&34;Gilda was just like an appendage with me,&34; Garber tells EW of the late &34;SNL&34; star. &34;We were very, very, very close.&34; Gilda Radner roasted Vic

"Gilda was just like an appendage with me," Garber tells EW of the late "SNL" star. "We were very, very, very close."

Gilda Radner roasted Victor Garber for deserting costars: 'I still feel incredible guilt about it'

"Gilda was just like an appendage with me," Garber tells EW of the late "SNL" star. "We were very, very, very close."

By Jillian Sederholm

Jillian Sederholm

Jillian Sederholm is news director at *. *She has worked at EW for more than eight years. Jillian has previously worked as a reporter, social media editor, and homepage producer at NBC News, Digital First Media, Newsday, and *Random Lengths News.*

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October 9, 2025 11:00 a.m. ET

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Gilda Radner and Victor Garber at the 1978 Tony Awards. Credit:

Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Late great actress and *Saturday Night Live* star Gilda Radner left a lasting impression on those who came in contact with her — even when she was roasting them.

"Gilda was one of the most special people, for all of us. Everybody loved Gilda," Victor Garber tells ** at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, where he and Paul Shaffer both share memories of their former *Godspell* costar while promoting the documentary *You Had to Be There*.**

"Gilda was just like an appendage with me. We were very, very, very close," Garber says. "I just remember we went to those photo booths where you paid $1 or something, and she wrote on the picture, right on my face, 'I don't care. I got the movie.'"

The comment was meant as a jab at Garber, who had just exited the cast of the 1972 stage show they were working on together in Toronto to move to New York City and lead the movie adaptation of the musical.

"I left. I just basically deserted them, and I still feel incredible guilt about it," he says, insisting, "It wasn't my fault. I had to go star in a movie. I mean, what could I do?"**

Shaffer echoes his costar's sentiment for their late friend and colleague, adding, "She had so much love in her. She loved to laugh until she cried."

Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, and Garrett Morris on 'Saturday Night Live' in 1980.

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

He also remembers how she instantly connected with those around her and made them feel special.

"She immediately picked up that I liked all this music of the '50s and '60s," Shaffer recalls. "It was my birthday, and in between shows she threw me a surprise party, a '50s party. She had put on a poodle skirt. And everybody was dressed with grease in their hair, right in between shows. It was so beautiful of her."

Their castmate Martin Short even showed up in perhaps a prototype for his future *SCTV* and *SNL* character Ed Grimley.

"Marty Short came as the nerd from the '50s, a different interpretation of it," Shaffer continues. "And he says, 'Would anybody like any Kleenex?' I said, 'What are you talking about?' He said, 'Well, in the '50s, people seem to have a lot of Kleenex in their pocket.'"

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Shaffer and Radner would soon work together again at *SNL*, where he was keyboardist for the show's band and she a member of the original cast, a.k.a. the Not Ready for Primetime Players, when the show launched in 1975.

Radner spent five seasons on *SNL*, delighting fans with characters like Roseanne Roseannadanna, Lisa Loopner of "The Nerds," and Barbara Walters parody Baba Wawa. She left the show* *in 1980 and made several movies with future husband Gene Wilder. In 1986, she was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer and underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment. After a brief remission, the cancer returned, and Radner died May 20, 1989.

Although Shaffer wasn't present for it, when prompted he shares memories of a legendary goodbye party friends and colleagues had for Radner just before her death.

"I wasn't at it, but I've certainly heard about it and heard that Billy Murray carried her around like a fireman, carried her around basically saying goodbye to everybody," he says. "The motive was that something horrible was about to happen for a girl that got terminally ill, but everyone was trying their best to make light of the situation and get her through it."**

Nick Davis, Victor Garber, Valda Aviks, and Paul Shaffer at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

Michael Hurcomb/Shutterstock

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

Decades later, Garber and Shaffer are celebrating their memories making *Godspell* in Toronto with Radner, Short, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, and Dave Thomas in the new documentary, which is fully titled (deep breath): *You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love and Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way)*.**

"It's been wonderful and surprisingly emotional, and, shockingly, meaningful," Garber says of the experience. "I remember back then I thought, 'This is not normal.' I remember that very clearly. I was surrounded by these people that were so talented, so funny… Surrounded by greatness, and I was a very aware of it."

Shaffer says the "show changed both of our lives," resulting in theater legend Stephen Schwartz inviting the then-up-and-comer to work together in New York City, and Garber to land his very first screen role in the film version.**

*With reporting by Gerrad Hall.*

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