Saturday Night Live Season 51 is in full swing on the 2025 TV schedule, with all new hosts and a number of new cast members. A good number of repertory players carried over from last season, including the great impressionist Chloe Fineman. The late-in-life comedian, who is entering her sixth season with the iconic sketch comedy show, revealed she auditioned with a Reese Witherspoon impression to secure her place at Studio 8H, and the moment recently came full circle when she met The Morning Show actress in person.
The Summer of 69 actress has been known to impersonate everyone from JoJo Siwa to Timothée Chalamet. Sometimes her impressions are met with some criticism, but most times they are a slam dunk, and Fineman recently discussed on Late Night With Seth Meyers what it was like to do an impression of a celebrity to their face–because it had apparently happened backstage with the Legally Blonde actress just minutes before:
I just met her for the first time in the flesh just now. And I can’t help but go into–And I’m like ‘Oh my god, you are so cute. Oh my god, no. I mean, I was like, Oprah loves you, seriously.’
This isn’t the first time Witherspoon has seen the Megalopolis actress do an impression of her. The Sweet Home Alabama actress is one of Fineman’s favorites, and she has performed her impression on SNL, as well The Tonight Show and Ellen. She has also done impressions of many Reese Witherspoon characters, including Madeline Mackenzie from Big Little Lies and Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, which garnered the attention of the actress herself.
In 2020, the Cruel Intentions actress invited the SNL cast member fresh off her first complete season to moderate a Legally Blonde Zoom reunion because of her viral Reese Witherspoon impressions:
I can’t lie, the impression is pretty good. I mean, it must be; it landed her a coveted role on SNL. It would seem, based on this interview with Seth Meyers, that it’s only gotten better in the past five years. Good thing, as it seems this face-to-face encounter with Witherspoon was unexpected.
The Despicable Me 4 actress had previously discussed on The Tonight Show what it was like to get feedback from celebrities when she does impressions of them, saying:
I’ll do these impressions and then it’s sort of this panic of like ‘Have I humiliated myself?’ or like ‘Do they think I’m awful?’ And then this little blue check thing will appear in your Instagram DMs. And it’s the celebrity that you’ve done an impression of, but you don’t know what it’s saying. And to me, it’s like a letter from the president.
She goes on to say that Witherspoon had sent her a message about one of the impressions she had done, saying she liked it.
I do think it is safe to say that the Little Fires Everywhere actress loved Fineman’s impression of her in person just as much as she did online. I honestly think the SNL cast member is one of the best impressionists the late-night sketch comedy show has had in the past decade, and I look forward to seeing who she challenges herself with this season.