The bit in the Sabrina Carpenter-hosted episode was part of Padilla’s breakout second season.

SNL star Ashley Padilla explains how memorable surprise-party sketch got past fart-hater Lorne Michaels

The bit in the Sabrina Carpenter-hosted episode was part of Padilla's breakout second season.

By Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence is a former associate editor at **. He left EW in 2022.

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May 28, 2026 2:00 p.m. ET

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Ashley Padilla on 'Saturday Night Live'. Credit:

- Ashley Padilla's breakthrough *Saturday Night Live* season included a fart sketch.

- The comedian explained how she got the pitch past Lorne Michaels.

- The sketch was one that Padilla originally did before joining *SNL*.

Ashley Padilla has unlocked the key to getting a fart sketch past noted fart-sketch-hater Lorne Michaels.

During this past season of *Saturday Night Live*, one of the most memorable creations was "Surprise." In the Sabrina Carpenter-hosted episode, Padilla played Laura, whose coworkers throw her a birthday party in the office. But things take an immediate turn for the worse when she lets out an extended fart upon being surprised.

In a comedy roundtable interview with *The Hollywood Reporter** *posted Thursday, Padilla was asked how she got the bit on air when Michaels famously "doesn't like" fart sketches.

"If they're funny, maybe," she said. "I don't know the rules."

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While the farting is part of the humor of the sketch, it's just the start of Laura's descent into sadness, as she spirals over the incident, and slowly realizes how terrible her life is.

"That sketch I used to do at the Groundlings," Padilla shared. "I just love someone taking something small very seriously — that's comedy to me. And what is dumber than a fart? So if you have that contrast of someone who's very serious and they fart, it's not the fart itself."

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"So I think Lorne respects when something is just done well," she continued. "We're not just throwing farts in and he's like, 'Put it on television!' I think it's the fact that it was the behavior of the individual and how they handle it."

"Surprise" was just one of the many viral moments that contributed to Padilla's breakout second season on *SNL*, which also included a bad-haircut sketch and breaking with Ryan Gosling.

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