Emmy-Winning Alum Chad Harlow’s Dream Job at Saturday Night Live (BFA, Musical Theatre, 1997)
By Kim Westerman| March 2025
In Harlow’s first year in the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance program at UWSP, the phone rang in Jim Moore’s ballet class, and he hollered out for someone to answer it. The caller was the legendary Jerome Robbins (think West Side Story), and it was at that moment Harlow realized he was surrounded by greatness. Moore was the only person authorized to re-stage one of Robbins’ shows, and Harlow understood, not really knowing “how the cosmos aligned,” that while he was still in Wisconsin, he was far from the farming town in Washington County he’d grown up in.
He will tell you he had no premonition that he would move from performing — acting and dancing — to styling wigs and hair, but he did, in fact, from the age of 11, dream of working on Saturday Night Live (SNL). The show came on past his bedtime, and he remembers vividly setting the VCR to tape the show every week, then waking up on Sunday morning to watch it. And guess where he works now? That’s right, SNL. One of his best moments in the role was getting to style Adele’s wig and then hearing on CNN the next day a controversy about her skit’s content. “But wait,” he wanted to say, “I styled her wig!”
Harlow long knew he wanted to live in New York City. He says, “Being a gay kid in rural Wisconsin was not ideal,” and while he loves the Midwest and going back home to visit his family, he’s made a wonderful life in New York in the beating heart of his chosen profession. He spends his SNL hiatus weeks in Michigan, where his husband is a theatre professor. What he didn’t know when he was 11 and daydreaming of New York is that his ideal job would “marry theatre and TV,” which is precisely his wheelhouse and allows him to execute looks from recurring characters to period styles. At SNL, sometimes he’s given a photo silhouette to work from, and other times, he’s got complete creative freedom to bring a character to life or a guest into their own glory in the context of a show that just celebrated its 50th anniversary on television — a show that has carried viewers through five decades of U.S. culture and history via live comedy sketches in its inimitable variety-show style.
Harlow’s Emmy Award was for Outstanding Hairstyling For A Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program for a Saturday Night Live episode in 2024 hosted by Ryan Gosling.
In addition to Moore, Harlow credits UWSP professors Tom Nevins, Carolyn Blackinton, Bob Baruch and James Woodland, luminaries in their fields, for “making Point’s Theatre Program so special.” He also has a bit of advice for Pointers aspiring to work in theatre in some form or fashion: “I would encourage students to explore all the professions involved in theatre. I think, as kids, we believe the only occupation to pursue in theatre is acting, but there are so many other career opportunities.” He glances over at his Emmy across the room and smiles.
