Before Jenny Slate pocketed the Saturday Night Live zeitgeist by uttering the F-bomb in her first sketch ever, there was Michaela Watkins, the woman Slate ostensibly replaced. In early September, Watkins found herself flooded with media attention, much of it unwanted. Watkins had just been unceremoniously dumped from SNL after only one season, and to make things even more maddening, she was actually good. General consensus was that the firing was inexplicable, with series creator Lorne Michaels telling Watkins only that he wanted her to have her own show. Nearly a month after the news dropped, we caught up with the comedienne and asked to her to reminisce about her short-lived dream job, her feelings toward her old employer, and sitting in a jacuzzi in a renaissance gown with John Malkovich and Kristen Wiig.

How did you handle the wave of publicity that came after you got let go from SNL? It was one of those things where I was surprised by the response. I didn’t think anyone paid attention to these things. And I thought that was really nice and sort of cool that people were as baffled as I was.

Did the overwhelming sense of public shock feel kind of good? It’s better than "don’t let the door hit you on the ass when you leave." I had known for a week before it broke on the web, and I had sort of underestimated that day. I woke up to all these e-mails, and it was like, wow, now it’s public and that’s like a whole new layer of rejection. But within minutes the response suddenly became, What the hell? It was really nice having what I would think while I brushed my teeth being echoed in people’s blogs.

What made your time at SNL so great? I’m used to the Groundlings, where I would go into these hooker shops on Hollywood Boulevard and buy my wigs and a silly outfit for a skit, so it was nice to be somewhere where someone was actually putting a wig on you that actually fit your head, and all those other things were taken care of, so all you had to worry about was showing up and doing a good job. I sort of felt that I was made for that, because I already had weird, freaky schedules and would often find myself starting a project at two in the morning, like, "This would be a great time to learn how to make jewelry!" So I embarked on something ridiculous at two in the morning, and there I got paid for it.

As a rookie, did you feel pressure to make a name for yourself? I put pressure on myself no matter what. The thing about a show that changes every week is that you’re only as good as your last show. When you sit down to write, or you think about ideas, you’re starting from zero every time. It’s not like you’re building on a character that you already have. It’s great if a character can reoccur, that’s definitely a really fun thing, but you have to be thinking about your next character. Take Kristen Wiig, who is so terrific. This is her fourth season, and every Wednesday we would watch her come in armed with all new characters, and I would just sit there and think she’s a machine.

Who was your favorite character to play? I really enjoyed Angie Tempura because there was really something cathartic about that woman. I like playing with other people so it was so fun to play comedy tennis with Kristen. All I had to do was just keep hitting the ball back to her.

Did you feel that because you were working on SNL, the writers were the best in the business? Yeah, Seth Myers just blew me away every week. I would show him a sketch or something that I had written, and he would red-pen it so quickly; just his ability to know what worked. They are just a finely tuned comedic writing instrument. I was just so impressed with his clarity and how he could organize a scene.

Did you grow up watching SNL? Hell yeah!

So what did it feel like to finally be on that stage and be on that show? What would you do if as a kid you had a dream, and that dream sustained itself for your whole life up until you’re the age you are right now, and then all of a sudden your dream comes true? Like, that doesn’t happen to people. I know these reality shows make it look like it happens all the time, but that’s produced. This is a real dream and it happened, and now I have to think of a new dream and that’s overwhelming.

So what was the exact moment like when you found out? Was it a phone call? This will maybe tell you how much shock I was in. When Lorne Michaels hired me, he called me directly. I wasn’t sure if he was hiring me or not -- he had this way of not cutting to the chase. He said something akin to, “I want to know if you can be here for the table read tomorrow.” That was somehow supposed to translate to you’re hired.

Were you not sure at the moment? No, I thought maybe he needed a friend to hang out at the table. Maybe he needed someone to get coffee or make sure the pretzels were fresh. Apparently he wanted to hire me and yeah, it did take me a little bit. So then I said, “How long should I plan to come for?” He said, “Hopefully for a very long time.”

Do you have any hard feelings toward him now? I don’t. I feel like this guy sort of plucked me out of nowhere and said, “I have this family and I would like you to be part of it.” I just feel like we don’t have control over so many things, and there are so many ways that I could have never gotten this job. There are so many factors and I don’t control any of those, just like I don’t control any of the ones that would be why I would leave. This is a guy that works with such great comedians that I don’t harbor any ill will. However short or however long is not the issue. The point is there was something that he saw that said, I also want to work with you. He hasn’t really hurt me or done anything bad to me. If he said terrible things about me or was ever rude, ever, that would be one thing, but he never has. I just don’t have any reason to not like the guy.

Was SNL a bit of a boys club? As a woman, how did that make you feel? It’s not that SNL is a boys club; it isn’t a boys club. You can’t look at what Tina, Amy, and Kristen are doing and say it’s a boys club. It’s an easy thing to say, I think. That’s not the issue. The issue is that comedy is what it is, and women have made such huge strides in it, but comedy itself is not as forgiving to women as it is to men. I think that’s what’s going on, you know? I just think that men can get away with certain things and so can women, but it seems like women really have to blow doors in order to do things. I sometimes wonder. This is so personal, and I don’t think I am speaking on behalf of comedy. I am just speaking on behalf of me when I say -- having been at the Groundlings and places like that, it’s moving swiftly, but there are times where men have a little more leeway with the audience. Then I think it is an even playing field, and then I think it’s play ball. I am just saying that first pitch; I think women have to hit the ball extra hard.

When you were in studio 8H, was the sense of SNL's history palpable? I think that’s why people say it’s surreal. I wouldn’t say there are old people’s mirrors form snorting coke in the eighties or anything like that, but you can just feel it, whether it’s in the offices on the 17th floor, or you’re in 8H. You just walk in and you just get goose bumps, and it makes you very emotional. Everybody that came to visit me, no matter how much or how little SNL they watched, they would come there and just be in awe.

What have you been missing most about your time there? The people. I am going to miss the Friday night rehearsals, when everybody gets really punchy because we have all been burning the midnight oil all week, and everybody just gets so silly. That part where everything is funny and everybody is crying. You’re eating too much sugar and it’s just that witching hour where everyone gets really punchy and silly and you feel like your part of the hum of a nice, silly family.

Do you have a memory that sticks out the most? I remember when John Malkovich was hosting, and it was my second show. We were doing sketch riffing off Dangerous Liaisons that took place in a hot tub called, "J’acuzzi.” The name pretty much says it all. We were in these really beautiful Renaissance gowns, Kristen and I. Here I was playing the Glenn Close character in this gown with John Malkovich, and I was getting the shivers. Kristen said to me, “Isn’t this the best job in the whole wide world?” Tears started filling my eyes. Because you know, you’re in a hot tub in a Renaissance gown on stage with John Malkovich saying lines, and it was more than my brain could handle at the moment.