An Interview with Makeup Artist Louis Zakarian

Explain for those at home what you do.

We apply make-up and special effects to the cast members in the show.

What are the biggest challenges with doing a live show?

So many make-up changes in such a short time period. To give you an idea of the time constraints we're under, it normally takes two hours to do a bald cap [make a character bald], but on the show, we only have ten minutes.

Is there a set staff for the makeup department or do artists rotate throughout the season?

I have a staff of 14. Each cast member gets their own make-up, hair and wardrobe person assigned to them.

What's been the most outrageous SNL makeup creation that you can remember?

I’ve been here for 12 seasons so, but this season I had to make a second character (Andy Samberg) come out of Bill Hader’s stomach in a sketch where Bill has a mutant living in his stomach. In the Annette Benning Show, we made this big creature (Bill Hader) that was hiding in the closet – that was pretty intense.

How long in between skits do you have for changes, touch-ups, etc.?

Some things that should take 20 minutes to do in dress, we only have five minutes to do in the live show.

How do you handle the pressure?!

You just get used it.

Is there a preferred type/brand of makeup that is used on SNL?

Not really. We have 12 different brands of all different kinds of products.

Have you ever had any guest hosts with specific hair/makeup requests?

Not really. Most hosts bring their people. The hosts are usually pretty cool.

Any interesting statistics on materials you go through in a season?

We go through tons of stuff, especially plaster and latex. Maybe 15 gallons of latex in a season.

Do you have an archive of your creations?

Yes, in the mold room we save everything. I was worried the ceiling below the mold room was going to cave in because we have like 2,000 pounds of plaster saved there. But we have all the reoccurring characters there too. And you can see them evolve. Like for Darrell Hammond’s Bill Clinton, we have seven or eight different Clintons there. So you can see them evolve as we made changes to Clinton over the years.