The prank was managed.
Former “SNL” star Heidi Gardner had the ultimate “I did it” moment when she sat next to “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe on the set of her new show, “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins.”
“The first day of filming, our chairs were next to each other,” she exclusively told Page Six.
“And I still text all my friends from high school. I remember texting them, ‘You made it!'”
The “Shrinking” actress said her supportive friends responded, “I’m sure there are some other things you’ve been successful at.”
This mockumentary comedy series follows disgraced former football player Reggie Dinkins (Tracy Morgan) as he attempts to make a comeback when eccentric film director Arthur Tobin (Radcliffe) makes a documentary about him.
Gardner plays Tisha Basmati, the attractive wife of Reggie’s rival Jerry Basmati (Craig Robinson).
“Tracy[Morgan]he came to SNL a few times when I was there,” Gardner recalled to Page Six, adding that it was still “in the early days” and she didn’t talk to him much because she was “intimidated” and “star-struck.”
When she met the “30 Rock” star “Reggie Dinkins,” she said she found him to be “immediately funny, but also serious, kind, and supportive.”
When people meet her, the comedian thinks she is sometimes “a disappointing person” because “sometimes I’m a little shy or it takes a little while for things to get interesting.”
Gardner was the longest-serving female cast member on SNL for eight seasons from 2017 to 2025, before abruptly leaving the show.
Her “SNL” days prepared her for “Reggie Dinkins,” she told Page Six, as part of Tisha’s look included dressing up in jewelry, leopard print, and “22-inch-long” hair extensions.
“Sometimes I looked in the mirror and laughed at myself,” she said.
“I’m so used to looking like I’m crazy or stupid now, which can be a bad thing,” she added. The comedian recalled that SNL’s hair department encouraged him to try different looks, including “I could ditch the all-black hair,” but when he looked at old photos, “I thought, ‘This is terrible!'”
Gardner said he particularly enjoyed filming the scene in “Reggie Dinkins” where Tisha sings the national anthem in a really bad way at a kids’ football game.
“I don’t know if they told all the kids that were there that day that they were going to be bad singers.”
She told Page Six that all the teenage background actors “fell to the ground” laughing.
“As someone who is kind of intimidated by teenagers and wants them to think they’re cool, it was very gratifying to make so many kids laugh, even if it was for the wrong reasons.”
“The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” airs its Season 1 finale on Monday, April 13 at 8 p.m. on NBC and available to stream on Peacock.
