‘Saturday Night Live’ Hairstylist Jodi Mancuso Talks Bringing Classic TV Shows to Life in Sketches Like ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’

Awards Daily talks to Emmy-nominated hairstylist Jodi Mancuso about her work on Saturday Night Live, including the now classic Beavis and Butt-Head sketch.

Saturday Night Live hairstylist Jodi Mancuso got to style Ryan Gosling and Mikey Day’s Beavis and Butt-Head not once, but twice — including at the premiere of The Fall Guy where “Dean” and “Jeff” made a cameo.

“Ryan got in touch and asked if we would be willing to go out and do this,” says Mancuso. “It was on a Tuesday, which was a writing night. He knew it was a big ask. But we were just so excited for him and were on such a high from the show. Mikey and Streeter [Seidell] wrote that, and they were excited, too. We did the premiere and literally took the red eye back. It was crazy. For them to be in it, like, maybe 10 minutes.”

It was the sketch people couldn’t stop talking about.

“We were always excited about it and loved the idea. Ryan really, really wanted to do [the sketch]. [Makeup artist] Louie (Zakarian) and I wanted to get it done right and make it work. You have those things sometimes that just fall in place, and it’s the perfect storm. It was very unexpected. We thought it was funny and giggled at it during dress [rehearsal].”

Mancuso says she wishes she could have had more time to work on one of the wigs, but she only had 30 seconds and any other time had to be devoted to the prosthetic nose.

“That was really important to make sure that Makeup could do that. I think I even asked for extra time, and they said ‘We gave you five extra seconds!'” she laughs. “From the minute they leave you, you hope they don’t bump into a wall or hit a curtain. But it all worked out really well, and we were happy with it.”

Beavis and Butt-Head wasn’t the only classic TV show that SNL lampooned this season. In the season finale, Mancuso got to hang with the gang over at Mystery Incorporated, aka Scooby Doo. She says the challenge with this sketch was similar to the one she faced with Beavis and Butt-Head.

“It’s that thing where you have to meld human with cartoon without it being fully human. I wasn’t happy with the wigs when we originally did it. I think we need to make them look more human-like. That’s what we did for Beavis and Butt-Head. For Scooby Doo, that was pretaped, so we had even less time, one day to style or build. Wednesday night is read-through and pics. It was really difficult trying to find a balance because we were trying to figure out what the costume designer would be doing. We went a little bigger and more cartoony, more so than Beavis and Butt-Head, but we had to go back and look at the cartoon, different years and seasons, to find that balance.”

Sometimes there’s also the balance of paying respect to someone while also being silly, like with The Hot Ones sketch featuring Beyonce (played by Maya Rudolph).

“With Maya, she has a huge love and respect for Beyonce. So you want to get it right, and she wanted to get it right. She looked through the hairstyles and picked the one she wanted. Maya did have an opinion about it, and we loved that.”

While every week has its new set of challenges, Mancuso says that making someone look like someone famous can be stressful.

“When I’m trying to make someone look like somebody, even if it’s a political thing, that’s probably what gives me the most stress. Cold opens make me nervous still because I want it to be done well, and we just don’t have enough time sometimes. We don’t want the wig to technically steal the show. It’s about making everyone’s job work together. I have to be careful with these sketches or our designs. Anybody can make someone funny with a silly wig, but there are writing and other elements that you’re trying to pay attention to.”

So, is she stocking up on gray wigs for Tim Walz in Saturday Night Live, Season 50?

“I know as much as you do. I know nothing. I’m assuming Maya will do [Kamala Harris], but we don’t know until we get there. It’s always wheels down, and it’s all last minute. But that’s just the way that show rolls. Knowing that the 50th is coming up, anything can happen.”

Saturday Night Live episodes are streaming on Peacock.