Kate McKinnon Shares Her Secret to Playing Hillary Clinton on SNL

Kate McKinnon is perhaps the Saturday Night Live castmember tasked with the show’s biggest job in the next year: playing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. While speaking on The Hollywood Reporter‘s Comedy Actress Roundtable, McKinnon shared her secret on creating her Hillary.

“I wanted to play on the inherent contrast between a woman who is so driven and so hardened by her experiences and needs this, and also a little sweetie granny from the Midwest, just the juxtaposition of those two things,” said McKinnon.

McKinnon also recounted a stand-up routine that went so terribly that she wound up drinking at Hooters.

The actress joined Lena Dunham (Girls), Amy Schumer (Inside Amy Schumer), Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish), Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) and Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) for the roundtable, where some the year’s hottest television actresses discussed weighty topics such as racism and sexism in Hollywood while remaining unfiltered, frank and funny.

The full Comedy Actress Emmy Roundtable can be seen on Close Up With The Hollywood Reporter when it premieres Sunday, Aug. 16, at 11 a.m. ET/PT on Sundance TV and HollywoodReporter.com.

Check back Friday to watch interviews with Amy Schumer and Tracee Ellis Ross.

This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.

More from The Hollywood Reporter:

2015 Summer Movie Guide: Sequels… Comedy… Action!

Summer Box Office Champs: From Sharks to Shrek to Superheroes

Summer’s 23 Most Intriguing Indie Films