Jane Curtin was twenty-eight when, in 1975, she became one of the original cast members of “Saturday Night Live,” along with such talents as Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, and John Belushi. Curtin had grown up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and spent four years in the improv troupe the Proposition, but nothing prepared her for the breakout success of “S.N.L.”—or for its aggressive, drug-filled atmosphere, which could be unfriendly to women. (Belushi would openly declare his belief that women aren’t funny.) When Chase left the cast, she became the first female anchor of “Weekend Update,” and her droll, straight-woman persona earned her the title Queen of Deadpan.

Curtin went on to star in two hit sitcoms, “Kate & Allie” and “3rd Rock from the Sun,” and she currently appears in the Oscar-nominated film “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” in which Melissa McCarthy plays the real-life author turned scammer Lee Israel. Curtin plays her literary agent. But it was her wish for 2019, delivered with plenty of deadpan and aired on CNN on December 31st, that made her a viral sensation: “My New Year’s resolution is to make sure that the Republican Party dies.” Fox News convened a panel, and conservatives fired back on Twitter. I met Curtin recently, at the apartment she keeps in the East Village (she mostly lives in Connecticut), and we talked about her experience going viral, the early days of “S.N.L.,” and keeping a straight face. Our conversation has been edited and condensed.

How is your New Year’s resolution going?

Pretty well, don’t you think? Did you hear what happened last week in the [H.R.8-bill] committee meeting? It was all about gun safety and background checks, and Matt Gaetz, from Florida, turned it into “build the wall.” And two Parkland parents whose children were killed were standing up in protest, because this was about gun violence, not immigration. And Gaetz was just commandeering this whole thing. What have they done for anybody but themselves, these Republicans?

So when you said that on CNN—

I didn’t say it on CNN. I said it on Andy Cohen’s show. I think it was in October. I’d had it.

Did you know it was going to appear on New Year’s Eve?

I had no idea, but I knew I probably should have held back a little. I was very careful not to say I wanted to have Republicans die. God forbid that should happen. I wanted the Party to die. But I think they’re doing a pretty good job themselves.

Where were you on New Year’s Eve?

I was up in the country, so I wasn’t doing anything. But, on New Year’s Day—and I’m not on Twitter or Facebook or any of that stuff—somebody said, “You’re trending on Twitter!” What did I?—Oh, I know what I did. I know exactly what I did! (Laughs.) So I thought, Good for me.

But it also brought out the troll hive.

Anything anybody says is going to bring out the troll hive. And the thing I find really interesting about the troll hive is that if you don’t see it the tree doesn’t fall in the woods, you know what I mean? If you’re not on Twitter or Facebook, it doesn’t happen.

What has your experience been over the past two years? How have you personally responded to the Trump era?

First of all, I didn’t watch the election. I had a feeling. And the next day I had to drive into the city to do some recording, and my husband, as I was getting up, said, “There’s no easy way to tell you this.” I thought, Oh, shit. I knew who Donald Trump was. I was in New York in the eighties and the nineties. I knew what a blowhard he was, how he was a liar and a fantasist. How could people have fallen for that?

What did you think when he hosted “Saturday Night Live”?

I didn’t watch it, but I thought it was kind of bad form.

How did you get involved in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

I wish I could say that they cast me because I was the best person available, but my agent’s husband had the rights to the book. So I was lucky enough to have connections to the production. I had never worked with Marielle Heller before, and I had never worked with a female director. The few days I was on the set, it was so Zen. There was no shouting. There was no anxiety. There was no bullying. So that was a very eye-opening experience. I’d worked with Melissa a couple of times before, and I just think she’s awesome. It’s not just her talent: it’s who she is.

You play Melissa’s agent, who’s kind of an industry gatekeeper. I was wondering if you drew on anyone you had dealt with, or if the character reminded you of anyone you’ve known in show business—agents, managers?

I had met a literary agent once at a book party that a friend of mine was throwing, and she was pretty much who I was channelling. There’s a sense of control; they’re always pleasant and direct. That’s how they get through life. But then they can turn on a dime, and if they need to they will eviscerate you. They will disembowel you with a phrase. So I did her.

Do you think she knows?

I don’t know. I used to do my aunt when I was doing improv, and she always thought I was doing my other aunt.

There’s a really funny scene when Melissa’s character, Lee Israel, tries to get through to you on the phone and can’t, because you’re supposedly out to lunch or something, and then she poses as Nora Ephron and the assistant patches her right through. Have you had an experience like that, seeing the hierarchy in action?

I was with Sam Cohn for a year, the agent at I.C.M. He never called me, and I never called him. For an entire year. I kept waiting for him, and I guess he waited for the actor to call him.

When you were growing up, were there comedians or character actors you admired?

I watched a lot of TV when I was a kid, so I was exposed to people like Lucy, Eve Arden, Cara Williams. Betty White had a fifteen-minute sitcom, “Life with Elizabeth.” I saw women succeeding on television when they weren’t really doing well in other places. This was the fifties and early sixties, so there was a lack of women’s progress. But not on television. These were women who were in charge, and I thought that was pretty awesome.

What did you think you were going to be?

For a time, I wanted to go to the Georgetown School of Foreign Service to become an ambassador. And my mother, who went to Radcliffe during the Depression—one of her friends was in the Foreign Service, and she was Ambassador [Edwin O.] Reischauer’s [the former U.S. Ambassador to Japan] secretary. She said, “You won’t get any further than secretary. Don’t do it.” And I thought, O.K., now what?