Characters drive Wiig to prominence

In a ''Saturday Night Live'' skit, Kristen Wiig's character Penelope takes on NBA star LeBron James at a charity auction. (DANA EDELSON/NBC UNIVERSAL)

NEW YORK - Everyone knows someone like Penelope, the hair-tugging, chronically fibbing one-upper (Speeding ticket? "I have 99 speeding tickets. I was speeding so fast I broke the sound barrier.") that Kristen Wiig plays on "Saturday Night Live," or so she's beginning to hear. Or maybe they've - you've - had a run-in with the gum-popping, eye-rolling, demanding megajerks; the chatty, bargain-hungry Target cashier; or an irritated armchair film critic like Aunt Linda, who mispronounces Scorsese but loves "Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties."

These are the oversize, wacky-yet-true characters that Wiig, 35, has used to build an audience as a star of "SNL."

With the departure of Amy Poehler last month, Wiig has become, during only her fourth season, the most veteran female cast member on the show. In the last live "SNL" broadcast, in December, Wiig appeared in every sketch but one. Though she may pop up as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or the financial adviser Suze Orman when the show returns live next Saturday, she will most likely, at some point, put aside the impressions and take on a warbly voice and an ugly knit to play someone more everyday.

"There's something about a Christmas sweater that will always make me laugh," she said in a recent interview in a cafe near her home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which is devoid of tacked-on flair.

So too is Wiig, who describes herself as shy and never thought of herself as funny - still doesn't, in some ways.

But over the last year - when Tina Fey and others may have finally stiletto-stomped the masculine surprise at the notion of a funny woman - Wiig has emerged as a comic standout. On "SNL" and in films like "Knocked Up," in which she stole her few scenes as an undermining TV executive, she cornered a character-driven humor that is appealing without being mean spirited. Like Will Ferrell she is not winking at the audience.

"She has this thing that Lily Tomlin used to have," Lorne Michaels, the "SNL" producer, said, "which is that her characters are never losers, or at least they're not thinking they are. They have confidence; they think it's going well."

In a phone interview, Poehler, her frequent writing partner, said: "Even though Wiig plays a lot of quirky, nervous characters, she's really like a very solid person, like a real rock. I can depend on her personally, and onstage you just never are afraid that Wiig is not going to nail it."

Among the "SNL" castmates, the perception of competition between Poehler and Wig was an inevitable topic of discussion. "The world of lady comedy is a small circle sometimes," Poehler said, "and there's always the thing that there can be only one female at a time in the top seat." She added, jokingly: "I would like to send Kristen Wiig a shiny new captain's hat because she's taking over the captain's position."