A 'Royale' Lineage

As a social-climbing hustler trying to gain access to an exclusive country club, Kristen Wiig plays Palm Royale’s Maxine like a steamroller. Spouting torrents of nonsense in a Tennessee accent, she hides her ever-present terror of being exposed behind sunglasses and an enormous smile. It’s the sort of character Carol Burnett, who plays Maxine’s comatose aunt Norma, might’ve embodied on her classic CBS variety series The Carol Burnett Show — one of the many eccentrics and neurotics who would influence Wiig’s run on Saturday Night Live nearly four decades later.