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Kate McKinnon transformed into dozens of characters throughout her ten years on “Saturday Night Live,” where she impersonated everyone from bold-faced figured like Justin Bieber and Ellen DeGeneres to inanimate objects such as an ice cream cone and potato.
Her latest role, however, in which she plays an anthropomorphized toothbrush — clad in a two-piece suit and perfectly coiffed hair — wasn’t for a 30 Rock sketch comedy bit, but for a new Philips Sonicare ad promoting the brand’s lineup of electric toothbrushes.
Susan the Toothbrush, which McKinnon named the character, might not be as iconic as her Hillary Clinton, but she insists it was still one of her favorite personalities to bring to life.
“She’s a mythical being that materializes through walls and helps people make better decisions about their oral health care,” McKinnon says over Zoom, talking through the creative process with her signature deadpan humor. “Her powers are that she can materialize through walls, and she knows a lot about toothbrushes. And that’s about it.”
“I think she’s immortal as well,” she continues, “but that’s not part of the ad…”
The ad campaign went live this month, consisting of 15-second and 30-second spots that feature the comedian popping up in people’s bathrooms and homes to encourage them to upgrade their antiquated routine — from a couple moving in together to a guy getting ready for a big interview.
Of course, aside from lucrative partnerships — she’s partnered with brands such as Loreal, Smart Water and Kraft since departing “SNL” in 2022 — she’s also kept herself busy with a multitude of passion projects. The most recent is a debut children’s book titled “The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science.” The quirky 256-page book, aimed towards middle schoolers, is already a No. 1 bestseller since releasing Oct. 1.
“I’ve been working on this book before I got my job at ‘SNL,” she says, adding that during her breaks on the NBC show she would write middle grade literature. “I find that sketch comedy and middle grade literature have a lot in common. I think that there are big characters with funny names and funny hair, and this base level of hopefulness and sweetness about the way that people relate to each other feels like a very natural transition.”
She hopes the kids and pre-teens that read the eccentric story leave it feeling better about being in their own bodies. “The underlying message, which I think is true, is that the thing that people tell you is weird about yourself is actually the thing that will save you and will, in fact, save us all,” she says. “The best thing to do is just be yourself.”
And while she isn’t popping into people’s homes as a human-sized toothbrush, or writing offbeat stories for her younger self? She’s still checking in on her old cast mates on “SNL,” including Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris.
“Unbelievable,” she says of her friend’s performance this season. “Just flawless.”
