3 Wellness Tips Molly Shannon Uses Every Day

You can’t spend decades performing one of the best physical comedy characters of all time and not expect to feel it at some point. Well, that’s what Molly Shannon has to say, anyway. Known best as Mary Katherine Gallagher, the over-the-top Catholic school girl character portrayed on SNL (you know, “Superstar!”), Shannon crafted a career where people know her the second she walks on stage/into a room/on your screen. 

These days, Shannon is “more careful now,” she says. “I wouldn't do such wild stuff now because I'm a mother, and some of it feels too dangerous.” But she’s proving that wellness doesn’t have to be wild (or difficult) to be good for you, like partnering with Proactive Support from Tylenol, a turmeric- and tamarind-based supplement perfect for joints that have spent years hitting walls, chairs, and floors. 

She recently sat down with W+G to chat through her top wellness tips, comedy (duh), and what she does in her downtime that makes her feel good. 

First, you gotta stretch

Look, this is also a good reminder for me, too. Even without the physical comedy chops of entering a stage “tripping and dragging a chair,” just a couple of minutes of daily stretching can set your day up and prime your body for whatever physical endeavors you take on. 

“Because I did physical comedy for years—kind of hardcore—I was very active, did a lot of falling back into chairs, and when I did Mary Katherine Gallagher on SNL for years, I would enter the stage falling onto my knees,” Shannon says. “So now that it's 30 years later, I really have a very proactive approach for my daily routine.”

This really set in for Shannon a few years ago, when she was on set and hit her knee. And, things didn’t rebound the way they normally did for her (we’ve all been there). She went to a physical therapist, who suggested a few minutes of stretching a day. After a bit of following the routine, the tightness went away. “It’s really improved,” she says. “But yeah, I probably wouldn't have been as hard on my knees.” 

But also, take a hike

No, literally. It’s one of Shannon’s favorite ways to start her day. 

Coupled with a podcast (she’s currently really into the NPR podcast Fresh Air) and a berry smoothie, it sets her day off on a really good note. “It's kind of like a meditation because you're walking back and forth, and I think it relaxes the brain, because it's like, right, left, right, left,” she says. “It makes me feel happy.”

Having this morning routine (which also includes Proactive Support, which Shannon says aids her joint mobility) helps create momentum, while also allowing her to work through anything she’s feeling stressed about. “If you have emails to return or a problem to solve, you can come up with solutions on walks,” she says. “I consider [hiking] like an exercise/meditation.” 

Ultimately, do what feels good for *your* body and mind

When you’re a comedy veteran like Shannon, there’s a *lot* you try over the years (or, throw at the wall, if you will). And, she says, this extends to her personal wellness regimen. She was even gluten-free for a while. “I'm not gluten intolerant, I just did it to be healthier,” she says. “But after all, I was like, "Oh, this is feeling so tightly wound, and it felt good to just go back to eating and just stopping when I’m full.”

For Shannon, being less strict in her wellness practices is what allowed her to find her groove. “When I'm too busy and if I feel too rigid about it, I'm like, ‘it's okay if you just swim for 30 minutes if you don't have much time,’” she says. “Or at minimum, 20 minutes, go running for 20 minutes—it's something.” After all, studies show that doing even just a little bit of exercise is worth it and can help you build a routine over time, too.

This flexibility also extends to the way she thinks about eating and drinking, too. “There was a study about alcohol and how it's toxic, but then there was a really good article and [the writer] goes, ‘oh, it's so interesting because so much of wine is so joyous to me,’” Shannon says. “It's people drinking wine, over conversations, having dinner, and it's joyful—a lot of people aren't mentioning the joy that you can have with sharing a meal, and a beautiful glass of wine with people that makes you so happy.”

But wellness isn’t just about mindful eating, exercise, and stretching. It’s about taking care of your mind, too. This includes a vacation with her kids and lots of family dinners where she takes time to unplug, relax, and recharge. “There's nothing that gets me more excited than just being with my family and family dinners,” Shannon says. “It doesn't even have to be in any exotic place or destination or restaurant—just being at home with my kids and my husband, that's my favorite thing.”