Molly Shannon appeared on the show this morning at 9:45 (WATCH VIDEO) to promote her new movie, "Year of the Dog." I sat down with the former "Saturday Night Live" star for a quick Q&A before she went on set for her interview with Al.
Here's some of our conversation:
Q: Everybody's talking today about Don Imus and his comments last week that resulted in a two-week suspension from his radio show and TV simulcast. You were on a very high-profile -- and live -- TV show, "Saturday Night Live," for several years. Was there ever a moment when you or someone you worked with said something, and everyone kind of went, "Uh, oh. That's going to be a problem"?
Molly Shannon: No. Never ever anything like that happened... [On the Imus subject} I find it riduculous that he said such things, but he just wants attention. And all of this talk is just enabling him to get even more attention.
Q: I asked this question of your former "SNL" colleague Tina Fey last week. We had the author of a new book called "The Feminine Mistake" on the show earlier this week. She writes about how young mothers are deciding to stay at home to raise their kids more and more -- and that by depending on their husbands financially, those women are opening themselves to potential problems down the road. You're a working mother of a two children -- what do you think about this issue?
Molly Shannon: Different things work for different people. I think it's really judgmental to be that self-centered to say, "This is what people should do." Different strokes for different folks. I did hear about a study on NPR that said that having two working parents in a household tends to be better in the long run for the children, but I think different styles work for everyone. Personally, for me, I'm not the kind of person who prefers [to be a stay-at-home mom]. But not everyone comes from the same situation that I do, so I say, "Live and let live." There's no magic formula to this.
Q: In the "Year of the Dog," you play a woman who becomes obsessed with animal rights activisim after the death of her dog. Are you an animal person? And what did you learn about some of the obsessions of pet owners?
Molly Shannon: I've always been a dog lover, but I developed an allergy to them at age 12. People that have animals feel very seriously about them, and their treatment of their animals is like love... My character becomes extremely interested in dogs and animal rights, and she becomes like a mother protecting her child. [Director Mike White] examines different characters who have different obsessions, like money, for example. He asks, "Is one [obsession] better or worse than the others?"