Since 2021, Sarah Sherman has been showing off her comedy skills on Saturday Night Live, and now she brings that comedy to General Hospital. Appearing on the September 5 and 6 episodes, she portrays a dialect coach named Ms. Robin Finch, a self-proclaimed “dialect theorist and tutor to the stars.” Her name itself is hilarious, as both robins and finches are types of birds, and she made a splash ruffling feathers when she entered the Quartermaine home and started correcting everyone on how they pronounce words.
Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot) had hired Ms. Finch without telling anyone because of a fracas with Lois Cerullo’s (Rena Sofer) Brooklyn accent. It all started when Lois appeared on the Home & Heart channel to help sell Deception’s cosmetics line on the August 22 episode. Lois was thrown off when she overheard some of the crew on the show discussing how annoying her accent sounded, and when it was time to start selling on live TV, Lois almost crashed and burned as she looked blank-faced into the cameras and seemed frozen in place.
But Lois found her way and continued on splendidly…that is until near the end, when a caller insulted her on the air, also attacking her New York dialect. Lois considered contacting a dialect coach to help her change the way she spoke, but eventually, her family talked her out of it, and she was happy to be just who she was meant to be.
Ms. Finch arrived and immediately got to work
However, when a woman showed up at the Quartermaine mansion and started by correcting Olivia Falconeri (Lisa LoCicero) on how to pronounce the word “croissant,” everyone wondered who the young woman was and what she was doing there. Tracy stepped up and admitted that she had hired Ms. Finch to be Lois’ dialect coach, and while most of the family scoffed, Tracy stated that Lois had been open to the concept initially. Besides, Tracy was her boss, and it was in Deception Cosmetics’ best interests to have a salesperson on television that didn’t have such a thick regional accent. Ms. Finch also said that by helping Lois alter her speech pattern, she would be empowering Lois, so Lois agreed to take some lessons.
The scenes were hilarious as Sherman waded in with confidence and a rapid wit. When she spoke to Olivia, she speculated where Olivia was from, asking,
Brooklyn. 15th Avenue and 85th Street, perhaps a bit farther inland, but no more than 83rd?
Even Brook Lynn Quartermaine (Amanda Setton) was astonished that Ms. Finch was so accurate just by hearing the way Olivia spoke, and Finch responded that it was all in the way Olivia had a nasal tone when she pronounced the “ah” in the word croissant. Sherman easily stole the show and was chewing the scenery left and right. It was obvious that the actress had done some studying about accents and elocution, and her accuracy and forthright nature were absolutely hysterical.
Sherman enjoyed working on General Hospital
Sherman gushed to People on September 4 about not only being on General Hospital but also working with the cast—Elliot in particular. She stated,
I had the best time of my life and I couldn’t believe I got to act in a scene with 'TRACY QUARTERMAINE'! I was so nervous about flubbing my lines, because I was surrounded by pros who memorize like a billion pages of dialogue a day. Also I met ‘Sonny Corinthos’ [Maurice Benard] so I can die happy!
Fans loved her appearance, and are hoping that she’ll be able to stick around Port Charles for more than two episodes.
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