With her unhinged characters and uncanny timing, scene-stealing comic Kristen Wiig is this season's Saturday Night Live standout. But what's she like when she lets her hair down? In this extended interview from Radar's February issue, Andrew Goldberg finds out

This article is from the February issue of Radar Magazine. For a risk-free issue, click here

HAIR APPARENT Wiig in repose (Photo: R. Jermone Ferraro)

As one-third of the women on Saturday Night Live, Kristen Wiig has carved out an indispensable niche for herself: creating grating characters who are just as fun to see on TV as they would be awful to meet in public. From the way-too-curious-about-our-tube-socks lady at the Target checkout to the hair-twirling, one-upping frenemy Penelope, Wiig has birthed a battalion of keenly observed weirdos. Though she has been on the show for only three seasons, she's already demonstrated an ability to feed herself without Lorne Michaels's paychecks, delivering scene-stealing turns in Walk Hard: The Dewy Cox Story and Knocked Up. The 34-year-old, who dropped out of the University of Arizona and drove to L.A. to become an actress, found her way into the Groundlings after three years of styling displays at the Anthropologie store in Santa Monica. Following a stint in improv, she made a midseason leap to SNL in 2005, becoming the first woman accepted into the cast since Amy Poehler in 2001. Here, in this extended interview from the pages of Radar's February issue, the understated comedienne chats about dropping acid, naked late-night writing sessions, and why exactly she filled Santa's mouth with poop.

ANDREW GOLDBERG: If I interviewed your high school classmates, what do you think they'd remember about you?
KRISTEN WIIG: Well, high school I split up into two different schools. I went to private school my freshman and sophomore years, then public my junior and senior years.

Was the private school chichi?
For Rochester, I guess. It was called Allendale Columbia. I really liked it. I'm glad I got to experience it, but I specifically remember wanting that normal high school experience—homecoming and football games and all those things. Luckily for me, the public high school near where I lived was really great.

Supposedly when acid first came out it was much stronger. Otherwise, I'm in trouble
Were you popular in high school? How about hot?
I guess I sort of ran around with the popular crowd, yeah. I actually looked at my senior picture recently. It's weird to look back at your high school self and go, wow, that's what I looked like then. I don't feel like I've changed that much, but when I look at that picture, I feel like a totally different person. In my senior picture my hair is all frosty and curly.

I imagine that was a popular look around Rochester, where you grew up?
I was actually born in Canandaigua. It's one of the Finger Lakes. My dad owned the marina on the lake, and we lived there until I was about three. Then we moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where we lived until I was in eighth grade—that's when my brother and I moved to Rochester with my mom so I could go to the same private school she and her siblings had gone to. I'd been getting into trouble in Lancaster.

Tell me!
I was just sort of running around with the wrong crowd, I think. Nothing too, too bad. Just, like, smoking and sneaking out and vandalizing.

What's your best vandalism story?
Well, I feel bad about it, so I don't know if I'd call it the best. We went around and smashed potted plants on people's front porches. It's so terrible.

Did you at least smash the plants of people who deserved it?
No, it was just like running around. A lot of my friends' parents were divorced, as were mine. So I think a lot of us naturally came together and formed this weird little family.

What was the closest you ever came to getting arrested?
When I was younger, we broke into a swimming pool and the cops came and took us to the station. And then, years later, I got caught underage drinking at a Grateful Dead show.

The Dead, huh? You know, they used to say that if you dropped acid seven times you were legally insane. Are you insane?
I think that was the old acid. Supposedly, when acid first came out it was much stronger. Otherwise, I'm in trouble.

So you can't reveal any horrible high school trauma that made you get into the comedy business?
I actually liked high school. I've talked to some people who hated those years, but I didn't.

I thought that youthful misery was a prerequisite for getting into comedy. There's really no trauma in your life that drove you into the business?
I'd have to say my parents divorcing when I was nine was pretty traumatic. It shakes you up a little bit when it's out of nowhere.

Were you parents good about sitting you down and explaining the divorce?
Yeah, they were, but I remember my brother being really upset and freaking out when my mom told us. I'm very close to both my parents, and they're still friends.

Did the experience change how you feel about marriage?
Well, I am divorced, and as of right now, I can't see myself getting married again. Not because it left a bad taste in my mouth. I just don't know if I believe in it. But who knows? People change their minds all the time. People get married who said they never would and vice versa. I tend not to make any grand statements.

Tell me about your mom. I imagined that she might be embedded in some of your characters.
Not really. My family, yes. So much of it for me has just been observing people in public. Sometimes someone will just say something that strikes me funny, or I'll overhear someone say a word in a funny way. I don't where it even comes from, but it brings an idea. A lot of the stuff from SNL just comes from hanging out with someone that you're going to write with.

You went to the University of Arizona for a year and then dropped out. At that time did you have any clue what you wanted to do?
I didn't at all. But before that, I did take my first acting class at a community college in Rochester. It was a requirement for my art degree. I was terrified because I hate talking in front of other people and am shy in my own way. My teacher was very encouraging, though. Then, when I was at Arizona, I had one those days where I wondered, what am I doing? I don't want to be going to this school. So I decided I would try acting and move to L.A. I packed up my car the next day and drove there. I didn't even tell my parents.