Sign language interpreter on ‘SNL’

RINGGOLD — A Catoosa County sign language interpreter had a pretty eventful weekend after she auditioned for a small role on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and was then featured in a digital sketch that aired Saturday.

Jodi Upton, a longtime sign language interpreter in the community, currently working at Heritage High School, said she was informed of the opportunity by a friend in New York. Before she knew it, she was flying to the Big Apple to take part in the long-running sketch comedy show.

“I got an email saying that SNL was looking for an interpreter for a sketch after a friend in New York gave them my name,” Upton said. “They sent me some lyrics and asked me to send a video of myself signing the lyrics and that they would show their director. I did, and then got an email later Contributed photo

Catoosa County resident Jodi Upton sits on the set of “Saturday Night Live” while shooting a digital short.

that afternoon saying they’d like to use me.”

Before accepting the job, Upton said, she made sure she was being cast as an actual interpreter.

“If they were going to be doing a fake deaf person thing, then I wouldn’t have taken the job because that would be stealing a job from a deaf actor,” she said. “I was assured that was not the case, so I took the job.”

Upton says she flew out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, to New York at 7 a.m. Friday and spent most of the day at the studio shooting the sketch before returning home early Saturday morning.

“It was an amazing experience, everyone was ridiculously nice to me,” she said.

The sketch was a 1990s-themed one called “The Christmas Candle,” featuring SNL regulars Vanessa Bayer, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and the night’s host, Emma Stone. The musical sketch poked fun at a group of women who regift candles as last minute Christmas presents.

Upton says she had fun with the costuming, the great people and even managed to run into a couple of the cast members.

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