Sarah Sherman says Paul McCartney pulled on her mullet when they met on the Saturday Night Live set and asked if it was real or a wig. She recalled the exchange publicly on May 30, turning a brief backstage encounter into a tidy piece of on-set lore.
At the 5th Annual Las Culturistas Culture Awards at the United Theater in Los Angeles, Sherman said she answered him, “It's real, Paul,” after he grabbed at the hairstyle. She added that she told him, “Paul McCartney, I love you, you're amazing. Like, McCartney II is my favorite album ever, and 'Temporary Secretary' is my favorite song.”
May 16 on Saturday Night Live
McCartney appeared on Saturday Night Live on May 16 as the musical guest for the season 51 finale hosted by Will Ferrell. Sherman said the meeting happened after the show, when he came over and pulled on her mullet tails. She also said her hairstyle was meant to echo his Wings-era look, which gives the joke a sharper edge than a simple celebrity compliment.
That exchange matters because it was not a polite brush-by. Sherman said McCartney knew her name and responded, “I love adulation. Adulate me. Adulate me.” Her own follow-up on Jimmy Kimmel Live! was just as direct: “And I liked it!”
McCartney II and Temporary Secretary
1980 is the year McCartney II was released, and Sherman singled it out as her favorite album. She paired that with “Temporary Secretary” as her favorite song, which puts the story in the lane of a fan who knows the catalog rather than a performer collecting a quick selfie.
2021 was the year Sherman joined Saturday Night Live as a featured player, and October 2023 brought her promotion to the repertory cast. By the time McCartney showed up for the season 51 finale, she was already established inside the show’s machinery, which is why the meet-cute happened at the end of a live broadcast rather than in a staged interview setting.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! to Los Angeles
On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Sherman said, “He said, 'Sarah,' and he knew my name, brag. He pulled on my mullet tails.” Jimmy Kimmel responded, “I think it's very rare that somebody gets their mullet pulled by a Beatle,” and Sherman answered, “Honey, he can do whatever he wants to me.”
The practical takeaway is simple: Sherman has now told the story twice, once on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and again at the 5th Annual Las Culturistas Culture Awards in Los Angeles, so this is less a fleeting anecdote than a recurring bit she is willing to own in public. What remains with the most bite is the image itself — McCartney testing the mullet like he was checking a prop, and Sherman deciding that was still a win.
