When it was announced that Sarah Sherman would be joining the cast of "Saturday Night Live" ahead of season 47 as a featured player, I honestly didn't think Lorne Michaels had it in him. Sherman is staggeringly talented and one of the most effortlessly funny comedians currently working today, but she's also a certified freak [complimentary]. "SNL" was not my introduction to Sherman, and I consider myself very fortunate to have caught her as Sarah Squirm on "Helltrap Nightmare," a traveling comedy show where DIY clowning melds with hideous comedy like a creature designed by Rob Bottin of "The Thing" fame . Sherman refers to Squirm as her "unholy alter ego," but she's given her center stage for her debut HBO comedy special, "Sarah Squirm: Live + In the Flesh."

After four seasons of "SNL,"

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