Gail Matthius

Born

1953-12-14

Birthplace

Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA

Biography

Gail Matthius is an American actress, voice actress and comedian. She was a cast member of NBC's Saturday Night Live during its critical and ratings low point at the time (the 1980–1981 season headed by Jean Doumanian), and co-anchored the Weekend Update segment with Charles Rocket in 1981. Matthius had worked as a comedian in Los Angeles appearing at The Comedy Store before successfully auditioning for Doumanian's cast. In 2015, the magazine Rolling Stone ranked Gail Matthius at, out of 141 cast members, the 74th best of Saturday Night Live, calling her, "A flicker of hope in the Saturday Night Live 1980 debacle, with a sharp valley girl mall-chick character named Vickie. Matthius and Vickie both deserved better." Matthius played the following recurring characters on SNL: Vicki, a valley girl who, along with her friend, Debbie (played by Denny Dillon) annoyed people with their persistent questions and shallow statements. Roweena, a Midwestern-accented hairdresser who often has a neurotic, middle-aged woman named Nadine (played by Denny Dillon) as a frequent customer. Francis Lively, wife to Charles Rocket's Phil Lively, a fellow game show host who lives life at home as if it were just another game show. Her celebrity impersonations included: Brooke Shields, in a parody of the racy Calvin Klein TV ads that featured her, Irene Cara, Nancy Reagan and Mary Cunningham. Following her stint on SNL, Matthius appeared in the short-lived British/American sketch show Assaulted Nuts and the syndicated sketch comedy series Laugh Trax (where she revived her valley girl Vicki character from SNL). She did a good deal of voice acting for animated shows from the late 1980s into the 1990s, including Bobby's World (with Laugh Trax co-star Howie Mandel), Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Bump in the Night and The Tick, often using the voice of her valley girl and Roweena characters from Saturday Night Live (in characters such as Martha, who sounds like Roweena, and Shirley the Loon from Tiny Toon Adventures). She also is a member of the Spolin Players Improv comedy troupe and acts as a drama and theater coach and teacher in Pacific Palisades, CA for various acting studios including Theatre Palisades. She continues to perform as an improv and drama theater actress. In 2016, Matthius appeared in the play For Piano and Harpo by Dan Castellaneta. (Source: Wikipedia)