It's About Time Kate McKinnon Was A Leading Lady

This Tuesday in it's about damn time: It looks like Kate McKinnon may join Paul Feig's all-female Ghostbusters reboot as one of the film's leading stars, along with Melissa McCarthy and her fellow SNL ladies Kristin Wiig and Leslie Jones. As much as I love all these women — Kristin Wiig embodies everything good in the world to me, especially with her chemistry with Bill Hader — I am particularly thrilled that we'll finally be seeing Kate McKinnon on the big screen. Not only is she a comedic gem, but she has earned it — not only for her talents but for her general greatness.

McKinnon joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2012, but, long before that, she was already a comedy veteran. Not only is she an Upright Citizens Brigade alum, but she was also a cast member on The Big Gay Sketch Show: For three seasons beginning in 2007, she made waves with her hilarious character, the little British boy Fitzwilliam, whose only small wish was to have a vagina. Additionally, she's the only openly gay player on SNL, which is big for the show considering it has been, as of late, criticized for a lack of diversity.

As far as talents go, McKinnon is the best by far for celebrity impressions. I honestly can't picture German chancellor Angela Merkel in my head anymore without seeing McKinnon's face, and somehow she's made Justin Bieber charming to me — a feat which I thought impossible. She was nominated for two awards at the 2014 Primetime Emmys: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the amazing SNL short "Home For the Holidays (Twin Bed)." Though she didn't win, McKinnon's presence and talent are definitely being recognized, and she's part of a string of powerful and commanding ladies that have been rocking SNL in this past few years:

But maybe the best example of McKinnon's brand of comedic excellence is the notorious sketch she starred in with fellow SNL star Aidy Bryant, Dyke and Fats: It's a spoof of a '70s buddy cop show starring McKinnon as "Dyke," and Bryant as "Fats," — endearing names they have for each other but that no one else is allowed to call them. It's hilarious, and the story behind it is even better:

We were both really tired one night, and I just said to Aidy, 'Man, dyke is tired,' and Aidy said, 'Fats is tired, too.' And then it became our beautiful thing that we had together and we wanted to make something out of it.

Though SNL has received its share of criticism, but McKinnon's work on the show has definitely changed the game and given us hope. That said, she's bound to give a great performance in Ghostbusters, and, with any luck, one day she'll have her own sitcom like her amazingly hilarious predecessors Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. (And, maybe one day, she and Aidy Bryant will host the Golden Globes... but one thing at a time).

Image: Getty