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Occupations. Comedian. writer. actress. Alison Gates (born 1988 or 1989) is an American comedy writer and actress who is currently a head writer for Saturday Night Live. She previously lived in Chicago and worked with the Second City 's touring company and an all-female iO Theater troupe.
- Overview
- SNL Career
- External links
Alison Gates (born June 1989) is an American writer who has written for Saturday Night Live since 2018, where she currently serves as one of the show's head writers.
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Gates said she started doing improvisational theatre in high school, and then continued "in college sort of as a way to meet people".She was part of Yale's oldest improv comedy troupe, The Yale Ex!t Players. At Yale University Gates, who plays guitar and mandolin, performed in Measure for Measure among other shows. She was also a managing editor of The Yale Record humor magazine and graduated from Yale in 2011.
After moving to Chicago, Gates began to take improv "a little more seriously" and, after going through the Second City's conservatory program, was hired by the Second City after its annual general audition, eventually moving from understudy to part of the BlueCo touring company in 2015.
She said that "one of the great things about performing at Second City" was getting to continually "make tweaks and re-improvise" scenes after having planned with fellow cast members and performed in front of an audience. While with Second City, Gates said that "my dream job would be writing instead of performing".
In Chicago, Gates was also a member of Virgin Daiquiri, an all-female iO improv group. She also performed with Casual Encounters for iO, Shinbone Alley for Chemically Imbalanced Comedy, and the Fallen Elegant.
After her fourth week at SNL, Gates was noted for her sketch "Teacher Fell Down", which Alison Herman of The Ringer called "a gloriously weird bit from the Jonah Hill episode centering on [Kate] McKinnon's drama queen of a driver's ed instructor".
•2018-present: Writer
•2021: Writing Supervisor (first half of season 47)
iO alums Alison Gates, Alan Linic, and Eli Mandel Join the SNL family!!
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Sep 27, 2018 · The NBC sketch series has added four new writers (Alan Linic, Alison Gates, Eli Mandel and Bowen Yang) and a feature player in Ego Nwodim, who hails from Los Angeles’ UCB Theatre, where she...
Dec 31, 2015 · Alison Gates is a 26-year-old actress who performs in Hooking Up With The Second City, a relationship-themed show by the legendary Chicago theater. She talks about her experience, preparation and dream job in this interview.
- Jocelyn Tolbert
Feb 27, 2022 · Since co-head writer Anna Drezen departed the show late last year, former supervising writers Streeter Seidell and Alison Gates have been promoted, joining Michael Che, Kent Sublette, and...
Dec 18, 2022 · Kent Sublette, Alison Gates and Streeter Seidell serve as the head writers for the show, while Liz Patrick directs. Earlier in the night, NBC announced that the Dec. 17 episode would be...
