday and Saturday shows; more information is here.