The Church Lady
Enid Strict, better known as The Church Lady, is a recurring character from a series of sketches on the American television show, Saturday Night Live, that appeared from 1986 to 1990, and again in 1996, 2000, 2011, and 2016. She also appeared on The Dana Carvey Show in March 1996, reading a Top Ten List, "New Titles for Princess Diana."[1]
Enid Strict
October 11, 1986
December 1, 1990 (regular)
November 5, 2016 (guest: S42E05)
Dana Carvey
Female
The Church Lady
Talk show host of Church Chat
About the character[edit]
The Church Lady is a mature woman named Enid Strict who is the uptight, smug, and pious host of her talk show Church Chat.[2] Her show includes guests, usually celebrities whom she interviews, played by other cast members of SNL or by the celebrities themselves. However, the interviews are only a guise for her to call out the guests on their various alleged sins, which are often publicly known news events of the day. They initially receive sarcastic praise from her, until the interview degrades into a tirade against their apparent lack of piety and their secular lifestyles, culminating with her judgmental admonishments and condemnation. She often takes others to task for following the desires of their tingling and/or engorged "naughty parts."
Carvey said that he based the character on women who he knew from his church growing up who would keep track of people's attendance.[3] He developed the character in his stand-up comedy act prior to joining SNL. Writer Rosie Shuster helped him develop the concept of the Church Chat talk show.[4] The Church Lady made numerous appearances on SNL, and Nora Dunn recalled that "everybody loved that character."[5]