Heidi Gardner
The Entertainer
Today’s episode features the brilliantly funny and deeply warm Heidi Gardner. Heidi takes us back to her childhood in Kansas City, Missouri, where mall visits and prank phone calls helped shape her into the performer she is today. We explore the winding road Heidi took from working as a hairstylist for years, to watching her first Groundlings show, to performing on SNL for eight seasons. She shares how she learned to hear “no” without losing herself, and what it means to finally have time to rediscover the quieter parts of life after years of non-stop work on SNL.
Tune in for a conversation about resilience, the power of people who believe in you before you believe in yourself, and the lifelong work of finding your why.
Fig. 01 — From the episode archive
Guest Questionnaire
The Questionnaire
- Favorite work of art?
- James Turrell, Meeting
- Favorite quote or mantra?
- “I am beautiful, I am safe, I am free.”
- Favorite book of yours?
- The Virgin Suicides
- Favorite time of day?
- The morning
- Favorite movie?
- Parenthood
- Album or musical artist you have on repeat?
- Roxy Music
- Favorite type of tree, plant, or flower?
- Stargazer lily
Three Questions on Time
Take Your Time Back
If everything on your calendar tomorrow was canceled, what would you do?
I would go to Kansas City, make a sparkling espresso cream, sit in my living room with my cats and the fire going, and honestly… probably plan a party.
Time is the only thing you can’t fake. What’s something you could have only learned over time?
That nothing is on my timeline. I still fool myself into thinking things will happen by a certain point, and they never do. Never.
When does time stand still for you?
Making kids laugh. Kids are critics — they’re not going to laugh at just anything. When you can genuinely make a kid laugh, there’s this feeling inside like, life is so good right now. I’m just completely present.
From the Episode
Show Notes
In This Episode
- 0:00Introducing Heidi Gardner: SNL, Broadway & comedy
- 3:00Growing up in Kansas City, Missouri
- 5:00Mall culture, pop culture & childhood taste-makers
- 6:50Heidi’s Broadway debut and closing the show in All Out
- 12:00How prank phone calls launched a comedy career
- 16:30Her unconventional, creative single parents
- 21:30Dropping out of college and moving to LA for beauty school
- 23:30Heidi’s career as a hairdresser in Los Angeles
- 27:30Discovering the Groundlings and finding her calling in comedy
- 31:00What it’s really like performing live on SNL
- 35:00Life after SNL: slowing down, bookstores & decompressing
- 41:00Handling rejection and resilience in a creative career
- 47:30Hosting theme parties and creating experiences for friends
- 53:30Take Your Time Back: three closing questions on time
In Her Words
- “I’m starting to cultivate it on my own self-belief, but it’s always been other people’s belief in me that gave me that little extra boost.”
- “I am a soft, gentle person who wants to connect with people and take her time. And sometimes I think I was maybe too sensitive for that place.”
- “Good things are coming. Good things are already happening.”
- “You get so used to rejection that you start gearing yourself up for a no instead of thinking abundantly. And that’s the thing I’m actively trying to unlearn.”
- “My mom wore sunglasses at night. She worked two jobs — travel agent during the day, cocktail waitress at night. She was just a character. Fully, completely herself.”
- “I want people to see themselves in different ways. I want them to see their partners in different ways. A little bit of transformation goes a long way.”
- “Performing or transforming or transmitting something out into the world: that’s my why.”
Follow Along
Heidi on Instagram: @heidilgardner
Dianna on Instagram: @diannacohen
Take Your Time on Instagram, TikTok and Substack
