Julia Louis-Dreyfuss Says ‘Saturday Night Live’ Had ‘Very Sexist’ Atmosphere In 80s

Julia Louis-Dreyfuss found the environment on Saturday Night Live in the 80s to be sexist – but is happy to say that things seem to be a lot different on the show now.

Julia Louis-Dreyfuss On ‘SNL’

For Louis-Dreyfuss, Saturday Night Live wasn’t exactly all it’s cracked up to be. Though she was on the show for three years, she doesn’t believe she did anything that was all that memorable. Louis-Dreyfuss also admits that part of the problem could have been the show’s sexist atmosphere.

“I did not come out of SNL as any kind of name. I didn’t do anything particularly great when I was there. I didn’t. It’s fine. But I learned a tremendous amount,” Louis-Dreyfuss told The New York Times. “It was a very sexist environment. Since I’ve gone back, I can tell you it’s much more of an equal-opportunity environment.”

Louis-Dreyfuss didn’t leave SNL completely empty handed. From her experience on the show, she developed a new mentality on her career – and she found a friend in Larry David, who would go on to cast her in Seinfeld. And, since Seinfeld ended, Louis-Dreyfuss has gone on to find further success on TV in The New Adventures of Old Christine and on Veep, which currently airs on HBO.

“I was on [SNL] for three years, and when I left, I made this conscious decision that I would not take any jobs that didn’t seem as if they would be really fun,” Louis-Dreyfuss explained. “That’s very simplistic and Pollyannaish sounding, but really, I noted that. I’m not doing this unless I can have a deep sense of happiness while doing it. I’ve applied that, moving forward, and it’s worked. So in that sense, I have SNL to thank.”