Mary Ellen Matthew’s job is as fun as it looks.
For the past 25 years, the 59-year-old photographer has been shooting always iconic, often whimsical portraits of stars to serve as “bumpers” — images that appear on screen before a commercial break — for “Saturday Night Live.”
“The bumpers are probably the least appreciated part of the show, but anybody who knows the show knows how much they mean,” the show’s head honcho, Lorne Michaels, writes in the foreword to Matthew’s new book, “The Art of the SNL Portrait” (Harry N. Abrams, out now).
The book follows in the footsteps of SNL’s 50th anniversary special and features dozens of the nearly 4,000 portraits Matthews has created of the show’s hosts and musical guests over the years.
It’s “the best job in the world and, quite certainly, the only one like it,” Matthews, who uses both real-life props and digital editing to create the portraits, writes in the book’s introduction.
There’s rarely a dull moment in her workday. While many of the images are shot in the studio, Matthews loves getting outside and incorporating elements of the city. She fondly recalls capturing Jim Carrey hailing a cab with a llama named Pierre in the pouring rain and snapping Jason Momoa with a guitar on the edge of Top of the Rock.
“His security and our security were like terrified,” she said.
Here, she shares six other images — and the stories behind them — with The Post.
Tina Fey
When the former cast member — who has long been rumored as a top contender to replace Michaels when he retires — hosted in 2018, Matthews wanted to create an image out of a high-brow fashion magazine from the 1940s or ’50s. She thought it’d be “sweet” to have Fey holding a bird but wanted something more “ridiculous” than a little bluebird or peaceful dove. “I thought … how can we push that into a more playful place? And then I thought, it’s a big bird. And then what’s the most ridiculous bird that she could be holding? A vulture?” So, a stock photo of the scavenger was digitally added to the shot. “It’s fun just to kind of keep twisting things,” Matthews said.
Alec Baldwin
Baldwin has hosted the show 17 times — more than anyone else. When he did the honors in 2009, he had the idea for a “Godfather” re-creation and Matthews was more than happy to make it happen, with her own twist. Instead of using a real cat, as in the opening scene of the Francis Ford Coppola classic, she opted for a clearly fake stuffed kitty. “I don’t like to make these re-creations too close to the original,” she writes. “It’s got to have something that’s off or not quite right.”
Billie Eilish
When the Grammy and Oscar-winner performed on the show in December 2023, it was right before Christmas, a holiday Matthews noted that Eilish loves. “Sp, I got all this fake snow and thought, maybe, let’s do a snow angel,’” Matthews recalled. “And then I said, ‘Let’s just bury you,’ and she had this bright, illuminated smile and those beautiful eyes. I just love it.”
Melissa McCarthy
Matthews had the idea to recreate photographer Diane Arbus’s iconic “Identical Twins, Roselle, N.J., 1967” shot and McCarthy, who hosted in 2017, was the perfect creative partner. “She could emote the those two twins in a comedic way … she’s just an absolute genius,” Matthews said, adding that hair and wardrobe “nailed it. “
Justin Bieber
The pop star performed on the show in 2020, and Matthews was inspired by a cloud-print suit the wardrobe stylist had for him. “I thought, I’ve got to tie this in as a background or have him float,” she said. For the shoot, Bieber bounced on a mini trampoline and the cloudy background was added digitally.
Travis Kelce
Matthews was thinking about Jim Morrison when she came up with this concept for the Super Bowl winner and multihyphenate, who hosted in 2023. “[I thought] what if Travis lit his stogie off of his flaming football [instead of a guitar],” she writes. “Very b—-s.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
