Lena Dunham is a writer, producer and actress, but that's not all. The "Girls" creator is also a "Saturday Night Live" superfan. This weekend, she'll get to make one of her "SNL" dreams come true by hosting the show. But another one has already been fulfilled.
During the sketch comedy's September season opener, then-host Tina Fey led a hilarious send-up of "Girls" that even had the woman behind Hannah laughing.
"It was one of the best things that's ever happened to me," Dunham boasted during a sit-down on the set of "SNL" with TODAY's Savannah Guthrie.
The skit saw Fey take on the role of a fifth Girl, the grateful Albanian Blerta, while "SNL" regulars rounded out the rest of the cast and played them perfectly.
"I was sitting there watching that, and I couldn't believe these people that I admired were even aware enough of my work to sort of construct this parody, which felt loving," Dunham said. "I've always been all too aware that there are things to be made fun of in the show, and I thought they took such a smart approach."
And she was especially glad that she wasn't the butt of the jokes.
"It wasn't nudity obsessed; it wasn't, you know, all about my weight," the 27-year-old said. "It was a really intelligent, thoughtful approach to 'Girls.' So not only did I feel grateful that I was spared, I felt excited it existed."
Dunham's even more excited about her upcoming hosting duties.
"I love ('SNL') with a passion," she said. "'Obsessed' is not too strong of a word, and being here in this space is surreal and wonderful, and I just am so excited to soak up every inch of it. I was literally, like, staring at the hair stylists as they constructed wigs today, saying, 'I want to learn your secrets.'"
That's a sentiment TODAY's Savannah Guthrie understands, since she's a "Girls" superfan who'd like to learn the secrets to making it on the HBO show. In fact, Guthrie even took the liberty of having a few storyboards made up to show Dunham what she could bring to "Girls."
"Here I am helping Hannah study for the bar exam because I don't think she's achieving her potential," Guthrie said as she showed Dunham one example.
"I love it so much," the HBO star said. "That's the friend Hannah deserves!"
But after a couple of other examples, Dunham delivered a not-so-subtle brush-off.
"I'll take it back to the writer's room and we'll ... give it serious consideration," she laughed.
See Dunham on "SNL," with musical guests The National, Saturday at 11:30 p.m. on NBC.