Ashley Padilla almost quit comedy after a decade of grinding through Los Angeles improv and sketch classes before her breakthrough on Saturday Night Live transformed her career into one of the show’s most celebrated recent success stories.
Padilla spent ten years studying at the Upright Citizens Brigade and the Groundlings, the legendary Los Angeles sketch and improv school that has launched countless SNL careers. During that time, she also worked as Diane Keaton’s assistant while performing seven shows a week at the Groundlings, according to the Los Angeles Times. The years of work with little visible progress left her ready to walk away.
“I was about to quit comedy,” Padilla told Gold Derby in an interview published June 8, 2026. “My manager was like, ‘Let me try one more thing. Let’s put your best stuff in one show.'” That show was Party of Three, a live sketch comedy performance she co-created with fellow Groundlings members. The production made it into the 2024 Netflix Is a Joke festival, a major showcase for comedy talent.
Someone at the festival saw Party of Three and took notice. “Someone heard about this and came to go see my show, Party of Three, and they were like, ‘We want her to showcase right after the show,'” Padilla recalled. That showcase led to an SNL audition process that required her to perform two separate tests, with the second one pushing her to bring fresh material after she’d already exhausted her best pieces.
Padilla joined SNL as a featured player for the show’s 50th season in 2024. Her first appearance aired on November 9, 2024, during the Bill Burr episode. Now in her second season, she has become one of the most recognizable cast members, leading the entire cast in sketch appearances and total screen time, according to Vulture. Her signature technique—which critics have dubbed the “Padilla Pause”—uses stillness and extended moments to build tension and absurdist humor, a style she refined during her years at the Groundlings.
Before joining SNL, Padilla’s path through comedy felt uncertain despite her talent. Walking through Los Angeles, she would wonder aloud if she’d ever make it on television. On one particularly dispiriting day near the Groundlings, she recalls a stranger in a passing car rolling down the window to tell her, “I’ve seen you perform! You’re going to be on television!” That moment of unexpected encouragement kept her going when doubt crept in.
Her viral sketches—including “Mom Confession,” in which she plays a MAGA mother who begrudgingly admits Trump wasn’t good for the country, and “Haircut,” based on her real-life disaster of shaving her own head—have earned her Emmy buzz and widespread acclaim. The Los Angeles Times noted that her ability to extend a moment “transforms what could be a routine joke into something stranger and more absurd.” She credits co-writers Alison Gates and Kent Sublette for helping her understand how to adapt her Groundlings material for live television’s faster pace and camera cuts.
Padilla’s journey reflects a broader pattern at SNL: the show has long drawn talent from the Groundlings, a pipeline that has produced stars including Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, and Maya Rudolph. Yet Padilla’s path was slower and more uncertain than many. After a decade in comedy with little recognition, her decision to create Party of Three—and her manager’s push to showcase it—proved to be the turning point that changed everything.
Sources
- Los Angeles Times — Padilla’s background at the Groundlings, her work as Diane Keaton’s assistant, and her creative process for SNL sketches
- Gold Derby — Padilla’s interview about almost quitting comedy, the Party of Three showcase, and her audition process
- Diablo Magazine — Confirmation that Padilla studied comedy with the Upright Citizens Brigade and Groundlings for 10 years
- Vulture — Details about Party of Three making the 2024 Netflix Is a Joke festival and Padilla’s sketch appearance records
- Wikipedia — Confirmation that Padilla almost gave up comedy after ten years until Party of Three made it into the 2024 Netflix Is a Joke festival
