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How I Found Myself — by Impersonating Other People | Melissa Villaseñor | TED

Ever think you’d hear Sandra Bullock, Britney Spears and Dolly Parton in one TED Talk? Here they are, courtesy of “Saturday Night Live” star Melissa Villaseñor. She shares the life lessons of a comedian — complete with celebrity impressions — and reminds us to embrace all of our voices, even if they’re a little silly.…

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Ever think you’d hear Sandra Bullock, Britney Spears and Dolly Parton in one TED Talk? Here they are, courtesy of “Saturday Night Live” star Melissa Villaseñor. She shares the life lessons of a comedian — complete with celebrity impressions — and reminds us to embrace all of our voices, even if they’re a little silly.

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TED’s videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: . For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at

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48 Comments

48 Comments

  1. FΛWKZ

    September 26, 2023 at 1:04 pm

    She’s a decent voice actor, got great range. But honestly 90% of the impressions are incredibly weak, and only “work” because she says a famous quote or lyric.

    I’m glad it worked for her and she made bank from it, but I gotta tell you, I wouldn’t go to her show if I was paid to.

    • Terry Mathis

      September 26, 2023 at 3:33 pm

      Don’t be a hater. We’re here to learn!

  2. رستم ਭੱਤੂਆ da💪

    September 26, 2023 at 1:28 pm

    Khalistan jindabad ❤

  3. Kristie Gleske

    September 26, 2023 at 1:32 pm

    I love everything about this talk. So entertaining with a core message to not lose yourself.

  4. DemonDjinn

    September 26, 2023 at 1:44 pm

    DemonDJinn👁‍🗨👁‍🗨 Upon doing more research, she and various other users, including writer April Reign, also noticed that many of Villasenor’s since-deleted tweets targeted people of colour and included racist statements. It appears that Villasenor had set her account to private before the announcement of her joining “SNL,” which gave her time to remove her tweets from her account. Despite this action, diligent people still were able to find several tweets that she had missed.🤮🤐

  5. DemonDjinn

    September 26, 2023 at 1:49 pm

    👁👁DemonDjinn Remember when Melissa Villasenor (first ever Latina female cast member SNL had, took them 43 years) mass deleted thousands of tweets, including ones racist against black people and Asians, when she got a job on SNL but nothing happened to her? Interesting🤮🤮

  6. DemonDjinn

    September 26, 2023 at 1:55 pm

    👁‍🗨👁‍🗨DemonDjinn After she became a cast member, she deleted almost 2,000 old tweets, that she had posted mostly in 2010 and 2011, which some critics called racist. SNL and Villasenor initially declined to comment on the accusation🤮

  7. Jace Yang

    September 26, 2023 at 2:33 pm

    does anyone feels like she’s not speaking at full capacity? i feels like her mouth is very tight in the back. idk just an observation. maybe her accent is just like this idk.

  8. Drake Santiago

    September 26, 2023 at 2:44 pm

    Melissa Villasenor did not get enough air time on SNL. She does some of the best impersonations.

  9. Black Flame

    September 26, 2023 at 2:48 pm

    Interesting to hear people’s journeys to get to where they got. Enjoyed it.

  10. Robert Pop

    September 26, 2023 at 2:53 pm

    Loved it! ❤

  11. Dave

    September 26, 2023 at 2:53 pm

    You rocked it! Well done Melissa.👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

  12. CyberCheese

    September 26, 2023 at 3:11 pm

    Chat gpt is taking her job

  13. Yoga Of Health

    September 26, 2023 at 3:21 pm

    Imposter syndrome and copy cats always end up abusing their power because they’ve not connected with source so they can actually find themselves.

  14. MariaRayelle

    September 26, 2023 at 3:24 pm

    Been waiting for this one for a while! Even looked for it yesterday. Yay it’s finally out!

  15. Kobaljov

    September 26, 2023 at 3:56 pm

    I still remember her song about the Oscar nominees from three years ago (with the “White male rage” refrain) (“Weekend Update: Melissa Villaseñor on Oscar Snubs – SNL”), her dating video made at home during the quarantine (“Melissa Seals the Deal – SNL”) or the Spanish cold grandma from the Christmas CoVid scene 🙂

  16. Бека Беркович

    September 26, 2023 at 4:07 pm

    She’s so beautiful!

  17. katy tj

    September 26, 2023 at 4:09 pm

    A bunch of impressions not a lot of take home notes!

  18. James (Jim) Owen

    September 26, 2023 at 4:11 pm

    I thought TED talks wurr suppose tu B experts talking about how they became experts….🤔….
    This wuzz morr like a 12 minute stand-up show…..
    Wuttever……..I guess, when you’re THAT hot, U ken du wuttever U wunt………🙂………

  19. Nandan Tavkar

    September 26, 2023 at 4:28 pm

    Dolly Parton is my inner motivational voice too … and I’m a 40 year old Indian man.

  20. UglySeventy8

    September 26, 2023 at 5:19 pm

    💙😊

  21. kelledc

    September 26, 2023 at 5:22 pm

    Have always loved her work, but I’m laughing at myself because I couldn’t get over how hot I thought she looked in that brown jumpsuit.

  22. P. B. Foote

    September 26, 2023 at 5:42 pm

    Best. Ted. Ever.

  23. James (Jim) Owen

    September 26, 2023 at 6:18 pm

    Hey, Melissa, if U read this, here’s a question………
    If U had trubbuL filling 60 minutes, in thoze past shows, why didn’t U juss du 10 minutes each uv Walters, Portman, Silverman, Sykes, Cyrus & Aguilera?…….
    6×10=60
    6(voices)×10(minutes)=
    60(minutes uv dominance)
    ………….
    I shooda bin your manager…….
    🥲……..

  24. 💰 MAKE $760 DAILY

    September 26, 2023 at 6:56 pm

    “Believe you can, and you’re halfway there.”

  25. Mike Rod

    September 26, 2023 at 9:05 pm

    Yea‼️ Ted Talk Melissa‼️ Congratulations 🥂❤️

  26. iloveaudiostuff

    September 26, 2023 at 9:52 pm

    ⭐️Honest, ⭐️Funny, ⭐️Adorable, ⭐️Thoughtful, ⭐️Unique,
    ⭐️Entertaining, and most of all,
    ⭐️Inspiring!!!!

  27. Joshua Plourde

    September 26, 2023 at 11:18 pm

    Yay Melissa!!

  28. Weird Awkward Woman

    September 27, 2023 at 12:24 am

    Wow i love this

  29. FauxVier

    September 27, 2023 at 12:44 am

    MARRY ME 💍

  30. Ronnie Turner

    September 27, 2023 at 2:20 am

    You ARE cute, Melissa ❤ Deal with it 😉

  31. Noura Khater

    September 27, 2023 at 5:53 am

    You are sooo cute, I had so much fun and self love while I watching you ❤💚💛 thank you very much 🌼

  32. The Exposure Network

    September 27, 2023 at 9:51 am

    She’s so great

  33. Josh Hofer

    September 27, 2023 at 10:07 am

    she’s the best. i wanna be her friend!!

  34. Alex

    September 27, 2023 at 10:14 am

    0:03: 🎭 Melissa Villaseñor showcases her talent for voice impressions in a comedic performance.
    2:47: 🎤 The speaker talks about her determination to become a comedian and her early success in the industry.
    5:30: 😂 The comedian talks about making fun of things in life, his energy, and his Mexican heritage.
    8:15: 😂 Comedian imitates her family, particularly her mom’s backseat driving.
    9:55: 🎭 Melissa McCarthy explains why she left Saturday Night Live and discusses her future goals.
    Recap by Tammy AI

  35. Claire Crowe

    September 27, 2023 at 10:33 am

    She’s the best!

  36. Keith Johnson

    September 27, 2023 at 1:05 pm

    “WIIILLSON! …I’m sorry…” – Tom Hanks
    (“TOMMY THE CAT IS MY NAME!” – Les Claypool)
    “If you don’t think your pool man is smoking herb, you’re not paying attention.” – Me
    (No thanks, “dad energy.”…know thanks?)
    I was sure affirmative action was at work.
    (Pretty sure her children would be beautiful girls and silly boys.)
    “Keep it to yourself..it’s my life!” – Billy (buddy) Joel

  37. Shifty Bat

    September 27, 2023 at 1:18 pm

    She is fantastic and was a welcome addition to SNL, especially because I had a similar school experience, doing voices to make others laugh and ingratiate myself. I will miss her on the show but hope she further dips her toe into the world of voice acting like Maria Bamford did in Adventure Time.

  38. TIC

    September 28, 2023 at 12:31 am

    😂😮😅❤ Slayed it Melissa

  39. ric bryant

    September 28, 2023 at 7:48 am

    So sad she left SNL. Loved her takedowns of Colin Jost….

  40. Larene and Pipsqueek Sully

    September 28, 2023 at 9:23 am

    The only way to get the voices in your head out❣️
    Pipsqueek and I will see Melissa tonight in Portland Oregon ❣️ YEA❣️🎉🥳🎉🥳🎉🥳🎉🥳🎉🥳

    • Skyler Dowell

      September 29, 2023 at 12:53 pm

      I was there last night too. Such a great show.

  41. Rick Estrada

    September 28, 2023 at 9:34 am

    Saw Melissa in SA,TX right before COVID. The laughs kept us going through the lockdown

  42. Lord Refa

    September 28, 2023 at 7:32 pm

    Waited so long for this and it didnt disappoint.

    Look at you, Melissa Villasenor, you are so cool! 😁

  43. Drew 13

    September 29, 2023 at 12:43 am

    Don’t meet your idols.
    Had the pleasure of running into Melissa at a local breakfast spot in Whittier.
    Nobody recognized her except my wife and I and I was so bent on saying hi but remained respectful to not intervene or interrupt her breakfast.
    Well, we’re walking out and for sure I thought I missed my window but just the fact of enjoying breakfast under the same roof was certainly a pleasure in itself; we leave the restaurant around the same time and sure enough we parked right next to each other.
    My wife and I are in the car already and saw her walking our direction and saw my window of opportunity.
    “Hi Melissa, big fans! We miss you on SNL.”

    I’ve never seen anyone give more disgusted undeserving looks.
    We got the cold shoulder through her eyes we didn’t even bother to introduce ourselves or ask for a picture.
    She starred us down the entire time she made her way to her driver side and continued to insult us under her breath like we were scum of the earth that had intruded or invaded her day.

    We were upset and honestly didn’t want anything from her other than to say hi and let her know how much joy she’s brought into our homes via television.

    Next day, she was the grand Marshall of our Whittier parade and was a completely different person in front of the cameras.

    Dissapointing.

    • K p

      September 30, 2023 at 8:33 am

      That’s sad, and to be honest, if it was me I’d be really upset. But I will say, she is quite open about the fact that people shouldn’t expect her to be “on” all of the time. And I think that is part of her charm. But yes, seems unnecessary to be mean.

    • Laxus Grey

      September 30, 2023 at 1:20 pm

      She might be tired or having a bad start of the day but I agree it’s not a valid reason to be mean or snubby to someone

  44. Mr West

    September 30, 2023 at 4:15 pm

    Hot in the chequered kicks and onesie.

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